NATURE 



437 



SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1922 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



The Protection of Inventions : An Empire Patent . 437 



Industrial Physics. By Major G. W. C. Kaye . 439 



Position of Agriculture in India. By Dr. B. A. Keen 442 



Prehistory for the Schoolroom. By G. A. J. C. . 443 



Aesthetics 443 



Our Bookshelf 444 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Relativity and the .Ether. —Sir Oliver Lodge, 



F.R.S 446 



The Legal Equivalent of the Metre— Sir R. T. 



Glazebrook, K.C.B., F.R.S 446 



On the Reality of Nerve-Energy. — Dr. E. D. Adrian 447 



Interspecific Sterlity. — Prof. R. Ruggles Gates . 447 

 Micro-chemical Methods in the Practical Teaching of 



Chemistry. — J. W. Blagden and A. Wechsler . 447 

 The Progression of Life in the Sea. By E. J. Allen, 



D.Sc, F.R.S 44S 



The Efficiency of Man and the Factors which influ- 

 ence it. By Prof. E. P. Cathcart, M.D., D.Sc, 



FRS 453 



The Total Solar Eclipse of September 21. By Dr. 



A. C. D. Crommelin 457 



Obituary : — 



Prof. Alexander Smith. By J. W. . . . 457 



Dr. Sophie Bryant. By M. H. W. . . . 45S 



Current Topics and Events 459 



Our Astronomical Column 461 



Research Items 462 



The Inheritance of Size 463 



An Optical Sonometer. [Illustrated) .... 464 



The Rowett Research Institute. Aberdeen . . 464 



The Sun's Activity, 1890-1920. {With diagram) . 465 



University and Educational Intelligence . . . 466 



Calendar of Industrial Pioneers 467 



Societies and Academies 467 



Official Publications Received ..... 46S 



Diary of Societies 468 



Editorial and Publishing Offices : 



MACMILLAN &- CO.. LTD., 



ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON, W.C.2. 



Advertisements and business letters should be 



addressed to the Publishers. 



Editorial communications to the Editor. 



Telegraphic Address: PHUSIS, LONDON. 

 Telephone Number : GERRARD 8830. 



O. 2761, VOL. I IO] 



The Protection of Inventions : An Empire 

 Patent. 



COMMON legislative action among the constitu- 

 ent parts of the British Empire would materially 

 strengthen the bond which unites the peoples to one 

 another and to the motherland. When, in addition, 

 increased productiveness, lessening of cost, and 

 simplification of procedure are its accompaniment, 

 and when general expediency points to the special 

 course prescribed by it, few voices could well be heard 

 in opposition. For many years a dream of politicians 

 and reformers, manufacturers and inventors, has been 

 the granting of a single patent to an inventor which, 

 effective throughout the British Dominions, would give 

 adequate protection without the necessity of securing 

 patents from each of the constituent countries of the 

 Empire. To obtain this wide measure of protection, 

 an inventor, at the present time, must make not less 

 than forty-six separate applications at a cost in official 

 fees of more than three hundred pounds. Further, if 

 protection be desired for the full periods which the 

 respective laws permit, an additional sum of twelve 

 hundred pounds and more must be forthcoming ; and 

 to this sum there is to be added the cost of the highly 

 skilled preparation of the necessary documents, a 

 formidable item which alone may amount to as much 

 as the o'fficial'fees for the applications. Now, if it 

 were genuinely believed by all classes that the stimula- 

 tion of invention results in greatly increased pro- 

 duction, and that trouble and outlay in that direction 

 are amply repaid, expenditure by governing bodies 

 would no longer be deemed speculative, but would be 

 looked upon as a sure and certain investment to be 

 welcomed on all hands. 



Although there is much to be urged in favour of this 

 belief, possibly to the point of conviction, many 

 reasons may be adduced for its non-acceptance by the 

 authorities. The reasons, however, need not be 

 specified, for the fact remains that hitherto there has 

 been no such consensus of opinion as to lead the 

 separate law-making bodies to common action and, 

 through simplification of procedure and great reduction 

 in cost, to encourage the inventor to successful effort 

 within the territories of the several legislatures. Yet 

 until the year 1852 it was the practice in this country 

 to issue a single patent which was co-extensive in its 

 operation with the whole of the Colonies, and in the 

 Patent Law Amendment Act of that year a similar 

 power was reserved. Although this power was not 

 employed, for, in fact, no extensions were made, the 

 reservation in the Act secured a practical result. It 

 set on foot a series of inquiries by the Government, 

 and led India and the Colonies to pass various patent 



