Write—keep writing—is the motto of an editor. If he has no ideas, he must dig for them; if he has but little time to arrange them, no matter, the work must be done. Sickness may come upon him; want may stare him in the face, but he must cogitate something for the dear public. Perhaps in his darkest moments, he indites a paragraph that cheers thousands. When almost desponding, his words may put courage into the hearts of millions. Who would be an editor? Yet he has much to encourage him. If he can call no time his own, he is not rusting out, or in unprofitable society. A faithful contributor of the public press, is a man of great influence. No person has more power than himself. He instructs tens of thousands, and leads them to virtue, to honor, to happiness. No man will have more to answer for than the conductor of a corrupt and vacillating press.
The workmen, says a Paris paper, are still busily engaged in excavating Montmarte in quest of holy vases and other riches said to have been deposited there in the early days of the French revolution by the orders of the Lady Superior of the Abbey of Montmarte.—Two workmen, who were at the time charged with transporting the wealth to the place designated, were never after seen, and it is supposed that they were sacrificed to the necessity of the secret. The Superior, at her death, bequeathed the secret to a lady friend, who, in turn, on her death bed, divulged it to her daughter, then thirteen years of age. The child, now a sexagenary, disclosed it to the municipality. Her statements have thus far been found scrupulously correct. Thecesarianoperation is actively going on, an excavation of 50 feet having been made, and the mountain's speedy deliverance of a mine of wealth is anticipated. May it not prove a mouse!
We are informed that the Editorial Committee of the National Association of Inventors have bytheir own requestbeen discharged from the supervision of the new periodical which has recently appeared under the title of 'The Eureka.'
The news by the Great Western which arrived on Wednesday week, was published within four hours in Boston, New Haven, Springfield, Albany, Utica, Rochester, Buffalo, Philadelphia and Baltimore.
The following beautiful extract we find in a recent number of the New York Sun. It is from the pen of Mr. C. D. Stuart, the able correspondent of that paper, now in London.
"On remarking to an Englishman, that I did not see here in London as at home, the artizan, the drayman, the laborer of every kind, with a newspaper in his pocket, which at intervals in his toil he could glance at and be as learned in the condition of his country and the world as the man of fortune, he replied—"No, they have something better to do, they attend to their work." Here lies the rub, and it may be a fear of the sedition of thought that has put these close hampers upon the English press. It would seem by such an argument that the differences of condition are not induced by unholy oppressions, by the trampling for ages of one class upon another until servitude became almost a birth-right—and the law of strength that proved itself in barbarous times the "Supremacy" had at last from concession so long made, become the law of human justice and divine right. The steer may work under his yoke an appointed time, the slave bow mutely through his whole life, but the freeman—has he so fallen, that while the lord revels in his "club-room" and reads not only papers, but gilt edged and velvet bound books, he forsooth being a common "poor devil" not able to enjoy a tithe of his unearned luxury—has something better than reading to do. Let him dig then! There are those in the young republic whose spirit begins to animate the world, who, though they toil, remember, that it was said in the beginning to all men, "thou shalt earn thy bread by the sweat of thy brow," and will read freely as they drink in the common air, and enjoy the common light. There are classes in England intelligent no doubt beyond any other people in the world—classes that enjoy the means of making themselves so, but as a mass they will in no-wise compare with their progeny, the Anglo-Saxons. All that they have here in the main we have got, and our wits have not been blunted by a contact with the wilderness, and the difficulties of founding an empire "in the Woods." I see now more clearly than ever where our faults lie; contrast exposes them; but they are all twigs upon the rising trunk, which the keen knife of national experience, age, and the calm that must succeed the rush and tumult of our giant and boisterous infancy will cut off.—With greater pride than ever, however much I may like the Old World, and especially England, I look over the Ocean to America for an exemplification of what the world has not known, anEarthlyparadise for humanity.—It is but three quarters of a century, remember, since we were nationally born: give as the fourteen hundred years that have nursed and cultivated this Island, and where is the limit of our perfection and strength? On either side of that Mississippi back-bone of ours to the Oceans, and as far north and south as freedom and knowledge can pierce, America must be a garden and a goal, filled with every excellence and beauty, beyond which there can be no advance. We shall not live to see it, but it will come, only let us pull careful and steady. We have been Dickens'd and Trollop'd, and it should do us good. Nothing but the grandeur that lies germinating in our heart provokes this idle spleen from our neighbors, and the moment we cool down and think and curb ourselves the rest is secure."
