applied to these subjects, on the ground that property can The real subject of property in intellectual labour is the right of multiplying copies; such right, like many others well known to the law, is of an incorporeal nature, and may be regarded as distinct from the material form in or by which the original is presented to the public. The author has possession of, and consequently property in, his manuscript or other results of intellectual labour; the purchaser of a book, or a machine, has a right to use such book or machine at his pleasure, except only to of such property. To take a simple illustration: one person is in possession of a secret of great commercial value in the arts and manufactures; he has the sole and exclusive privilege, possession, and control of it, and the question is how will you induce him, or make it worth his while to disclose that for the benefit of his fellowcreatures. That is the simple question; its solution is attempted by, and the main object of, all patent laws; and if a system free from the admitted defects of the patent system already in existence can be suggested, by all means let it be substituted. multiply copies thereof for the use of others. This ex-been discovered long ere now by some one else, that a clusive right of multiplying copies is the subject of property; and inasmuch as the process, so to speak, of such multiplication differs with different subjects, the practical or municipal regulations by which such multiplication is regulated or prohibited may be expected to present corresponding varieties. The objections to this species of property have usually been confined to certain supposed inconveniences either to the author or the public; but on principle it is difficult to conceive what distinction can be drawn between the right to the benefit of the accumulations of labour, whether phy; sical or mental. Is the more highly-gifted or educated individual, whose labour may, so to speak, be 99-100ths mental, and an 100th physical, to be treated on a different principle to the individual whose labour is 100th mental, and 99-100ths physical. Whenever the question of the propriety of property in intellectual labour is sented in this shape, the opponents shrink from the inevitable consequence of their own principle, seek to shelter themselves behind differences and distinctions in the objects and results of intellectual labour-distinctions and differences, not of kind, but of degree. pre Property in intellectual labour is recognised, as copyright in literature, music, and the fine arts; copyright in designs, as applicable to the arts and manufactures and patent-right in inventions. In one respect these various subjects are identical, namely, in the exercise of mind as independent of the material form in which they are inbodied. It has been said that the case of copyright is wholly different; that the author of a book gives something to, and takes nothing from, mankind; that if Milton had not written "Paradise Lost," it is extremely improbable it would never have been written at all; whereas, if Watt had not published his invention, it would most probably have steam engine is worked more economically where the steam is condensed in a separate vessel than in the cylinder. It is perfectly true that an inventor may, in many instances, be said to have forestalled time; but this is strictly true only of those cases in which the wants of wants, in the progress of society, would probably suggest society suggest inconveniences to be overcome; those or lead to the means of supplying them; in all such cases the inventor may be said to have advanced the period of tion advantages and conveniences which would only have a particular event, to have afforded to the present generabeen enjoyed by posterity, and thus to have accelerated the progress of civilization, a result I should conceive entitling him to be rewarded by his contemporaries. It is impossible to compare the probabilities or improbabilities of the production of a particular work, or the making of a particular invention at another time than actually took place; and I am unable to understand why minds of suitable inclinations and tendencies should be less likely to select the subject adopted by Milton than the subject adopted by Watt, for the exercise of their talents. Such speculations, however, are of little avail, and no one can deny that in either case there was the exercise of mind quite independant of the material form in which the ideas, the result of such exercise, were embodied. The assumption that books add to the intellectual resources of the world, capable of being used the next day, but that an invention, the subject of a patent, prevents the manufacturer from using not only it but anything like it, is fallacious. The purchaser of a book or a machine has an exclusive right to use the same as he pleases, but is not at liberty to make a copy thereof, or a similar machine, and to sell the same for his own profit. The making of another machine, or of another copy of the book, without the license or consent of the author or inventor, are analogous; but it is from that alone which the public are excluded, and not from the legitimate use either of the work or of the machine, when procured by lawful means. The creations of the mind, whether embodied in a book, a piece of music, a painting, a design, or an invention, resemble, and are analagous to, each other in this,-that there has been an exercise of intellectual qualities independent of the transference and embodiment, so to speak, of such