672 REPORT—1904. 
in their minds the risk of failure and its consequent loss and worry to themselves, 
and in the event of success the advantage, in their estimation, may not be sufficient 
to counterbalance the risk. In large departments and companies whose manage- 
ment is conducted by officials receiving fixed salaries, acting under non-technical 
supervision, there is a strong tendency among the officials to leave well alone, the 
organisation being such that the risk of failure, even though it be remote, more 
than counterbalances, in their estimation, the advantages that would result in the 
event of success. Next is the opposition of those who are financially interested 
in competing trades or older inventions; and if the invention is a labour-saving 
appliance, then the active opposition of the displaced labour is a serious, though 
generally only a temporary, barrier. 
Fortunately, however, for the community, for research, and for invention, 
there is always to be found a considerable percentage of persons who, apart from 
the inventor, are able and willing to risk, and indeed to sacrifice, their personal 
interests in the cause of progress for the benefit of the community at large; and 
were it not for such persons the task of the introduction of most inventions 
would be an impossible one. 
There are many problems of the highest importance in physics, engineering, 
chemistry, geology, and the arts, of which the investigation might probably prove 
of great benefit to the human race, and of which the probable monetary cost of 
the attack would be considerable, and of some very great indeed. Let us, then, 
inquire how the necessary funds could be raised. It is possible in the case of 
some of the more attractive problems that a group of rich philanthropists might be 
found, but in most cases it would be impossible to form a company on business lines, 
under the existing laws of this and other countries, as I shall endeavour to show. 
In the case of many of the problems, no patents will give adequate protection ; 
in some cases there is no subject-matter of novelty and importance involved. In 
other cases the probable duration of the investigation isso long that any initial 
patents would have expired before a commercial result was reached, and under 
either of these circumstances there would be no inducement to business men or 
financiers to undertake the risk. 
As an illustration of my meaning I will take two investigations that have 
doubtless occurred to the minds of most of those present, though many others of 
greater or less importance might be cited. One is the thorough investigation 
of the problem of aerial navigation, with or without the assistance of flotation by 
gas, This problem could undoubtedly be successfully solved by an organised 
attack of skilled and properly trained engineers and the expenditure of a large 
sum of money. Assuming the problem solved, and commercially successful, it 
appears to be impossible under the existing patent laws to secure any adequate 
monopoly so as to justify the expectation of a reasonable return on the capital 
expended on the invention. For in view of the multitude of suggestions that 
have been made and the experiments that have been carried out, the practical 
solution of the problem would appear to rest on a judicious selection of old ideas 
by means of exhaustive experiments. 
Another and perhaps more important investigation which has not, as yet, been 
attacked to any material extent is the exploration of the lower depths of the earth. 
At present the deepest shaft is, I believe, at the Cape, of a little over one mile in 
depth, and the deepest bore-hole is one made in Silesia, by the Austrian Govern- 
ment, of about the same depth. What would be found at greater depths is at 
present a matter for conjecture, founded on the dip and thicknesses of strata 
observed on or near the surface. Much money and many valuable lives have been 
devoted to exploration of the polar regions, but there can be no comparison 
between the scientific interest and the possible material results of such ex- 
ploration and the one I have chosen for illustration of the inadequate protection 
afforded by law—namely, a great engineering attack on a problem of geology. 
I would ask you to consider the commercial aspect of this engineering geo- 
logical enterprise, as compared with exploration into new or unknown areas on 
the surface of the earth, 
An exploring expedition into a new country has before it generally the 