"On remarking to an Englishman, that I did not see here in London as at home, the artizan, the drayman, the laborer of every kind, with a newspaper in his pocket, which at intervals in his toil he could glance at and be as learned in the condition of his country and the world as the man of fortune, he replied—"No, they have something better to do, they attend to their work." Here lies the rub, and it may be a fear of the sedition of thought that has put these close hampers upon the English press. It would seem by such an argument that the differences of condition are not induced by unholy oppressions, by the trampling for ages of one class upon another until servitude became almost a birth-right—and the law of strength that proved itself in barbarous times the "Supremacy" had at last from concession so long made, become the law of human justice and divine right. The steer may work under his yoke an appointed time, the slave bow mutely through his whole life, but the freeman—has he so fallen, that while the lord revels in his "club-room" and reads not only papers, but gilt edged and velvet bound books, he forsooth being a common "poor devil" not able to enjoy a tithe of his unearned luxury—has something better than reading to do. Let him dig then! There are those in the young republic whose spirit begins to animate the world, who, though they toil, remember, that it was said in the beginning to all men, "thou shalt earn thy bread by the sweat of thy brow," and will read freely as they drink in the common air, and enjoy the common light. There are classes in England intelligent no doubt beyond any other people in the world—classes that enjoy the means of making themselves so, but as a mass they will in no-wise compare with their progeny, the Anglo-Saxons. All that they have here in the main we have got, and our wits have not been blunted by a contact with the wilderness, and the difficulties of founding an empire "in the Woods." I see now more clearly than ever where our faults lie; contrast exposes them; but they are all twigs upon the rising trunk, which the keen knife of national experience, age, and the calm that must succeed the rush and tumult of our giant and boisterous infancy will cut off.—With greater pride than ever, however much I may like the Old World, and especially England, I look over the Ocean to America for an exemplification of what the world has not known, anEarthlyparadise for humanity.—It is but three quarters of a century, remember, since we were nationally born: give as the fourteen hundred years that have nursed and cultivated this Island, and where is the limit of our perfection and strength? On either side of that Mississippi back-bone of ours to the Oceans, and as far north and south as freedom and knowledge can pierce, America must be a garden and a goal, filled with every excellence and beauty, beyond which there can be no advance. We shall not live to see it, but it will come, only let us pull careful and steady. We have been Dickens'd and Trollop'd, and it should do us good. Nothing but the grandeur that lies germinating in our heart provokes this idle spleen from our neighbors, and the moment we cool down and think and curb ourselves the rest is secure."
Erastus Corning & Co. are about establishing a factory near the ferry at Troy, for the manufacture of all kinds of glass ware. The work is fast progressing, and in about four weeks they will commence blowing. It will afford employment to a large number of men, and will, no doubt, meet with that success which it certainly merits.
The editor of the New Haven Herald sets it down as a fact in natural history, proved by his experience for years, that when a traveller rides up to a toll gate, the keeper—if a man, invariably brings out a box, or a handful of change; but if a woman, she comes out and takes the traveller's coin, and then goes back for the change.
Snags and other obstructions in the Western rivers, are now denominatedPolk stalks.
Mercury, the nearest planet to the sun, is a globe of about 3140 miles in diameter, rotating on its axis in 24 hours and 5 1-2 minutes, and revolving round the central luminary, at a distance of 37,000,000 of miles, in 88 days.—From the earth it can only be seen occasionally in the morning or evening, as it never rises before, or sets after the sun, at a greater distance of the time than 1 hour and 50 minutes. It appears to the naked eye as a small and brilliant star, but when observed through a telescope, is horned like the moon, because we only see a part of the surface which the sun is illuminating. Mountains of great height have been observed on the surface of this planet, particularly in its lower or southern hemisphere. One has been calculated at 10 3-4 miles in height, being about eight times higher, in proportion to the bulk of the planet, than the loftiest mountains upon earth. The matter of Mercury is of much greater density than that of the earth, equalling lead in weight; so that a human being placed upon its surface would be so strongly drawn towards the ground as scarcely to be able to crawl.