qualities to and in some material form; such creations of the mind are also analagous to, and resemble each other in the nature of the property which can exist or be acquired therein, but such property is necessarily different in its incidents and mode of enjoyment from property in land, houses, or personal chattels, The idea embodied in a composition, or in an invention, was wholly in the control of the author before such em- A book, in addition to affording instruction and amusebodiment; the development of the idea, or the disclosure ment on perusal, may afford the means of producing an of the secret, was wholly within his power; he had also article of manufacture useful to the public, or of an instruexclusive possession of property in the composition or in- ment like the kaleidoscope of Sir David Brewster, calculated vention, that is, in the material form in which the idea is to contribute to the amusement of thousands, of which embodied, as well as in the idea before publication thereof; copies might be multiplied ad infinitum on an inspection but so soon as the idea becomes communicated to others of the instrument, without the purchase of a single copy by publication, exclusive possession is gone; others are of his work. Can any reason be assigned why the author able to embody the same idea into material forms, and should not be allowed that additional reward for the adtheir exclusion from so doing is matter of positive law and ditional or extra value of his work, as affording the means municipal regulation, according to the nature of the subject. of constructing such an instrument. Works of fiction, No one can deny the property in the original manu- and many celebrated works on science and literature, script, or drawing, or model, so long as it continues in relate to subjects not calculated to improve the arts and the possession of its author; but publication, which is manufactures of the country. The author of a novel has essential to the public deriving any benefit from the result copyright in his book, and can prohibit any one multiplyof intellectual labour, has become an essential conditioning copies thereof without his consent, though he cannot prevent any one reading from such copy to an audience for profit. The author of a dramatic piece, or of a musical composition, has copyright therein, and the first representation or performance is equivalent to the first publication of a book, and he can prohibit any other person from representing or performing the same without his consent during such copyright; and the assignment of such copyright, that is to say, of the right to multiply copies thereof, does not convey to the assignee the right to represent or perform such dramatic piece or musical composition. (a) The author of a song or waltz has property therein, and any person who uses a pirated copy thereof to play or sing from, infringes the copyright by such performance.(b) 64 the law of the land, as founded on public policy no possible objection can exist to such property or exclusive privileges. The following opinion by an eminent philosopher, Sir David Brewster, is deserving attentive consideration in reference to some of the objections above adverted to :"Scientific men have very often, at the same time perfectly independently of each other, arrived at the same stage of progress which has arisen from previous steps, which have been published; but if a man arrives at one of those steps, and does not think that that step is of any value, and therefore does not claim the idea to himselfand if another man afterwards has arrived at the same idea, and makes use of that idea for the benefit of the public, I hold that the right of the first man, whatever it may have been, is extinguished, and that he is not entitled under these circumstances to come forward and oppose the claim of another. There are many instances of things being kept secret and not published. In the case of the achromatic telescope, it was invented by a country gentleman of the name of Hall, who did not choose to take out a patent, but put the instrument into his drawer. Mr. Dollond got a patent for it afterwards. This instrument was found after the death of Mr. Hall to be the real achpatent was not vitiated by the previous discovery of Mr. Hall, who had not made it public. Mr. Hall was a man in a good position in society, and I suppose a man of some wealth, and therefore, I presume, it could not be the expense of the patent which deterred him. Had he been a poor man, I should have inferred that it was the expense of the patent, and the risk of not being able to secure his property in the invention, which deterred him." It would be easy to multiply opinions to the same effect, but the above will be sufficient for the present occasion, and others may be found in the work before alluded to. The objects of the patent laws are threefold— Upon what principle can it be contended that the author, or assignee of the author, of Tom Jones," or "Cherry Ripe," or the "Lancer quadrilles," or the last most fashionable waltz, is to have property and protection in the fruit of his intellectual labour, even to the extent of preventing other persons using them in public for performance and representation, and that the author of a design, or of an invention in the arts and manufactures, whereby the taste, comfort, and condition of the mass may be improved, shall have no property in, or pro-romatic telescope. It was decided that Mr. Dollond's tection to, the result of his intellectual labour. Let it be carefully borne in mind that