accompanying documents are simply a description and a tracing. Patents of addition are granted without additional charges; and patents of either character are issued, without respect to residence or place of birth. The invention must go into operation within two years from the time it is secured to the inventor or importer.

SARDINIA. The government of Sardinia grants patents of invention and importation; the term and fees being fixed by the Patent Office, at its discretion. Proof has to be furnished the government every year, under penalty of forfeiture, that the invention is kept in operation.

ROME.-Roman patents are extended to all persons, whether natives or foreigners, residents or otherwise; and these, at the option of the applicant, are granted for five or fifteen years. No fees are demanded, but an annual tax of $20 must be paid. Infringement is severely punished.

PORTUGAL. The laws and regulations of Portugal are much the same, in respect to patents, as those of Rome, with this difference, that the patent may issue for one year, and the annual tax is $5. Infringement is punished as piracy, being so declared by law.

SWEDEN.-Sweden grants patents of invention or importation for five or fifteen years. Specifications must be published in the government newspaper, within three months after the grant, and the invention itself go into operation within two years. No government fees are charged.

SPAIN.-Spain grants patents to residents or foreigners, for five, ten, or fifteen years, at an annual charge of $15. Disuse of the thing patented for a year and a day renders the patent void. Conflicting applications are determined in favour of the applicant first in the order of time.

An instructive chapter on early American discoveries might be appended to this paper, but it has already exceeded in length what we designed for it, and we shall therefore bring it to a close by subjoining a tabular statement of the progress of the Patent Office since 1841, when a complete reorganization took place in its several departments.

TABLE C.-Patents Issued Fiscal Years, 1841 to 1854.

THE PATENT OFFICE.

THE Patent Office building at Washington is an object well worthy of the admiration bestowed upon it. As an architectural work, it compares favourably with any public edifice in the United States; and as a resort, for purposes of intellectual improvement, few places offer stronger induce

ments.

The building is partially occupied by the Interior Department, of which it is nominally a subordinate branch; but it is mainly devoted to the exclusive affairs of the Patent Office, and to the reception of the collections of natural history from time to time brought home by our Government cruisers abroad.

The general outline of the edifice, corresponds with that of the Royal Louvre at Paris. The façade, which is seen to advantage from the elevated position of the building, is derived from the Parthenon at Athens; and the whole forms an imposing and splendid structure. It occupies an entire square of ground, and is furnished with three distinct and independent main entrances— one designed to lead to the Interior Department, one to the Mechanical Department of the Patent Office, and one to the Agricultural Bureau of the

same.

In respect to the latter divisions, it has of late years been the object of Commissioners to keep them entirely separate; and in this they seem to have succeeded. While the duties of the mechanical bureau have been conducted with a view to the benefit of inventive talent, the agricultural bureau, under efficient management, has been made a valuable auxiliary to the agricultural and manufacturing industry of the country. The latter annually receives large quantities of seeds, &c., from different sections of the Union, and from foreign countries, through the agency of our ministers plenipotentiary and consular agents, and distributes them to Members of Congress, who in turn distribute them to their constituents, who are thereby enabled to improve their crops, and add to their knowledge of husbandry. An annual report is furnished to Congress of the doings of the Patent Office each year; and this report comprised in two large volumes, is divided between the mechanical and agricultural branches of industry, and details specifically whatever is deemed of interest to the community.

The duties of the Commissioner of Patents, as may be supposed, are onerous, arduous, and responsible. Formerly the Patent Office was by law placed under the control of the Secretary of State; but by the act establishing the Department of the Interior, it became attached to the latter, and is consequently under the nominal control of the Home Secretary. But all authority of the Secretary

of the Interior in the matter of granting or refusing patents, is superseded by the powers conferred on the Commissioner, who is really the chief head. Even the power to extend patents, formerly vested in a Board, consisting of the Secretary of State, Commissioner of Patents, and Solicitor of the Treasury, is now possessed by him exclusively; and as this is a particular point, worth remembering, the wording of a portion of the act is repeated.

* * *

"SECT. 1. * * * Provided, That the power to extend patents, now vested in the Board, * * * * shall hereafter be vested solely in the Commissioner of Patents: and when application is made to him for the extension of a patent he shall refer the case to the principal Examiner having charge of the class of inventions to which said case belongs, who shall make a full report to said Commissioner of the said case, and particularly whether the invention or improvement secured in the patent was new and patentable when patented; and thereupon the said Commissioner shall grant or refuse the extension of said patent, upon the same principles and rules that have governed said Board, [See 'Rules on Extending Patents,' marked XXVII., page 101;] but no patent shall be extended for a longer term than seven years." [Proviso sect. 1, act 1848.

This relates to refusals of extension; but the Commissioner may even refuse to issue patents in original cases, when remedy by the applicants must pe had to the United States Courts. The first appeal shall be made to the United States Circuit