Venus is a globe of about 7800 miles in diameter, or nearly the size of the earth, rotating on its axis in 23 hours, 21 minutes, and 19 seconds, and revolving round the sun, at the distance of 68,000,000 of miles in 225 days.—Like Mercury, it is visible to an observer on the earth only in the morning and evening, but for a greater space of time before sunrise and after sunset. It appears to us the most brilliant and beautiful of all the planetary and stellar bodies, occasionally giving so much light as to produce a sensible shadow. Observed through a telescope, it appears horned, on account of our seeing only a part of its luminous surface. The illuminating part of Venus occasionally presents slight spots. It has been ascertained that its surface is very unequal, the greatest mountains being in the southern hemisphere, as in the case of both Mercury and the Earth. The higher mountains in Venus range between 10 and 22 miles in altitude. The planet is also enveloped in an atmosphere like that by which animal and vegetable life is supported on earth; and it has consequently a twilight. Venus performs its revolution round the sun in 225 days. Mercury and Venus have been termed the Inferior Planets, as being placed within the orbit of the Earth.
The Earth, the third planet in order, and one of the smaller size, though not the smallest, is important to us, as the theatre on which our race have been placed to 'live, move, and have their being.' It is 7902 miles in mean diameter, rotating on its axis in 24 hours, at a mean distance of 95,000,000 of miles from the sun, round which it revolves in 365 days, 5 hours, 50 minutes, and 57 seconds. As a planet viewed from another of the planets, suppose the moon, 'It would present a pretty, variegated, and sometimes a mottled appearance. The distinction between its seas, oceans, continents, and islands, would be clearly marked; they would appear like brighter and darker spots upon its disc. The continents would appear bright, and the ocean of a darker hue, because water absorbs the greater part of the solar light that falls upon it. The level plains, (excepting perhaps, such regions as the Arabian deserts of sand) would appear of a somewhat darker color than the more elevated and mountainous regions, as we find to be the case on the surface of the moon. The islands would appear like small bright specks on the darker surface of the ocean; and the lakes and mediterranean seas like darker spots or broad streaks intersecting the bright parts, or the land. By its revolution round its axis, successive portions of the surface would be brought into view, and present a different aspect from the parts which preceded,'—(Dick's Celestial Scenery, 135.)
The form of the earth, and probably that of every other planet, is not strictly spheroidal; that is, flattened a little at the poles, or extremities of the axis. The diameter of the earth at the axis is 56 miles less than in the cross direction. This peculiarity of the form is a consequence of the rotatory motion, as will be afterwards explained.
LATEST NEWS
The steamer Hibernia arrived at Boston on Saturday last, thirteen days from Liverpool.
The British Government and people have manifested so much violent opposition to the marriage of the youngest son of Louis Phillipe to a sister of the Queen of Spain, that the celebration of the nuptials has been postponed for the present, if not forever; and there is apparent danger of a rupture between England and France on this account.
In Spain, Don Carlos having escaped from imprisonment, it is expected that a serious insurrection will immediately take place.
Property to the amount of $800,000 has been destroyed by incendiary fires at Leipsic. A line of electric telegraph has been put in operation between Brussels and Antwerp.
Twenty thousand bales of cotton were sold at Liverpool on the 14th of September.
According to recent intelligence by private letters, Gen. Kearney has taken quiet possession of Santa Fe, notwithstanding the considerable preparations which the Mexicans had made to defend it. Gen. Armijo had assembled 5000 troops to defend the Canon Pass, but on account of the disaffection and insubordination of his officers and men, he was constrained to retreat on the approach of a few companies of Americans.