what is prohibited is the same in all cases, namely, such a practice as may detract from the value of that labour to the author. It is in no case necessary that the author should so employ his exclusive privileges as to derive profit by the result of his intellectual labour. It is sufficient that it may be turned to such profitable account, and he has the right to the benefit thereof, and to exclude others from such benefit for a limited time. It is a mistake to suppose that any one of the public is deprived of what they had before; the exclusive right is given as the consideration for the publication of something which they had not before; if they had it before the consideration fails, and the exclusive right is gone; there is no valid or subsisting copyright or patent right, but if there be a subsisting exclusive right, the public must wait for the expiration of the limited term, and continue to use that which they had before, or which the proprietor supplies them with. The notion that an invention any more than a book stands in It may be conceded to those opponents under the inthe way of any but pirates, is a pure mistake; cases may fluence of philanthropic views, as to the small amount of occur, by reason of the mal-administration of the system, pecuniary benefit to inventors as a body, that very few having the semblance of such obstruction, but no distinc-inventors receive any adequate, if any remuneration, for tion can be drawn between the author who will not reprint or permit another to reprint his work, or represent or perform, or permit others to represent or perform his composition, and the inventor who will neither practice or permit others to practice his invention. This is a case in which the law may well provide some remedy by way of compulsory purchase, but as this has been fully considered in my recent publication already referred to, I shall not further dwell upon it, except as pointing out a close and consistent analogy of possible inconvenience in both subjects. The argument from the apparent trifling nature of the inventions is equally fallacious. That from which the public are prohibited must be new, and if it differs insensibly from what existed before, no person will adopt it; but I am at a loss to understand why the inventor of a pen or a pencil, more convenient in use for some purposes than any existing pen or pencil, should not be entitled to a right equally with the author of a copybook for writing. or the compiler and arranger in a new form of a table of figures, or a railway time-table. Utility, as evidenced by public opinion in adopting the article, is the only true test; if the subject of the exclusive privileges be new, and violate no condition prescribed by (a) See 5 & 6 Vict., c. 45, s. 22. (b) See Russell v. Smith. 1. The communication of the secret and its preservation for the public. 2. The extension of the arts and manufactures and trade of the country. 3. Reward to the author and publisher of such secret, or introducer of such new trade and manu facture. their invention, but the public are the gainers thereby, and the patent laws must be tried by public policy nd their benefit to the community at large, rather than remuneration to particular individuals, however much such remuneration may be conformable to feelings of justice. But although in the majority of cases the patentee may receive but little benefit from his invention, there are many gratifying exceptions to this, and numerous instances can without difficulty be named, in which a meritorious invention has been the foundation of the fortune of a working man, and of greatly increased wealth to a capitalist. Much of the disappointment experienced by patentees arises from their own ignorance, and would be obviated by a proper system of preliminary examination. The ignorant man and mere schemer require protection against their own ignorance and schemes, and it is the duty of the State to afford such protection, and to encourage, without check, delusive hopes of gain. The experience of the working of the Protection of Inventions Act in 1851, whereby provisional protection was conferred on exhibitors at the Great Exhibition, without prejudice to after-acquired patents, enables me to speak with the greatest confidence on this point. There was no power to refuse a certificate, the condition as to the lodging of an adequate description being complied with. Application for certificates under that Act was made in 691 and granted in 615 cases, the majority of the 76 applicants me, to whom certificates were not granted, being satisfied the 25th of January, 1852. (a) "To perfect and reduce to with a hint from myself, or the others associated with practice the idea of a new machine is no light effort of "that they had better take no further trouble about the intellect, and in proportion to the education of the the matter." Upon this point of preliminary examina-inventor, so will his steps be rendered surer, more direct, tion great misconception and prejudice exists. In and more rapid. As far as the relative motions of the parts America, Prussia, and some other countries, too much is of his machine are concerned his natural faculties may attempted by the examiners, and too little is left to the carry him, and probably suggest a variety of constructive applicant. It would not be expedient that an applicant methods and cunning devices by which these may be who persisted in his application after due warning, which effected; but, in the next place, it becomes necessary to might be used as a record against