preservation, together with the amendments. In some cases amendments will be allowed by writing out the entire paper anew, but even when this is done the original paper must be returned and preserved. A receipt will be taken for all papers withdrawn from the office. The party entitled to control the case must file a written request to withdraw papers, and before so doing all erasures and interlineations must be carefully noted, so as to prevent the possibility of any change taking place undetected.

50. No specification will be received unless attached by a tape to the affidavit, both ends of which tape must be secured by the seal of the officer who administered the oath. The officer must have subscribed his name on each separate sheet of paper, so as to show that the specification presented is the same that was subscribed and sworn to, and care will be taken to prevent signatures to specifications and other documents from being detached from the originals and applied to other papers.

51. On the rejection of an application for patent for want of novelty, the applicant will be furnished with references to the cases on which the rejection was made, with a brief explanation of the cause of rejection. Applicants may have a copy of the cases referred to, or of plates or drawings connected with them, on paying for the same.

52. If applicant feels able to remove the objections, he may by himself or agent come before the proper examiner between two and three P.M. any Monday, Wednesday, or Friday of the week, to make his explanations, or he may forward his reasons in writing. a second rejection he may bring the matter before the Commissioner, that the case may be heard by him or a

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board of examiners. Beyond this, appeal must be made to a court of law.

53. Besides caveats, which are required by law to be kept secret, all pending applications are, as far as practicable, preserved in like secrecy. No information will be given to parties inquiring in the above cases. But information may be had when patents are issued or after the granting of them has been refused and the application for them abandoned. The models in such cases are open to general inspection, and specifications and drawings in any particular case may be examined. Copies may be had on payment of bare expense. If on parchment an extra charge will be made.

54. Even after rejection of a case, the application is regarded as pending until after decision of an appeal, or until the case is withdrawn from the consideration of the office. But in case of a rejection an applicant is considered finally to have abandoned his claim if two years elapse without further steps being taken, so far as that he will no longer be protected by any rule of secrecy. Abandonment is also presumed where a specification is withdrawn from the office and retained by applicant for six months. In such cases the specification, drawings, and model will be open for inspection.

55. In cases of interference pending between two parties, each is entitled to a knowledge of so much of his antagonist's case as may enable him to conduct his own understandingly. And where rejection is founded on another case rejected, but not withdrawn or abandoned, the rejected applicant will be furnished with all information necessary for a proper understanding of his own case. In application for a certain device, should such be found already described but not claimed, in another pending application previously filed, informa

tion of the filing of such second application is always given to the prior applicant, with a suggestion, that if he desires to claim a patent for such device, he should forthwith modify his specification accordingly. But when the application thus describing a device without claiming it is subsequent in date to that whence such device is claimed, the general rule is that no notice of the claim in the previous application is given to the subsequent applicant.

56. All business with the office should be in writing. Unless by consent of all parties the action of the office will be predicated exclusively on the written record.

CHAP. VIII.

FOREIGN PATENT LAWS (continued).

FRANCE.

THE patent law originated in France in 1762. The present law on patents (brevets d'invention) was passed in the reign of Louis Philippe (5 July, 1844), modified by the Ministerial Circular of the 26th Dec. 1854. Its principal regulations are as follows:

1. A patent may be obtained for any new discovery in the arts and manufactures, or any new application of known means for obtaining a result or an industrial product.

2. Pharmaceutical compositions or remedies of any kind, and plans and combinations on credit and finance, are not patentable.

3. The duration of a patent is fixed at five, ten, or fifteen years, at the option of the applicant; but as the payment is fixed at 100 francs a year, and can be discontinued at the will of the applicant, it is usual to ask for the longest term of fifteen years. Should the annual payment not be made on or before the day of the date of the patent in any year, the patent will lapse.

4. The applicant must deposit at the office of the Secretary of the Prefect of the Seine (au Secrétariat de la Préfecture), or in the provinces at the Departmental Prefectures, a sealed packet, containing the following

documents, which must be in the French language, and without alterations or interlineations; any words. erased must be counted, and verified with the initials of the applicant and references to the pages; and when stating weights or measures those only must be employed which are decreed by the law of the 4th July 1837:

1. A letter to the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce containing a request for a patent.

2. A description of the discovery, invention or application forming the subject of the patent.

3. A duplicate of the same.

4. The drawings or patterns necessary for understanding the description.

5. A duplicate of the same.

6. A list of the above documents.

5. The request for a patent must be limited to one principal object, with its constituent details and proposed application.

6. It shall mention the number of years for which the patent is solicited, and contain neither restrictions, conditions nor reserves.

7. It shall indicate by a title the summary and precise designation of the object invented.

8. The drawings must be traced in ink according to a metrical scale.

9. All the documents must be signed by the applicant or his agent. An agent must be authorised by a written power of attorney. This power ought, according to the regulations, to be legalised, but in practice this is not required.

10. Besides the sealed packet containing the above documents, the applicant must hand in a receipt for 100 francs, being the first year's payment of the patent

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