Gen. Taylor had advanced steadily, though slowly on Monterey, and has probably ere this, taken possession, notwithstanding the strong force, and full supply of well mounted cannon, concentrated to oppose him. Should he prove successful in this, it would seem that Mexico is destined to fall under the protection of the United States, whether our Government desires it or not. What can we do? The Mexicans will neither treat nor fight; and although our armies move as slow as possible, they cannot well avoid progressing through the country in time, and are bound to furnish protection as far as they go. We shall see.
The steamer Great Western, which arrived at this port last week, reports having encountered one of the most terrific storms ever known on the Atlantic Ocean. Capt. Mathews is said to have remarked that at three different times the ship was approached by seas of such magnitude and power that he thought destruction inevitable; but unexpectedly each broke just before reaching the vessel. The passengers assembled in the cabin where they joined in religious service, and in the solemn administration of the Lord's supper. Their lives were preserved, but some of them appeared to forget their obligations to their preserver very quick after getting safe on shore.
Douglas, who escaped from slavery and found his way to England, has received marked attention from the nobility and gentry of England. He has attended their soirees, occupied the most honorable positions at their dinner parties, rode in their carriages, flirted with their daughters, walked arm in arm through their gardens with lords, viscounts, counts and mayors of cities.
Many of the girls employed in the mills of the Nashua Corporation, have refused to work by candlelight. They may be right.
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Publishers of the Scientific American, New York City.
Terms.—$2 a year; ONE DOLLAR IN ADVANCE—the remainder in 6 months.
Postmastersare respectfully requested to receive subscriptions for this paper, to whom a discount of 25 per cent will be allowed.
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The great difference existing between metallurgical operations of the present day, and those of a former period, is owing chiefly to the ameliorations produced by the application of the science of chemistry to themodus operandiof the various changes taking place during the operations, from their commencement to their termination.
Copper and some other metals are now made to assume forms in the chemist's laboratory, that formerly required great artistical skill for their production—the chemist simply making use of such agents and forces as are at his command, and over which he has, by close analytical study, acquired perfect control. Our object, at present, is only to advert to the chemical investigations more recently made on the manufacture of iron, treating of those changes that occur in the ore, coal and flux, that are thrown in at the mouth of the furnace, and in the air thrown in from below. For most that will be said on this subject, we are principally indebted to the recent interesting researches of M. Ebelman.
The importance of a knowledge of the facts to be brought forward, in this article, will be apparent to every one in any way acquainted with the manufacture of iron. It will be seen that the time is not far distant when the economy in the article of fuel will amount in value to the present profit of many of the works. The consequences must be, that many of those works that are abandoned will be resumed, and others erected in localities formerly thought unfit.
It is well known that the blast furnace is the first into which the ore is introduced, for the purpose of converting it into malleable iron, and much, therefore, depends upon the state in which the pig metal passes from this furnace, whether subsequent operations will furnish an iron of the first quality or not.
In putting the blast furnace into operation, the first step is to heat it for some time with coal only. After the furnace has arrived at a proper temperature, ore, fuel and flux, are thrown in alternately, in small quantities, so as to have the three ingredients properly mixed in their descent. In from 25 to 48 hours from the time when the ore is first thrown in, the entire capacity of the furnace, from the tuyer to the mouth, is occupied with the ore, fuel and flux, in their various stages of transformation.
In order to explain clearly, and in as short space as possible, what these transformations are, and how they are brought about, we may consider:—1. The changes that take place in the descending mass, composed of ore, fuel and flux. 2. The changes that take place in the ascending mass, composed of air and its hygrometric moisture, thrown in at the tuyer. 3. The chemical action going on between the ascending and descending masses. 4. The composition of the gases in various parts of the furnace during its operation. 5. The causes that render necessary the great heat of the blast furnace.
1.Changes that take place in the descending mass, composed of ore, coal and flux.—By coal is here meant charcoal; when any other species of fuel is alluded to, it will be specified. In the upper half of the fire-room the materials are subjected to a comparatively low temperature, and they lose only the moisture, volatile matter, hydrogen, and carbonic acid, that they may contain; this change taking place principally in the lower part of the upper half of the fire-room.