him, should be ulti-select from these the most appropiate to sustain the forces mately refused a patent; because many instances might and resistances,-to estimate the strength to be given to be cited in which the speculations of ingenious men, con- the different parts, their proper qualities of weight, of demned by persons of great repute, but carried forward lightness and stiffness, the amount of friction. and a variety under the stimulus of the hope of reward by the enter- of other complex conditions, which can only be determined prize of a patentee or those associated with him, have by statical or dynamical knowledge, but which are neceseither been completely successful, or been the pioneers to sary to ensure the durability, easy and economical working, great success. and practical value of the contrivance. In the absence of the proper technical knowledge of theoretical mechanics, the proposed machine, if it possess any value, will only arrive at its perfect and permanent form through a series of abortive attempts, which, by a succession of failures and repairs, may perhaps lead to the removal of the weak points of the contrivance. Those parts which by chance were made unnecessarily strong and heavy, will probably retain their original errors. The representations of machines and engines in the collections published in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries furnish abundant illustration of these remarks. In all that belongs to the mere motion of these contrivances, the greatest possible ingenuity and But in all that fertility of invention is displayed. concerns construction, framing, and adaptation of form and dimensions to resistances, strains, and the nature of the work, a total absence of principle and experience is manifested; so that it is apparent that these machines would act very well in the form of models, but that, if actually set to work, the most of them would knock themselves to pieces in a very short time." So far as the individual inventor is concerned, the patent laws act as a powerful stimulus on his inventive faculties. The hope of gain and reward is predominant; it is a forcing process, to adopt the language of several witnesses of great experience before the Select Committee of the House of Lords, without which numerous inventions would never have been made, or, if made, would never have been introduced into general use for want of that education and continued sustenance which many inventions must receive at the hands of its author and patron. The invention has to be fitted for the public, and the public have to be prepared to receive it, and if either of these conditions be wanting, the invention will fall still-born. But a class of persons exist who, admitting the justice and policy of recognising property in the production of the mind, contend that, in the present advanced state of the arts and manufactures, such encouragement is unnecessary. I have endeavoured to show elsewhere (See On Property in Designs and Inventions," already referred to,) that the accumulation of capital and division of labour render The same author, after reviewing some of the earlier such rights equally essential now as formerly, and that, mechanical inventions, says (b):-" In reviewing the comunder the present condition of manufacturing industry, paratively slow progress of machine-tool making, it will approtection is in some cases even more essential than for-pear that in this, as in other branches, steps in invention that, merly, and I cannot but regard the evidence of Messrs. when once made, appear exceedingly simple and obvious, The chance that M. D. Hill, A. V. Newton, and Mr. Prosser before the are often the most difficult to take. Select Committee of the House of Lords, as to the neces- such steps will be made is increased by bringing to bear sity of such protection in the case of inported inventions upon them the greatest number of heads; for the peculiar in profitable exercise in a foreign country, as entitled to faculties or acquirements of one man or set of men may the greatest consideration. (See "Property in Designs and serve to carry on an invention to a certain point at which Inventions," pp. 29-34.) it is prepared for and requires those of another set of men Further, such an opinion appears to me to assume that secresy and jealous care with which every new contrivIn the old time, the exceeding who may carry it further. progress and improvement is not needed now as much as ance was guarded and watched, retarded the advance of ever, and to overlook the fact that the arts and manu-machinery to an extent that we can hardly believe. Each factures must either progress or retrograde both absolutely and relatively; and I contend that our manufacturing superiority can only be maintained by continual progress, and that such progress can only be ensured by giving property in the inventions which are to contribute thereto. An impression exists in the minds of some persons that, as regards many of our machines, the progress is so far advanced, or that the further improvement is so simple and obvious, that any special property therein will only produce embarassment without corresponding advantage to the public. Such an opinion appears to me fallacious, and contrary to all experience. Each existing machine and process may be regarded as the accumulated result of the labour of many minds exerted through many years; the improving and simplifying of such a machine is but a continuance of that labour. To disregard such preceding labour is great presumption; to commence "self-taught" from the beginning, is pure waste of intellect, which usually brings its own punishment in the loss of time and imperfection of the result. Upon this subject, I would refer to the observations of Professor Willis in the lecture delivered at this place on And man was working in ignorance of his neighbours' im- Each machine so improved, is, in fact, a new machine, for every machine must be regarded only as the special combination of certain known elements, and in this respect it differs from another large class of inventions in which some new substance, as the welding cast (a) Lectures on the Results of the Great Exhibition, delivered before the Society of Arts, page 138. (b) Lectures on the Results of the Great Exhibition delivered before the Society of Arts, pp. 146-7. steel from common British iron, or the vulcanised rubber, which are known only by their properties, is produced. The benefits conferred upon the arts by inventions in mechanical science have been much dwelt upon, but those derived from chemical science are still more striking. The various applications of this science have been classified by Dr. Lyon Playfair, in his lecture in this place, Jan. 7, 1852, under the following heads : 1. Chemical appliances, which have added to human power, either by furnishing substitutes for mechanical contrivances, or by affording tools and methods of arriving at results formerly impossible. 2. Methods of producing economy of time, generally resulting from a constant tendency to simplification. 3. Methods of utilizing products apparently worthless, or of endowing bodies with properties which render them of increased value to industry. The replacing our expensive mechanical by a cheap chemical process, the rendering objects of apparently little value useful and productive, must ever hold a paramount place in the department of industry having for its object the production of a cheaper or a better article for the public. In chemical as in mechanical inventions the progress of discovery is in the direction of simplification in the economy of labour, and of materials which constitute the husbanding and accumulation of wealth. while the sciences of recent times were in their cradle or were unborn." Some of these inventions of the middle ages have been referred to in support of the opinion that privileges in the nature of patent rights are wholly unnecessary. But not to dwell on the fact that several of them were the subject of patents, and of the slow progress of invention in those times, and the almost total absence of information on any subject, it must be borne in mind that this, as has been remarked by the author last quoted, was the age of natural causes, and that until the accumulation of the productions of the middle ages, there was no starting-point; but, this accumulation having taken place, improvement has been working onwards with ever-increasing vigour, and in an expanding sphere. The stimulus of the patent system in encouraging useful arts and the introduction of new trades in the realm, was felt at a very early period in this country; and although one of the earliest grants on record by Edward III. for the philosopher's stone has been designated by the opponents of all privileges of patents as illustrative of the whole system, it must not be forgotten how much modern chemistry owes to the dreams of the alchemist after the philosopher's stone, or that the quadrature of the circle has given rise to many most elegant mathematical theorems, or that the attempts at perpetual motion has given to the world many new and useful combinations of machinery, or new machines for the modification of force and motion. "Not a year passes without the most mature processes of manufacture being further simplified and economized. It is with industry as with nature; many of the lower In some cases the proposition has been reversed, and animals have a repetition of organs, destined for the per- Art is the daughter of Science, that is to say, invention formance of similar functions exercised by single organs has been founded on the direct application of laws of nain the higher animals. Various stomachs and several ture anticipating and producing the result. The chemical eyes in the lower creatures are not more effective than manufactories of modern times furnish a most remarkable one stomach and two eyes in man. The law of repetition instance of processes derived from the chemical theories of organs is like the complex processes of manufactures, of the last and present century, and owing their existence represented by fewer but more perfect methods as civili-entirely to a profound and scientific knowledge of chezation ascends. (Argus, with his hundred eyes, was not mistry. But even still there are many instances in which nearly such a practical man as a Cyclops with one eye; art is in advance of science, and we are not as yet informed the hundred eyes of Argus were found napping when work by science why the Swedish steel is still unmatched, or had to be performed, but with the one eye of the Cyclops to what peculiar combination the Toledo blade owes its the trident was forged, which assured to Neptune the fine temper, or what is the real operation of the agents empire of the sea.) The industrial position of England in producing the vulcanised India rubber, or how to rehas been gained by her perception of this truth, and by produce synthetically many, substances the elements of her constant endeavours to replace complex processes of which, as shown by analysis, are ready to our hands manufacture