agonism, and to extend to each other the ungloved hand
of social cordiality. On the other hand, it is too frequent a
spectacle in scientific circles to behold a careful wording of public
controversy, a gentle, apologetic phraseology, a correspondence never
going beyond the "retort courteous," or "quip modest," while there
exists an under-current of the bitterest personal jealousy, the
outward philosopher being strangely at variance with the inward man.

Among the various circumstances which influence the progress of
physical science in this country, one of the most prominent is the
_Patent_ law--a law in its intention beneficent; but whether the
practical working of it be useful, either to science or its
cultivators, is a matter of grave doubt. Of the greater number of
patents enrolled in that depot of practical science, Chancery Lane, by
far the majority are beneficial only to the revenue; and on the
question of public economy, whether or not the price paid by
miscalculating ingenuity is a fair and politic source of revenue, we
shall not enter; but on the reasons which lead so many to be dupes of
their own self-esteem, a few words may not be misspent. The chief
reason why a vast number of patents are unsuccessful, is, that it
takes a long time (longer generally than fourteen years, the
statutable limit of patent grants) to make the workmen of a country
familiar with a new manufacture. A party, therefore, who proposes
patenting an invention, and who sits down and calculates the value of
the material, the time necessary for its manufacture, and other
essential data; comparing these with the price at which it can be sold
to obtain a remunerative profit, seldom takes into consideration the
time necessary, first, to accustom the journeymen workers to its
construction, and secondly, to make known to the public its real
value. In the present universal competition, puffing is carried on to
such an extent, that, to give a fair chance of success, not only must
the first expense of a patent be incurred--no inconsiderable one
either, even supposing the patentee fortunate enough to escape
litigation--but a large sum of money must be invested in
advertisements, with little immediate return; hence it is that the
most valuable patents, viewed in relation to their scientific
importance, their ultimate public benefit, and the merits of their
inventors, are seldom the most lucrative, while a patent inkstand, a
boot-heel, a shaving case,