In the lower half of the fire-room, the ore is the only material that undergoes a change, it being converted wholly or in part into iron or magnetic oxide of iron—the coal is not altered, no consumption of it taking place from the mouth down to the commencement of the boshes.
From the commencement of the boshes down to the tuyer, the reduction of the ore is completed. Very little of the coal is consumed between the boshes and in the upper part of the hearth; the principal consumption of it taking place in the immediate neighborhood of the tuyer.
The fusion of the iron and slag occurs at a short distance above the tuyer, and it is in the hearth of the furnace that the iron combines with a portion of coal to form the fusible carburet or pig-iron. It is also on the hearth that the flux combines with the siliceous and other impurities of the ore. This concludes the changes which the ore, coal and flux, undergo, from the mouth of the furnace to the tuyer.
If the fuel used be wood, or partly wood, it is during its passage through the upper half of the fire-room that its volatile parts are lost, and it becomes converted into charcoal. M. Ebelman ascertained that wood, at the depth of ten feet, in a fire-room twenty-six feet high, preserved its appearance after an exposure for 1 3-4 of an hour, and that the mineral mixed with it preserved its moisture at this depth; but three and a half feet lower, an exposure of 3 1-4 hours reduced the wood to perfect charcoal, and the ore to magnetic oxide. The temperature of the upper half of the fire-room, when wood is used, is lower than in the case of charcoal, from the great amount of heat made latent by the vapor arising from the wood. In the case of bituminous coal, Bunsen and Playfair find that it has to descend still lower before it is perfectly coked.
After the wood is completely charred, or the coal become coked, the subsequent changes are the same that happen in the charcoal furnaces.
To be continued.
animalculae
The fact is generally known that nearly all liquids contain a variety of minute living animals, though in some they are too small for observation, even with a microscope. In others, especially in water that has been long stagnant, these animals appear not only in hideous forms, but with malignant and voracious propensities. The print at the head of this article purports to be a microscopic representation of a single drop of such water, with the various animals therein, and some of the inventors and venders of the various improved filters for the Croton water, would have no objection to the prevalence of the opinion that this water contains all the variety of monsters represented in this cut. But the fact is far otherwise; and it is doubtful whether these animals could frequently be detected in the Croton water, with the best solar microscope. Nevertheless, the fact is readily and clearly established that the Croton water contains a quantity of deleterious matter, which is arrested by the filters; and, on this account, we cheerfully and heartily recommend the adoption of filters by all who use this water, from either the public or private hydrants. To this end we would call the special attention of our city readers to the improved filters noticed under the head of "New Inventions."
At Berlin and London the longest day has sixteen and a half hours. At Stockholm and Upsal, the longest has eighteen and a half hours, and the shortest five and a half. At Hamburg, Dantzic, and Stettin, the longest day has seventeen hours, and the shortest seven. At St. Petersburg and Tobolsk, the longest has nineteen, and the shortest five hours. At Toreno, in Finland, the longest day has twenty-one hours and a half, and the shortest two and a half. At Wandorbus, in Norway, the day lasts from the 21st of May to the 22d of July, without interruption; and in Spitzbergen, the longest day lasts three months and a half.
The editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer, having been one of a recent excursion party on the opening of a new section of railroad, remarks on the occasion, 'It is really amusing to see the sensation a train of railroad cars produces on all animate beings, human and brute, for the first few times it passes over a section of road. We saw herds of cattle, sheep, and horses, stand for a few seconds and gaze at the passing train, then turn and run for a few rods with all possible speed, stop and look again with eyes distended, and head and ears erect, seemingly so frightened at the tramp of the iron horse as to have lost the power of locomotion. Men women and children also seemed dumbfounded at the strange and unusual spectacle. As the cars came rumbling along early in the morning, they seemed to bring everybody out of bed, all eager to catch a glance as we whirled past. Old men and women, middle-aged and youth, without waiting to put on a rag in addition to their night gear, were seen at the doors, windows and round the corners of log huts and dwellings, gaping with wonder and astonishment at the new, and to them grand and terrific sight.'
