October 4, 1906J 



NA TURE 



559 



well adapted to the requirements of students, and the 

 presentation of the subject-matter is always clear. In 

 the biological sections Transatlantic freedom of style 

 IN sometimes carried so far as to savour of the evening 

 Press, paragraphs bsing headed, for example, " New 

 Devices of the Bryozoans " and " The Protozoans 

 make a Record." The abundant figures arc well 

 ciuisen, and, within the limitations of black and while, 

 usually well executed, but the glazed paper, on which 

 the whole is printed, is an offence to the sensitive 

 eye. The work as a whole is one which will find a 

 welcome in England as well as in America. The 

 plaiietesimal theory, too, whatever its ultimate fate, is 

 .\\ least a spirited protest against any narrow limit- 

 ation of geological time, and may serve to fortify timid 

 geologists against the thunders of certain mathe- 

 maticians, too apt to forget the precarious basis upon 

 which their calculations are built. A. H. 



THE GENESIS OF THE INVENTOR. 

 Erfmdung iind Erfinder. By A. du Bois-Reymond. 

 Pp. vi4-2S4. (Berlin: J. Springer, 1906.) Price 

 5 marks. 



1\ his opening chapter, Herr du Bois-Reymoni 

 gives an historical survey of the development of 

 the Patent Laws in civilised countries. They dale 

 from the Act of Parliament passed in the year 1623, 

 which in its first clause abolished the long-standing 

 grievance known as monopolies, by which favoured 

 individuals had the exclusive right to sell such things 

 as salt and coal ; the second clause established a 

 new variety of monopoh', out of which patent rights 

 had their origin. Little has been altered in principle 

 since that date. Even down to the term of fourteen 

 years the system still holds good, rights being 

 granted to "any new manufactures." Other coun- 

 tries, adopting the idea at much later dates, attempted 

 a more formal definition of invention, and legal logic 

 has constantly tried to define the admissible and the 

 inadmissible. Herr du Bois-Reymond shows that in 

 Germany, since the year 1889, the number of patents 

 granted has varied between 29 per cent, and 45 per 

 cent, of the number of applications filed, and, there- 

 fore, assuming the quality of the inventions to be on 

 an average the same from year to year, it would 

 seem that the official mind is not vet certain in its 

 workings. 



The author's analysis of the nature of invention 

 and inventors leads to the conclusion that neither 

 need, nor chance, nor the lack of necessaries in 

 surrounding life suffices to draw out the inventor. 

 Instead of solving the problem by philosophic deduc- 

 tions from generalities, he descends to the particulars 

 of the Patent Office, and concludes that inventors 

 can be subdivided into three classes : — first, the 

 intuitive genius, or, as Herbert Spencer would have 

 said, the man who can do with little trouble that 

 which cannot be done by the ordinary man with any 

 amount of trouble; secondly, the technical man, well 

 acquainted with his work, who follows in the wake 

 of the intuitive genius, and is largely inspired by 

 him; thirdly, the layman, whose special province 

 NG. 1927, VOL. 74] 



seems to be feeding-bottles. We are inclined to think 

 that too much stress can be laid on the existence and 

 qualifications of the first class. A long series of in- 

 ductive reasonings, followed generally by equally 

 laborious experiment, is the usual course of a 

 successful invention. Helmholtz and Darwin were 

 not inventors, but their methods w-ere the same. 

 Helmholtz said that in his work he could only liken 

 himself to the mountaineer, painfully and slowly 

 climbing, often obliged to turn backwards, lighting 

 Later on new traces leading forward, and finally 

 reaching the goal, only to find to his confusion that 

 a plain road led thither, if he had only had the eyes 

 to see. Darwin said he thought he was superior to 

 the common run of men in noticing things which 

 easily escape attention, and in observing them care- 

 fully. " My industry has been nearly as great as it 

 could have been in the observation and collection of 

 facts." Herein lies the real spirit of the pioneer. 

 Nothing is more useful than the quality on which 

 Darwin naively lays stress, viz. that of noticing 

 things which escape attention ; and those who hope to 

 reach the promised land without wandering in the 

 wilderness are probably doomed to disappointment. 



Superficially, chance seems to play a large part ; but 

 Herr du Bois-Reymond maintains that chance only 

 determines whether this or that individual shall do 

 the deed, and has nothing to do with whether or not 

 the deed shall be done. This is probably true in those 

 cases in which attention is directed to a problem from 

 various sides owing to a main directing cause. Such 

 was the result of Moissan's discovery of the produc- 

 tion of calcium carbide in the electric furnace. The 

 acetylene generator seems to follow as a matter of 

 course. Moissan had no heed for the commercial 

 exploitation of such things, and many others, be- 

 coming aware of the existence of an obvious need, 

 which appeared to be capable of being dealt with 

 without the aid of the calculus, rushed in, left the 

 relics of their labours in the files of the Patent Office, 

 and discovered later that they were wholly un- 

 acquainted with the conditions of the problem. In 

 this case mere inspiration leads nowhere ; laborious 

 experiment is much more to the point, and chance 

 only comes in, having regard to the number of men 

 at work on the task, in determining who shall lodge 

 his application first. That cannot properly be called 

 chance which is merely the outcome of some un- 

 looked-for combination or slight variation of pro- 

 cedure; it is precisely for these things that the 

 inventor toils, and w-hen they come within his sight 

 he merely recognises that for which he has patiently 

 hoped. 



Herr du Bois-Reymond concludes by considering the 

 reaction on civilised life which is due to the existence 

 of the inventor. The idea of protecting the inventor 

 was only an indirect cause of the Patent Laws in 

 most countries. A more direct impulse was probably 

 given by the view that the prosperity of the State was 

 likely to be increased by such encouragement as could 

 be given to the creation of industries. Still, Faraday's 

 commercial value has been incalculable, but he re- 

 ceived little encouragement from Patent Laws, while 



