7 an. 7> 1875] 



NATURE 



191 



pattern, was found in a fresh-water shell-heap on the 

 bank of Watson's Creek, Mercer Co., N. J. The pecu- 

 liar interest attaching to this "flame-shaped" specimen is, 

 I consider, two-fold. First, the form is one hitherto known 

 only as Mexican — at least, in the works on Stone Imple- 

 ments of which I have knowledge there is no illustration 

 of a similar specimen ; and secondly, while possibly this 

 specimen may have been brought from Mexico, through 

 the system of barter so extensively carried on by the 

 aborigines — (I have found fragments of obsidian arrow- 

 points in Nerv Jersey, the material of which, if not the 

 finished weapons, must have come from Mexico) — 

 it seems more probable that it was fashioned in this 

 neighbourhood, and being found, it may be, of an undc- 



i. — (N'.-xtural s 



sirable shape (Mr. Tyler does not state if this pattern 

 was common or rare in Mexico), was not adopted as one 

 of the many forms given to this class of weapons. If 

 my supposition is correct, then the specimen is a good 

 example of the production of a similar style of weapons 

 in distant quarters of the globe. 



The mineral, both of this specimen and that which is 

 represented by Fig. 2, is a dull bluish-white hornstone, 

 very similar in general appearance to the European flint. 

 The siTialler specimen measures two and a quarter 

 inches in length. It is noticeably thin, and remarkable 

 for the small size and irregular outlines of the flakes. 

 This irregular flaking dft' of the mineral under the blows 

 of the hammer-stones is due to the " impure " character 

 of the mineral, there being thread-like veins of brittle 



silex (?) enclosing minute pebbles extending through the 

 mass in every direction, and these appear to have checked 

 the flakes and caused their jagged irregular outlines. 



Fig. 2 represents a remarkable javelin head made of 

 the same material as the preceding, and having, but in a 

 less degree, the " flame-shape " of the smaller specimen. 

 The character of the workmanship indicates, I think, that 

 the same aborigine chipped them both. Like the other, 

 this spear-head is very thin and '"irregularly" flaked. 

 In the shell-heap in which these' were found, as far as we 

 have examined it, there was nothing else that differed 

 from the ordinary " finds " and contents of aboriginal 

 graves, being simply leaf-shaped arrow-heads, grooved 

 stone axes, a corn-crusher and basin (" Ouerns," vide 

 Evans' " Stone Implements of G. B.," p. 233), and a 

 polished celt. Chas. C. Abbott 



Trenton, New Jersey, U.S. 



PROTECTION FOR INVENTIONS 



WE stated in our leading article of the 24th ult. on 

 this subject, that in the course of the discussion at 

 the Society of Arts, Col. Strange had mentioned that the 

 Patent Commissioners requested the Royal Society some 

 time ago to nominate one of three eminent men of science 

 who should perform the herculean task of infusing scien- 

 tilic order into the Patent Office, but without salary. 



The Society of Arts, in their journal of the 25th ult., 

 have very properly published correspondence which fully 

 establishes the correctness of a statement which other- 

 wise might well be thought incredible. The subject of 

 niggardliness to scientific men is so important, not merely 

 to the men themselves, but more still to the progress of 

 knowledge, and therefore to the interests of the whole 

 community, that we feel bound to republish this corre- 

 spondence. We must, of course, regret to animadvert on 

 the acts of the late Lord Romilly, who is no longer 

 amongst us to justify them ; but the public duty must 

 still be performed, and as his lordship wrote as the 

 spokesman of his colleagues, they can at any rate defend, 

 if they can, what at present seems indefensible. 



In Lord Romilly's letter the proposed duties of these 

 unpaid men of science are enumerated : they are to 

 " superintend the general management of the Patent 

 Office, to see that the indexes and abstracts of the speci- 

 fications are made accurate and complete, and to redress 

 the other defects complained of." 



We here see precisely what sort of work four highly 

 salaried lawyers considered men as eminent in science as 

 they in law might with perfect justice be expected to 

 execute for nothing, namely, a combination of hard 

 routine drudgery with the most delicate discrimination in 

 questions extending overthewholerange of scientificknow- 

 ledge. It is true that their labours were to bo lightened by 

 the invaluable privilege of "acting in conjunction with the 

 Lord Chancellor and the Master of the Rolls, and of 

 referring to them " whenever the occasion of too tough a 

 problem might require it. In plain English, the men of 

 science were to do all the work of the Patent Office 

 gratuitously, but in the name of these highly-paid lawyers, 

 who notoriously do none of it, but who would thus pocket 

 both the credit and the substantial reward. 



If this had been an isolated example of the assessment 

 of scientific work in England, we should hardly have cared 

 to draw attention to it for the mere sake of denouncing 

 exceptional narrowness of view and selfish injustice. It 

 is because the example is typicil that we assist Col. 

 Strange and the Society of Arts in exposing it. The best 

 proof of the prevalence of the same spirit is afforded us 

 by some evidence volunteered by the Marquis of Salis- 

 bury before the Duke of Devonshire's Science Commis- 

 sion. His lordship observed that " Government depart- 

 ments have got an idea into their heads — I do not know 

 why— that scientific opinions differ in this from medical 