At the last special meeting of the National Association of Inventors, called to hear the report on the rights and duties of the Editors of the Eureka, on a resolution offered by one of the Editorial Committee who had been dissatisfied by the proceedings of the 'Acting Editors,' and refused to attend their sittings, it was reported that the 'Acting Editors,' had exceeded their authority, and a majority of the Editorial Committee resigned and a resolution was passed that the resignation should be published in the Eureka, but it has not appeared. Mr. Kingsley, one of the 'Acting Editors,' spoke at the said meeting of having consulted counsel who had declared that the Association were under a legal obligation to furnish Messrs. Kingley & Pirsson with matter for publication in the Eureka, and on the understanding that they had advanced money they were allowed to have the first use of the reports and advertisements of the Association. But as they in effect refuse to publish a resolution of great importance to the reputation of all the parties interested, it is left for the public to decide whether the 'Acting Editors' are in any respect entitled to the name they have assumed for their paper.
One of the Editorial Committee.
You're a broth of creature,In form and in feature,—It's myself that now tells you that same,And sure, by my troth,I'll not be very wroth.If you'll plaze me by changing your nameWhat a swate little wife,As a partner for life,My darlint, 'tis you might be living;And I'm just the boy,To wish you much joy,When your heart it's to me you'll be giving.I'm half dead—botheration!With sad consternation—Of your flirting it is that I'm speaking;So plaze to be thinking,When you're winking and blinking.It's my own honest heart that you're braking.The divil a haper,Will I stand of a caper,—'Twould kill me to find you deceiving;By my sowl and I'd die,And that same is no lie,Before I'd be kilt by me grieving.Then spake but the word.My nate little bird,That you're niver a man's but mine;And straight to the praist,It's myself that'll haste,To make you myswate waluntine![Teddy Magowan.
You're a broth of creature,In form and in feature,—It's myself that now tells you that same,And sure, by my troth,I'll not be very wroth.If you'll plaze me by changing your name
What a swate little wife,As a partner for life,My darlint, 'tis you might be living;And I'm just the boy,To wish you much joy,When your heart it's to me you'll be giving.
I'm half dead—botheration!With sad consternation—Of your flirting it is that I'm speaking;So plaze to be thinking,When you're winking and blinking.It's my own honest heart that you're braking.
The divil a haper,Will I stand of a caper,—'Twould kill me to find you deceiving;By my sowl and I'd die,And that same is no lie,Before I'd be kilt by me grieving.
Then spake but the word.My nate little bird,That you're niver a man's but mine;And straight to the praist,It's myself that'll haste,To make you myswate waluntine!
[Teddy Magowan.
A youthful volunteer, the other day, out in Arkansas, was taunting a married gentleman, who had a wife and three small children depending upon him, for not rallying to the standard of his country, soon after the requisition upon that State arrived. 'Tom,' said our friend, 'youboyscan whip the Mexicans, but should old England take a hand in the pie,I'lljoin, for it will requiremento whip the English.'
We recollect that a weekly paper was started, some years ago, in one of the Western States, the terms of which were $2,50 in advance, $3 at the end of the year—to which the editor jocosely added in a paragraph, 'and $5 if never paid.' We think that most of his subscribers took the paper upon the latter terms, since it has been non est. He played a joke upon himself.
A Frenchman, being about to remove his shop, his landlord inquired the reason, stating, at the time, that it was considered a very good stand for business. He replied, with a shrug of the shoulders, "Oh, yes, he's very good stand for de businis; by gar, me stan' all day, for nobody come to make memove!"
Represent me in my portrait, said a gentleman to his painter, with a book in my hand reading aloud. Paint my servant also in a corner where he cannot be seen, but in such a manner that he may hear me when I call him.
Joe Snooks, seeing some farmer's boys employed, some at hoeing and others at mowing, in the same field, remarked that they were ahoe-mow-geneous set of fellows.
