an application of the kind, and on this deciding was declared susceptible of being patented. Yet, on the other hand, it has been determined that "the new object, to which the process is applied, must not be analogous to the old one" but it is difficult for ordinary sagacity and penetration to draw a line of distinction. For example "to curl palm leaf for mattresses, by the same process, which had been used before to curl hair for mattresses," was held to be a "mere double use of the process, and entitled to no protection."

These citations will suffice to prove to the reader the niceties of distinction which are sometimes submitted to be decided by the Commissioner of Patents, and how difficult it frequently is for that functionary to discriminate, when, if he relies upon precedent, such questions as these are presented.

Whether any discovery, under the circumstances, will justify expectation of a patent, must be determined by the inventor himself. In an age so prolific of the results of genius, it would seem as if the store of ingenuity had been exhausted; and yet we see that annually the increase of patents obtained is steady and progressive.*

* Yet, on the other hand, the slow progress made by the human mind in solving the great problems of nature and of philosophy, is aptly stated by Lord Brougham: "It is very fit your lordships should guard against the inference being drawn, from the small amount of any step made in improvement, that you are disposed to undervalue this in importance. If a new process is invented, if new machinery is invented, if a new principle is found out, and applied so as to become the subject of a patent right, imbodied in a

The patent act of 1836, is the grand structure of the system of granting protection to inventors in the United States-the subsequent laws being amendatory thereof. The former, however, only relates to discoveries in art and manufactures; but it was found expedient at a later day to extend equal protection to a new class of applicants, namely, for designs. Congress, accordingly, in 1842, passed an act which comprehends this class alone; and the law, in its general scope, bears a close analogy to the law of copyright, passed in 1831. Neither foreigners nor aliens who contemplate becoming citizens, and have taken preliminary steps to that end, are entitled to its benefits: they are only included after they have become citizens. The General Conditions and Forms of this law are given in the digest; but it may be remarked here, that if the application for a patent under its provisions is rejected, (contrary to the rule in other cases,) no part of the fee money paid into the Treasury is re

new manufacture; then, however small it may be in advance of the state of science or of art previous to the period of that step being made, that is no reason whatever for undervaluing the merits of the person who makes a discovery in science, or an invention in art; for the whole history of science, from the discovery of the system of gravitation, and the fractional calculus itself, down to the most trifling steps that have ever been made, is one continued illustration of the slow progress by which the human mind makes its advance in discovery. It is hardly perceptible, so little has been made by any one step in advance of the former state of things; because generally you find that just before, there was something very nearly the same thing discovered or invented." [Soame's Pat., Webster's Rep., p. 735.]

funded, nor will it be credited to an application subsequently made to have the article patented under the head of Arts and Manufactures. No provision is made, as the statute is generally interpreted, for a reissue or an extension of the patent, an additional improvement, or a disclaimer. Whether this was, or was not, an oversight on the part of the framers of the act, does not appear. There is, in fact, very little in common between this class of subjects and those which are contemplated in the great bulk of the Patent laws. The course of proceeding, to obtain a patent for a design, is, notwithstanding, the same as if application were made under the head of Arts and Manufactures. Parties should bear this fact in mind. Besides, it is not generally known that females are entitled to the benefits of the act, nor that, by patenting their inventions, they may prevent infringements with impunity.

Applications for patents, under any of the patent laws, should be accompanied by six requisites uniformly insisted on; and if these were always borne in mind, they would save the applicant much loss of time and expense, and the office much trouble and annoyance. They are:

1. The petition.

2. The specification. 3. The oath.

4. The drawings.

5. The model, or specimens, where the case admits of them.

6. The payment of the fees.

And if the following questions can be answered affirmatively, before transmitting the papers, few applications will be returned for correction or omission.

1. Is the fee transmitted?

2. Is the petition signed and addressed to the Commissioner of Patents?

3. Is the specification signed, and witnessed by two witnesses?

4. Are the drawings described and referred to in the specification? If not, are they signed before two witnesses who have subscribed their names, and are they accompanied by written references? 5. Are duplicated drawings sent?

6. Has the inventor made oath to his being a citizen, and that his invention is new, &c.?

7. Does the specification contain a specific claim? 8. If an alien and resident, is this affirmed and sworn to?

9. Has the model been sent? If so, how? or where deposited?

10. Is the name of the inventor durably affixed to the same?

11. In case of reissue, is the old patent surrendered?

12. Has the oath of invention been renewed, before appealing from the decision of the Commissioner?

13. Have the fees been remitted in coin, or by certificate of deposite?

14. In case of reissue, disclaimer, addition of an improvement, or patent for ad improvement, on an existing patent to inventor, assignee, or possessor of the original patent, have model and drawings of the original patent (if granted before the 15th of December, 1836,) been transmitted? [Rules of the Patent Office.

Some suggestions are necessary with respect to the Specification, independently of those which accompany the form in the Digest. This instrument constitutes "the contrast between the patentee and the public;" and all subsequent proceedings are, in fact, but its appendages. It not unfrequently happens, that patents are impeached, or annulled, owing to errors in the specification; though these do not constitute a ground for assailing a patent when they exist in the appendages. Consequently, the importance of that instrument is not easily overrated. Perhaps the safest reliance parties can have, will be on the experience of those who have obtained patents, and who can readily supply suggestions. It would be impossible to describe here, how specifications should be drawn up, so as to cover every point embraced in the claim, since the subject of every patent varies and is essentially different from another. By reference to the act of 1836, sect. 6, [see post, "Specification," marked IV., page 63, and "Form of Specification, post, marked V., page 64,] it will be perceived that "one principal object intended to be secured by the specification, is such a full description of the invention or discovery,