1 87 1.] Thoughts Suggested by Patent Rights. 517 



if few men knew who first invented anything. It is quite 

 sufficient for a man to say that he believes he has a 

 right legal and moral to apply for a patent, and that no 

 man has a right to oppose him. This would: also allow a 

 man to have his patent taken out by another man chosen by 

 him. What is it to the community whether the real 

 inventor's name is given or not ? We say again, the 

 inventor would prefer, as a rule, to hide his name, because 

 money is the object of inventors in the useful arts. A 

 patent is a matter of business. If an inventor wants fame, 

 he seeks it by publishing his inventions in journals or 

 scientific societies. This of itself is a sufficient answer 

 to those men who insist on saying that inventions would be 

 as numerous without patents as with. 



It has been proposed that no questions shall be asked in 

 taking a patent — that is, that every man shall patent what he 

 pleases. This looks quite a patent agent's idea to increase 

 business. We think it a mistake. It will help many men 

 to impose on the public. They are too much helped 

 already, and men with impunity even use the word patent 

 when there is no patent. It is a confusion of right and 

 wrong, and this is an abundant reason for refusing such a 

 system. It is in reality practised now but not avowed. 

 We object to the practice and the avowal. Let a patent be 

 a real invention, with truth on the side of both the con- 

 tracting parties — the patentee and the government. 



A proposal has been made to extend the duration of a 

 patent to twenty-one years. With our opinions we cannot 

 object to this. We know by abundant observation that it 

 is difficult in the space of fourteen years to bring a patent, 

 even an excellent one, into use, and we know, also, that 

 expenses must be incurred during the whole time. This is 

 very contrary indeed to the supposition of some men who 

 imagine that an invention is an idea caught by accident and 

 given to the public without expense. Men labour for the 

 whole fourteen years, not only endeavouring to perfect the 

 manufacture, but to teach the public its advantages. If 

 fashion should suddenly desire a mauve or magenta colour, 

 the lucky manufacturer gains money rapidly, because 

 fashion has a method of teaching the whole Christian world 

 its ideas, principles, and practice in a few months, and tho- 

 roughly outstrips all societies by whatever name for the 

 improvement of mankind in everything whatever. But let 

 it be shown that certain kinds of water must not be drunk at 

 all, and that others require at least to be filtered, ages seem 

 insufficient to teach this, and even a plague can do it but 