The Louisville Journal, philosophizing on the recent commencement of several newspapers, gives the following poetic remark:
'Income and ink'em,Although you may link'em,Are not such first cousins as some folks may think'em.'
'Income and ink'em,Although you may link'em,Are not such first cousins as some folks may think'em.'
We did not expect to mention large peaches again; but the Louisville Journal speaks of a lot which measured nearlytwelve incheseach, in circumference.
The following remarks and proposition, which we copy from the 'Farmer and Mechanic,' was written by a prominent member of the National Association of Inventors, and expresses the sentiments of a large majority of the members of that Association. No person who carefully examines the subject, can fail of seeing that the cause of justice and equity, as well as the advance of improvement, would be promoted by the substitution of the principles therein expressed, in place of some of those embraced in the existing patent laws of the United States.
"We advance the principle, which may be novel to some, that if the inventor apply genius, time, toil, and capital, to produce anything he may consider valuable, he has the same right to the exclusive use and enjoyment of it as the man who may apply time, and toil, and capital, without genius. That the application of genius does not divest him of any right enjoyed by all others in society.
It is true, the creations of genius are sometimes intangible, but that is no objection; all rights are abstractions, until embodied in constitutions and laws, and rendered practical by penalties.
If an inventor can define the limits of his claim, he is entitled to protection in it just the same as when a deed is put on record, limiting the boundaries of a lot of ground. All rights to real property are traced back to original discovery and occupancy, and now all the inventor desires, or nearly all, in any patent law, is a simple registry, just as we find in our Halls of Record. The Commissioner of Patents should be called the Register of Patents. Indeed, grants of land, as they are termed, have frequently been registered by the name of patents, in our Halls of Records, so strong is the analogy, if not perfect similarity.
Then what should be the Patent Law? We answer, by sections, at once. The first should be declaratory of the rights of inventors, as follows:
Sec.1. The application of capital, time, skill and ingenuity, to the production of new and useful discoveries, shall be protected under the 5th article of the Amendments to the Constitution, which forbids private use without the consent of the owner, and for public use without just compensation.
Sec.2. Should any invention or discovery be deemed of great importance to the general prosperity, its value shall he appraised on the requisition of the Secretary of State, which value, which ascertained, as hereinafter provided, shall be paid to the inventor from the Treasury of the United States, and, until this payment shall take place, the discovery of any inventor duly qualified to take out a patent, shall remain his property, and inalienable without his consent or the consent of his legal representatives.
Sec.3. Any inventor or discoverer who may desire a patent for any discovery of his own, shall make oath or solemnly affirm thereto, and any specification, drawing or model, he may see fit to deposit with the Register of Patents, shall be received by him and recorded, as a matter of evidence of original right.
Sec.4. There shall be no salaried Examiners of Patents, but each patentee may contract on any terms he may see fit with any Patent Agent or Examiner, to examine the Records of the Patent office, on the payment of ten dollars fee for the use of the books and privilege of the Patent Office, and no more fees than this first $10 shall be charged on any single patent, excepting five dollars each for every record of transfer of rights or parts of rights. Nor shall the fees be raised until it may be discovered that they will not support the expenses of the Patent Office. And it is provided, no expenses for the improvement of agriculture, or any purpose foreign to the business of the registry of Patents, and the necessary books and buildings, and salaries of the register, librarian and two clerks and door-keeper, shall be charged upon the Patent Fund.
Sec.5. The Commissioner of Patents shall give advice of a scientific and legal character as he may be desired and qualified to do, to inventors. He may guaranty the originality of any invention at his own risk, at any price be may agree upon with any inventor to give certificates thereof, and this shall not interfere with his regular salary. But it is provided that the Commissioner shall not in any manner prevent others from examining and guarantying the originality of any invention for which a patent may be desired. And it is also provided that any Commissioner, Register, Clerk, Attorney, Examiner or Agent, who may give a guaranty or warrant of the novelty of any invention shall be held responsible in costs on any information to be filed by any party who may feel himself aggrieved, to rescind the patent which may not be an original invention of the claimant so guarantied.
