7® Of Patents. 
until this shall be done, the present communication may 
serve to afford some idea of the manner in which the mar- 
shals have executed their instructions, and of the facts 
which their returns contain. 
Allow me to assure you, once more, of my great es r 
teem and regard,* 
SAMUEL L. MITCHILL, 
No. 9. 
[The subject of patents having of late been brought 
forward in congress, the following remarks &c. may 
not be irrelevant at this period. The great number of 
patents annually granted by the United States, renders 
it proper for every person to be in some measure ac- 
quainted with the intention of government in thus se- 
curing to every man the reward due to his ingenuity. 
There can be, however, little doubt, that many of the 
patents thus obtained, would not be capable of sus- 
taining a just claim for the exclusive privileges ac- 
quired ; and as the public is really injured under such 
circumstances, any observations tending to place the 
. business of patents in a proper light, cannot but be 
useful.]— Ed. f 
([Remarks of the Editors of the Retrospect of Philosophical, &c. 
Discoveries, in relation to Patents, vol. 5. p. 554.] 
u The perusal of this specification induces us to advert 
to the opinion entertained and acted upon by many paten- 
tees, namely, that it is only necessary to describe the 
principle of an invention, without minutely explaining 
* It would be very acceptable to the Editor to receive from the different 
states, complete statistical tables, founded on the returns of the late census. 
Such communications cannot fail of being in the highest degree interesting, as 
Well as of great importance to all classes of society. 
f It is proposed to introduce into the Emporium a list of all the patents which 
have been granted in Great Britain since the year 1796, in regular succession ; 
and also those which have issued in the United States, by which reference may 
readily be made to the respective papers in order to check any improper pro- 
ceedings which may take place on the part of patentees for similar objects. 