by means more simple and perfect." (a) It has been truly observed that Art is the mother of, or has generally preceded, science. "Men," says Professor Whewell, in his Inaugural Lecture in this place, 26th November, 1851, (b) "men have executed great and curious, and beautiful works before they had a scientific insight into the principles on which the success of their labours was founded. There were good articers in brass and iron before the principles of the chemistry of metals were known; there was wine among men before there was a philosophy of vinous fermentation; there were mighty masses raised into the air, cyclopean walls and cromlechs, obelisks and pyramids -- probably gigantic Doric pillars and entablatures,-before there was a theory of the mechanical powers. The earlier generations did; the later explained that it had been possible to do. Art was the mother of Science: the vigorous and comely mother of a daughter of far loftier and serener beauty. And as it had been in the period of scientific activity in the ancient world, so was it again in the modern period in which Science began her later growth. The middle ages produced or improved a vast body of arts. Parchment and paper, printing and engraving, glass and steel, compass and gunpowder, clocks and watches, microscopes and telescopes, not to speak of the marvels of architecture, sculpture, and painting, all had their origin and progress The operation of strikes has had considerable influence on the progress of invention, but it may be doubted whether even this strong stimulus would have been sufficient without the protection of a patent. The selfacting mule, the wool- combing machinery, and the rivetting machine, are due entirely to these causes. The masters, when embarrassed by the combination of the head spinners, solicited Mr. Roberts to render the mule self-acting. He spent many years in perfecting this; but it must be obvious to any one who reads his own account of this invention, that he could never have been rewarded for this without the protection of letters patent. (a) It lies upon the impugners of a system which has received the almost universal approval of all civilized nations, to show some better system of rewarding the inventor and encouraging invention. I am not now contending for any particular system, but for the principle and policy of such recognition and protection of the labour of inventive genius, so as to reward the inventor by the creation and maintenance of property therein. To the instances above enumerated many others might be added. Each case heard before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, on an application for an extension of letters patent, is but a repetition of, and illustration of, the same general history; the difficulty of overcoming the prejudices of the public, and the oppo(a) Lectures on the Results of the Great Exhibition, deliveredition of the capitalist, who is, in the majority of cases, before the Society of Arts. page 76. (b) Lectures on the Results of the Great Exhibition, delivered before the Society of Arts, page 3. (a) See evidence of Mr. Roberts, "Principles and Policy of Patents," p. 39. directly interested in the maintenance of things as they are, a species of conservative policy into which the most liberal are apt readily to fall. The state of things at the commencement of the eighteenth century is thus described by Mr. Bazley in his lecture from this place :-a() May not that language be accurately applied to the present times? Has the progress made during the eighteenth century so changed the nature of things? May we not, in the nineteenth century, reasonably expect similar results to follow from similar causes? will be as great, if not greater, than the progress of the preceding century. It has been hitherto a reproach to this country that the working man was excluded from the acquisition of property in the subjects in which he was by education and occupation best adapted to make improvements; now, however, the race is open to all, and the course of progress is no longer monopolized by those alone who have capital at their use and to whom success or failure would be comparatively matter of indifference. "An intelligent and untiring Anglo-Saxon race had attained a position without parallel in the history of nations. Science had begun to aid mechanical skill; labourers, who had partaken of the fruit of their own toil, were anxiously waiting to see extended for themselves, In some cases invention may have progressed nearly to their families, and friends, those agents of production its utmost limit. In the combination of the simple which, though only in the initiative, were still in very elements of machinery, and in the manufacture of linen, successful, profitable, and improving application; and cotton, woollen, and mixed fabrics little further remains to merchants and capitalists found, in these new circum- be done beyond reducing the cost according to the facilities stances, that energy and enterprise, if generously direc-for obtaining the raw material; but in such cases the art ted in the channel of the rising tide of trade, might of design may step in. In the construction of machinery conduce not only to their own but to their country's the framing and other parts may be formed and combined weal." upon a system subservient to some one design, and that design may not only be in itself ornamental, but it may be formed in strict accordance with the true principles of strength and proportion of parts in which, according to the testimony of Professor