Sec.6. To rescind a patent, any party feeling himself aggrieved may file information in the District Court of the United States, of the district in which the patentee resides, notifying the patentee of such information filed, with what the former intends to prove, and where the patentee may discover the evidence relied upon by the informer, on which, the patentee may surrender his patent without costs should he so elect. But should the patentee determine to stand trial, he shall plead to such information within twenty days, denying the allegations of the informer, on which the trial shall proceed in its regular order on the calendar, and the patentee, if found wilfully and knowingly a monopolizer of the public rights, shall suffer costs and the reasonable expenses and counsel fee of the informer. And if such inventor shall make oath he has not been enabled to examine the proofs on which the informer relies to rescind his patent, he shall be allowed such further time as the court having jurisdiction may prescribe. And the court may make an order to the informer to exhibit fully his evidence of priority of invention, and no other evidence than has been exhibited to the inventor excepting rebutting, shall be introduced on the trial to rescind the patent.
Sec.7. The Commissioner of Patents shall collect and keep in the Patent Office all the scientific works published and useful for references, and pay the expenses of the same from the patent fund. But the Commissioner shall not subscribe for more than three copies of any publication for the use of the office as aforesaid out of the Patent Fund.
Sec.8. The application of any known machinery or matter of combination of machinery, or matter to new purposes or old purposes after a new method, or any means by which useful results are to be more advantageously produced than formerly, shall be the subject of a patent.
Sec.9. A method, plan, design, or any new and useful idea, which can be defined, shall be the subject of a patent.
Sec.10. A simple change of form shall not entitle any one to evade the patent of any inventor by a new patent.
The above are the principal improvements desired by inventors. Some think it not well to ask for all they want at once, but we think differently, for it will be said hereafter, when new amendments are desired, 'Gentlemen, you petitioned for the very provisions you now seek to have annulled. Your own committee was here at Washington assenting.' What answer will there be to this? None can be made without confusion of face for having over assented to a wrong.
We do not desire to censure the committee charged with the mission to Washington.—They have thought to act prudently and for the greatest good. We differ only on the real expediency of the case. We do not believe that such men as Benton, Calhoun, and other kindred spirits, ask or desire anything but what they think is right.
They will not sacrifice their reputation against a body of men to whom the Republic owe so much, and who have so long suffered in silence. The law as it now stands, is an improvement on the former law, and considering how low was the state of morals in former times respecting inventors, such sentiments as have been advanced by Judge Woodbury, and which are in spirit the same as the above, are destined ultimately to prevail. And those who choose to record their names in opposition are free to do so, as are also the tribe of persecutors who in all ages have stoned the prophets.
The principle endeavored to be followed throughout, is that of the common and statutes laws respecting the rights to real property. It may tend to create litigation, as to claims which are now refused entirely, but if no litigation or less is the grand desideratum, why not establish a dictatorship at once? Theipse dixitof one man will then prevent all argument. But the rights of property and jury trial in all cases are ours by the constitution—and equally are we entitled by the constitution to the pursuit of happiness and wealth in ærial regions as on the common earth—and if we may not be divested of our other property without certain laws and a fair jury trial, why should we be of patent property? And if patent agents presume to beguile honest inventors, why should they not be held responsible? They may refuse to back their operation by a guaranty, but then the inventor has a right to know it, and to know he has a remedy, should they do so improperly. The Clerk of one of our Courts guarantied the searches of one of his Clerks as to a piece of real property, and had to pay some ten thousand dollars, and why should it not be so.
When a tailor makes a coat he warrants it to fit, and when a surgeon sets a leg unscientifically he is also responsible in damages to his patient, and as is an attorney for negligent practice. Holding examiners responsible will leave the patent office open to the filing of new claims at the same time that it will prevent a world of litigation, favoritism and corruption.
We are not striking at our present worthy Commissioner, Mr. Burke. We are friendly to him. But the more honest a man may be, the sooner will he find himself displaced, if the office he holds may be used to grasp a vast amount of patronage and property.'
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