March 5, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



401 



equal to that which his ohservations imply, and 

 that in this particular he has added to my de- 

 terminations the confirmation of specific evi- 

 dence. T. C. Chambeklin. 



TWO EXTEAOEDINAKY BRITISH PATENTS. 



Patent No. 14,204, granted 27th October, 

 1884, by Her Majesty's Commissioner of Patents 

 to Harry Fell, Mercantile Clerk, of South Nor- 

 wood Park, is described as a ' New Method for 

 getting Gold from Wheat. ' The complete speci- 

 fication is as follows: 



"That in the steeping of the mixture of half, meas- 

 ure, ' the -whole wheat straw cut into fine square snips 

 the -width of the straw and half ' the grains in a jar of 

 ordinary cold water "I let the steep remain still for 

 ten hours at a temperature of fifty-nine degrees 

 Fahrenheit varying with temperature, and then 

 straining off the liquor into a shallow pan of some 

 such cool substance as china or earthenware, I leave 

 this liquor to stand in this pan for yet twenty-four 

 hours at sixty degrees also varying with temperature ; 

 these durations of times of ten hours and twenty-four 

 hours speaking for a very inferior brown straw much 

 knocked about and the grains those, of a very good 

 quality, of red wheat; and then catch up the skim 

 on a cylinder of some such cool substance as china or 

 earthenware," and then let this skim dry, so getting 

 some results ot films of Gold." 



The simplicity of this process for getting gold 

 from wheat is as extraordinary as the language 

 used in describing it; the above being a literal 

 transcript, including the peculiar use of punc- 

 tuation marks. The specification occupies two 

 pages 'in quarto form and can be had at the 

 Patent Office, Sale Branch, 38 Cursitor street. 

 Chancery Lane, for two pence. 



The second of these curious patents is num- 

 bered 1919 and bears the date 2d February, 

 1889. It is described as an ' improved means 

 of detecting the presence of gold and silver un- 

 derground,' and was granted to Samuel Adams 

 Goodman, Jr., of Tyler, in the county of Smith 

 and State of Texas, U. S. A. This specifica- 

 tion also occupies two pages and is accompanied 

 by a plate representing an ordinary glass bottle 

 containing a solid body and a liquid, corked 

 and sealed with wax ; to the cork is fastened a 

 string terminating in a loop. 



Mr. Goodman, farmer, of Texas, makes the 

 following statement : 



"The object of this invention is to enable precious 



metals to be discovered by a process of divination ; 

 and it consists in a composition which has a strong 

 attraction and affinity for gold and silver, the attrac- 

 tion resembling somewhat that of magnetism. In 

 carrying my invention into practice, I place the com- 

 position in a vial or flask, seal it tightly and suspend 

 it by means of a string. The composition referred to 

 is made up of gold, silver, quicksilver and copper, 

 the ingredients being placed in a small vial or flask, 

 together -with a quantity of dilute nitric, or tartaric 

 acid or pure alcohol. * * * 



" In using my gold and silver finder the instrument 

 is held, preferably by the thumb and forefinger of the 

 right hand and steadied with the left hand ; it should 

 be held steady hut not cramped. Then, if there are 

 any precious metals in the immediate neighborhood, 

 the flask will be attracted by such metals and will 

 move towards them at first and will then vibrate, 

 thus indicating the presence of the metal sought for. 



' ' To protect and conceal the contents of the flask, 

 I cover it -with paper, cloth or tin." 



This is substantially the whole claim, in se- 

 curing which Mr. Goodman was assisted by 

 A. M. and Wm. Clark, patent agents of 53 

 Chancery Lane. 



It is satisfactory to note that Texan farmers 

 write English much more clearly than London 

 mercantile clerks. 



Western farmers are hereby warned against 

 attempting to get gold out of their wheat by 

 the Fell process and against seeking for pre- 

 cious metals by the Goodman method. But 

 seriously why are patents granted to persons 

 making such absurd claims ? 



H. Cabeington Bolton. 



COMPLIMENT OR PLAGIARISM. 



The following letter is sent for publication, 

 at Mr. Lefevre's request, by Professor Bemau. 



Messes. Beman and Smith, 



Ann Aeboe, Michigan. 



Gentlemen: I have just seen your reply to 

 Dr. Halsted on page 275 of the current number 

 of Science. 



Much as I regret the unhappy chance that 

 led to the furthest association of my name with 

 that deplorable controversy — being a rational 

 and just man — I do not reproach you, even for 

 omitting to state the intrinsically trivial nature 

 of the parallelism of that sentence in my book 

 with a sentence in Sandeman's preface to his 

 Pelicotetics. It was entirely proper to make 



