SEPTEMBER 6, 1918] 
now hoists its modest banner, believing that the 
administration of Secretary Lane under President 
Wilson affords a peculiarly favorable moment for 
the initiation of cooperative efforts of which the 
justification may be rational, rather than merely 
traditional. Obviously, those patent reform efforts 
which the National Research Council is understood 
to have deferred (in so far as they have been de- 
ferred) only by unavoidable necessity can reach 
the largest effects only as a result of a very com- 
prehensive movement—in regard to which all in- 
terested and competent parties should be heard. 
And (if every other special qualification be dis- 
puted) who so well as examiners and assistant ex- 
aminers can tell how distressing a thing it is for 
men charged with exhaustive research, and with 
judicial responsibilities therein, to be obliged to 
act hastily and superficially upon matters involving 
the largest public and private interests? 
Lightly tossing a very broad challenge, one 
might ask—‘‘Do not the prospects of democratic 
government, in competition with more centralized 
forms, ultimately depend on the capacity to ini- 
tiate, to organize, to present and to utilize criti- 
cism. Within a republic, does not the duty of ut- 
terance devolve upon all who possess special infor- 
mation? But we now press only the more specific 
question: Is it not reasonably possible that manu- 
facturers, investors, practitioners, jurists, public- 
ists, scientists and engineers, as well as inventors 
of every field and grade, conferring under the 
coordinating influence of so disinterested and com- 
petent a body as the National Research Council, 
will, from this time forward, work more and more 
effectively to insure the prompt grant of proper 
patents—only; and to make the genuine inventor, 
the investor and the public alike really secure by 
a very clear and a very just definition of rights? 
Upon the determination of this one fundamental 
question we do urge an early test—before still 
more complete failure of the patent system shall 
bring it into utter contempt—even though in the 
execution of such a test we, the ‘‘proponents,’’ 
may be able to undertake only a very subordinate 
part. 
At least, we of the Patent Office Society hope we 
simplify the situation by inviting—for possible pub- 
lication, and by no means in a spirit of challenge 
—criticism of any phase or feature of the present 
patent system. May we not soon hear again from 
yourselves? 
Sincerely and fraternally, 
Bert RUSSELL, 
Secretary, Patent Office Society 
SCIENCE 253 
SPECIAL ARTICLES 
POLARIZATION IN CASE OF MOVING 
ELECTRODES 
In connection with other work, I incidentally 
came upon the following phenomenon which I 
have not found clearly stated anywhere; 
though from the enormous amount of work 
done on polarization, I can hardly suppose it 
to be new. In part it might be surmised from 
Hittorf’s researches on the migrations of the 
ions. 
In order to keep the resistance of the cir- 
cuit constant, bright zine electrodes, facing 
each other diametrically, and set tangentially 
to the are of motion, were rotated around a 
vertical axis midway between, in an electrolyte 
of dilute brine. A small electromotor and pul- 
leys, collector rings and brushes made up the 
remainder of the apparatus. Special care was 
taken that all parts of the circuit, except the 
free zine surfaces to be tested, were thoroughly 
insulated; for the effects produced by splash- 
ing of liquid may be misleading and the brush 
contacts must be good. 
The electrodes at practically the same po- 
tential were now charged by a single storage 
cell for 30 sec., the charging current being 
16 am. for electrodes of about 26 sq. cm. each. 
On breaking, the polarization was naturally 
enormous (needle off scale); but it vanished 
rapidly in the well-known way, being counter 
to the charging current. When this polariza- 
tion had fallen to about — 0.010 volt, the elec- 
trodes were rotated. At once the polarization 
changed sign and was again enormous (needle 
off scale) and in its turn fell off in the usual 
way. When it had fallen to + 0.004 volt the 
electrodes were stopped, leaving + 0.003 volt, 
about. Subsequent motion increased the elec- 
tromotive force slightly in the direction of the 
charging current. In other words this second 
or residual polarization observed during the 
motion of the electrodes is astonishingly strong 
and in the direction of the charging current. 
To test this further, the latter was reversed 
many times, always reversing the phenomena as 
a whole, while in character they remained the 
1 Different experiments give different data, with- 
out changing the character of the values. 
