

EXPERIMENTS. 71 



with this publication. Having confined himself to these labors 

 for so long a time, it would have been indeed grateful to the 

 inventor if none of them need to have been made subjects of 

 patents. It is repulsive to the feelings, that improvements re- 

 lating to science and the arts, and especially those of a philan- 

 thropic nature, should be made subjects of money-making and 

 litigation by being patented. The apology he has to offer for 

 doing that which was repugnant to his feelings, is the unavoid- 

 able necessity of the case. At different periods during a course 

 of years, he was unable to prosecute his experiments for want 

 of pecuniary means, and was consequently obliged to obtain 

 them of his friends, upon the prospective value of his inventions, 

 through such legal advantage as was to be had under the patent 

 laws. 



The question may arise in some minds. How does it happen 

 that in this case the claims of one individual are so extensive, 

 including not only the original discovery, but also embracing a 

 large share of the uses and applications that have grown out of 

 it ? The reasons are given at length, under the heads of 

 " American Manufacture," and " Experiments of the Inventor." 

 The principal reason may also be briefly stated here. The 

 general disfavor with which any thing relating to India rubber 

 was regarded in the United States, and the want of pecuniary 

 means to enable the writer to employ others, before, at the time 

 of, and for some time after, the discovery of the heating process, 

 so insulated him from the co-operation, assistance, and sympa- 

 thy of others, that he was compelled to carry on his experiments 

 alone, and in opposition to the unanimous censure or ridicule 

 of all who were at that time acquainted with him and his occu- 

 pation. 



During the progress of the experiments v/ith the substance, 

 new uses and applications were constantly suggested to the 

 mind of the writer. Many of the articles that are specified 

 and described as new in this work, have been experimented 

 upon at different times, during the period of fourteen years. 

 The two applications that have been last completed and 