Willis, the early machines are so deficient. For instance, the framing of machinery may be constructed according to what has been described as the elliptical design; thus the arts of construction and design become combined, and the same machine may be the subject of property by letters patent as regards the design according to which the parts are arranged. Now for such design the law has hither to provided most inadequate protection, indeed, it may be doubted whether any protection at all exists; but it will be obvious that such a design may be the result of great thought, labour, and in genuity, and, from the relative proportion of parts, may be better adapted to the purpose than any other. Such a design may be the result of the experience of many years, yet it may be appropriated by any person engaged in a similar department of industry who may be the first to see it. The progress made during the last century is so great, and the capital embarked in existing machinery is so large in amount, that some persons would be disposed to ay, invent and improve no more. But no stationary condition can exist; the law of our nature is progression or retrogression; the Great Exhibition has shown to the minds most competent to judge of the state of the manufacturing arts in foreign countries, that though the race is now free to ali, the legacy of a keen competition is left to this country. The unanimous testimony of those best competent to judge is in favour of industrial education, and in this I most cordially concur, but when you have educated your pupils in the schools of design, and of the various departments of industrial arts, the best security for their progress is the creation and maintenance of a class of independent persons, having a property in the productions which their education fits them to produce. In an advanced state of the arts and manufactures great and extensive changes can rarely occur, but the steady and progressive improvements must be looked for at the hands of the working man, of those who are engaged in the daily routine of the arts. It is to the skilled artizan that we must look for those improvements which will enable our manufacturers to produce both in quality and quantity at prices which will defy competition with the rest of the world. The subject of designs for the framing of machinery is one which has received much attention from some machine makers, and I would mention, as an instance well deserving of commendation, the framing of the elaborate machinery for printing carpets erected under the superintendance of. I believe Mr. Burch and Mr. Fothergill, at Crag, near Macclesfield. This may serve to show the close connection between the two subjects of designs. and invention under circumstances which have hitherto received but little attention. But other instances, equally illustrative of the connection may be selected, as for instance, the damask The testimony of the most intelligent and best judges manufacture of our sister country. In the mechanical show that a very large proportion of inventions proceed structure of the loom for plain or figured weaving, little, from operatives. A workman has been the greatest im- probably, remains to be done; each new pattern requires prover of the loom in modern times, and I believe that the working of the known elements according to some under the beneficial provisions of the new Patent Law, particular order or law which constitutes the new design. properly administered, the operatives and artizans of this Such a figured fabric, that is, a fabric made by working the country will be found in the next century to occupy the elements of the loom in the particular order specified by position of the Watts and the Arkwrights of the last the design, s essentially a new manufacture; and yet, for century. Looking to what has been already done by such a design, protection can only be obtained for the operatives and to the greatly improved means of education hort period of one year, a term wholly inadequate to accessible to all, I believe the future progress of the manu- repay the expense of its production. Now, looking to this facturing industry of this country to be mainly in the fact, that to design alone we must look to the further prohands of those whose daily labour shall have made themgress of that and similar manufactures, I am at a loss to unconversant with the necessities and requirements of the machinery and processes upon which they are engaged. We shall not, as in the case of the block machinery already referred to (by Professor Willis), require the resources of a nation to develope useful inventions;-afford suitable protection to inventors, and to property in in ventions; alter the law of partnership, so as to afford free scope for the application of private capital; and I see no reason for doubting that the progress of the succeeding (a) Lectures "On the Results of the Great Exhibition," delivered before the Society of Arts, pp. 349-5. derstand why the term of protection should not be as long as the term for any improvement in the manufacture itself, if the subject of a patent. The design, however beautiful, is of no value unless embodied; the copyright is for the application of such design to the manufacture; the fabric representing that design may not legitimately be regarded as a new manu facture. Again, take the case of calico printing. The preparation of the design on paper requires much skill and talent; its transference to the fabric for which it is designed may require great skill and capital; the stock of engraved |