March 23, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



473 



the realm of applied thermodynamics. The 

 work of the past year has been in this line of 

 investigation and the results have sustained the 

 view of Commodore Isherwood. 



The schedule of proposed work for the year 

 1900 includes the study of the effect of ' throt- 

 tling' steam, as proposed by Isherwood. 



The publication of these documents for the 

 use of the Congress of Applied Mechanics at 

 the coming International Exposition at Paris 

 gives all interested in this department of re- 

 search and in this kind of instruction an oppor- 

 tunity to learn just what are the methods em- 

 ployed, the apparatus used and the character 

 of the researches best adapted for laboratory 

 work of this sort in the instruction of the young 

 engineer and physicist, as arranged by a pioneer 

 in this field.* The work reported has been ex- 

 tensive, important and admirable in method 

 and in its execution. It has been conducted 

 under circumstances of very great diflflculty, 

 patiently, carefully, persistently, and while few 

 who have not kept in touch with it while in 

 progress can realize what labor and sacrifice 

 have been involved, every specialist in this de- 

 partment will recognize its value and elegance. 

 R. H. Thurston. 



A NEGLECTED DEPARTMENT. 

 The American Society of Mechanical Engi- 

 neers is issuing to its members a circular, 

 prepared by its Council, calling attention to 

 the neglect of the Patent Office of the United 

 States by Congress, to its importance to the 

 country and to its hoppled condition as pro- 

 duced by the refusal of Congress to pro- 

 vide for either suitable accommodations or a 

 sufficient clerical force and staff of exami- 

 ners. Members of the Society are urged to 

 force upon the attention of their members of 

 Congress the necessity of "providing sufficient 

 room, force and facilities for the prompt and 

 proper execution of its work," that arrange- 

 ments be made at once for " providing incom- 



* Documents sur le Lahoratoire de Mecanique de 

 I'Universit^ de Li^ge, etsur I'Enseignement qui y est 

 donne par V. Dwelshauvers-Dery, Professeur de me- 

 canique appliquee et de physique industrielle. Lidge, 

 Charles Desocr, Editeur, 1900. 



bustible receptacles for the records," which 

 records " largely constitute the legal evidence 

 of title of so many of the larger industries 

 of the country," that the library be kept 

 up and properly cared for, that the Patent 

 Office be given the entire control and use of its 

 own building — now occupied largely by ' squat- 

 ters ' from other bureaux — and that its earn- 

 ings be dedicated to its own purposes and 

 improvement. The Patent Office is ' out of 

 practical politics,' and is only prevented from 

 doing its full duty to the country by its lack of 

 space and of force. Yet, up to January 1, 1899, 

 693,979 patents had been granted, and 41,422 

 trade-marks registered. Last year alone 25, 527 

 patents and 2260 trade-marks were added to 

 the record. The accumulations of records and 

 of exhibits has come to be so great as to put it 

 quite beyond the power of the restricted force 

 in its restricted space to properly store, arrange, 

 classify and care for them. The library, which 

 it is imperatively necessary to keep up to the 

 highest state of efficiency, and which should be 

 a complete collection of the technical publica- 

 tions of the world, aud of all time, was last 

 year only allowed $1500 for purchases of books. 

 No funds at all were obtainable for the law 

 library. The whole business of this depart- 

 ment of government, upon which the success 

 of our great industries is so absolutely depend- 

 ent is trammelled, and every industry of the 

 country is embarrassed, by its forced inefficiency. 

 This inefficiency is entirely due to the indiffer- 

 ence of Congress. The Patent Office has accu- 

 mulated out of its own earnings a large amount 

 of available capital — several millions of dollars 

 — and it has not been even allowed to draw 

 upon its own funds to meet imperative needs. 

 So indifferent, in fact, have been some Con- 

 gresses that it is within the experience of the 

 writer that important matters of business, in- 

 volving large interests, have been delayed for 

 weeks through the impracticability of secur- 

 ing a full meeting of a committee, repeatedly 



'^^'^^^^- R. H. Thurston. 



3IUSEUM OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

 During the winter season, the energy of the 

 museum staff has been concentrated on an im- 



