APPENDIX. 63 



reward, which could not have been got unless 

 under the protection of a patent. 



When the Morse patent ran out, he had not 

 been adequately rewarded for the expense and 

 labor incurred in introducing his special arrange- 

 ment into public use, and applied for an extension 

 to the Hon. Charles Mason, then Commissioner of 

 Patents. Mr. Mason consulted Professor Henry 

 on the subject, and he advised the Commissioner 

 to grant the extension, although he had been bit- 

 terly assailed by Morse and his friends in conse- 

 quence of the testimony he had been compelled to 

 give in the lawsuit between the owners of the 

 patent and inf ringers. Professor Henry, although 

 he thought it derogatory to the dignity of science 

 for a scientist to seek for any other reward for his 

 discoveries than the consciousness of having done 

 good to his fellow-men, and the reputation due to 

 his discoveries, yet fully appreciated the wisdom 

 of the constitution and laws on the subject of 

 patents, and thought that without such a system 

 the discoveries of scientists, who devoted them- 

 selves to research, would never be made useful for 

 man in those practical forms in which inventors 

 embody them, and introduce them to the world, 

 often with great labor and sacrifice. 



The subjoined letter of Mr. Mason exhibits the 

 magnanimous character of Henry. In devotion to 

 principle, he recommended an extension of the 

 Morse patent, knowing that to reward amply 

 those who had introduced the invention to the 

 world, would stimulate others to do likewise, al- 

 though in doing it he specially benefited those 

 who had " despitefully used him." 



