in the still air of a room, without any influence of the wind, to the objects towards which they were directed *.

Spiders are exceedingly sagacious, and vary the expedients which they adopt to escape from confinement or to reach a neighbouring object. I was much interested lately in observing one (Epëira inclinata) shift its position. It was on a horizontal piece of wood, and wished to reach another piece placed about a foot beneath it, and at a short distance from it laterally. It suddenly dropped, spinning a thread as it fell, which of course it had first fixed to the wood above. When it had fallen to a little below the level of the object which it wished to reach, it stopped itself by catching the line with one of its feet, and remained suspended in the air by the thread. It now made several violent jerking movements, and thus acquired a swinging motion, which it managed to increase until it brought itself into contact with the neighbouring object: as soon as this was effected, it clambered on to it, and walked leisurely away.

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

PLATE XVI.

Fig. 1. Portion of the muscular layer of integument.
Fig. 2. Spinnerets from a large species of Olios.

Fig. 3. Spinnerets of Epëira diadema, with motor muscles.

Fig. 4. Portion of one of the same muscles, greatly magnified, showing its

attachment to the skin.

Fig. 5. Spinnerets of Ciniflo ferox:-a. Extra spinnerets, which form the

flocculus; b. Cribriform surface on the same.

Fig. 6. a. Papillæ or spinning tubes on a portion of a spinneret; b. Highly

magnified view of one papilla.

Fig. 7. Striated muscle from the interior of abdomen:-a. Bundle of fibres; b. One fibre, highly magnified.

Fig. 8. Fat lobules.

Fig. 9. Interior of the abdomen of Epëira diadema, showing the silk-glands

in situ.

Fig. 10. One of the spinnerets of Epëira diadema, with portions of striated muscle, and some of the small oval and fusiform glands attached. Fig. 11. Two of the fusiform glands, with their granular capsules highly

magnified.

Fig. 12. a. Oval gland, from Epëira diadema, showing its embossed appearance; b, Ditto, from a large species of Mygale, showing its duct with a fibrous covering.

Fig. 13. Minute glands near the supplementary spinners in Ciniflo atrox; two ordinary glands appear with them.

PLATE XVII.

Fig. 1. Cartilaginous or hard silk-glands:-a and b. Two varieties from

Epëira diadema; c. Variety from Agelena labyrinthica.

Fig. 2. Membranous sac and duct from Agelena labyrinthica.

Fig. 3. A portion of the body of the same, highly magnified.

Fig. 4. A portion of the duct of the same, highly magnified.

Fig. 5. Large sac from a species of Olios:-a. A portion of the duct of the

same, showing the fibrous coat.

Fig. 6. Peculiar shaped sac, with branched cæca, from Ciniflo atrox.

* Introduction to Entomology, 3rd edit. vol. i. p. 418.

Fig. 7. One of the posterior triarticulate spinners from Agelena labyrinthica,

with spinning glands attached.

Fig. 8. Portions of duct, from spinning glands imbedded in muscle, just as they are entering one of the spinnerets.

The Patent Laws. -Report of the Committee of the British Association. Presented by W. FAIRBAIRN, F.R.S.

THE subject of the Patent Laws has frequently occupied the attention of meetings of the British Association, and committees have from time to time been appointed for the purpose of considering how those laws might be rendered more efficient for the objects with which they are maintained. The Rev. Vernon Harcourt, in the inaugural address at the first meeting of the Association, held at York (September 1831), in which he expounded the objects and plan of the Association, referred to those laws as an instance in which fiscal regulations interfered with the progress of practical science, and as failing to give protection to property in scientific invention to the same extent as protection is given to every other species of property; and he suggested a revision of those laws as one of the subjects to which a scientific association might be justly expected to call public attention; and Sir David Brewster, and others, have on several occasions brought the subject before meetings of the Association.

By the Patent Law Amendment Act, passed in the session of 1852, the rights of the inventor to property in the offspring of his brain, and in the creations of his intellect when embodied in products of national industry, were fully recognized; provisional protection to that property was secured to such inventor from the date of his application for a patent; one proceeding was substituted, and one patent issued, extending to the whole of the United Kingdom, instead of three proceedings and three patents separate and distinct for each of the three countries, England, Scotland and Ireland; property was created and protection obtained for six months by a payment of £5; for three years by a payment of £25; and for the further terms of four and seven years, by additional payments of £50 and £100 respectively, instead of by the payment of upwards of £300 in the first instance, under circumstances of such uncertainty as threw discredit on the whole system; the specifications of all patents are to be printed and published, and sold at extremely low prices; a benefit to the public as well as the inventor, which it would be difficult to estimate too highly; and, lastly, provision was made for the regulation of matters relating to patents by commissioners furnished with ample powers for the purpose.

This Act came into operation on the 1st of October, 1852, and the experience of the first two years showed that the payments by inventors upon the above scale of charges would be at the rate of more than £50,000 per annum, without including the further or additional payments for the maintenance of the patents for the further terms of four and seven years, after the expiration of the first three or seven years respectively.

At the meeting of the British Association in Liverpool, September 1854, a committee, presided over by the Earl of Harrowby, was appointed "for the purpose of taking such steps as may be necessary to render the patent system and the funds derived from inventors more efficient and available for the reward of meritorious inventors and the advancement of practical science." This committee communicated with the Earl Granville and Lord Brougham, to whose exertions and watchful care the passage of the measure

of 1852 was mainly due; and made a report to the meeting of the British Association, held in Glasgow in the following year, when the subject of the tax on inventors and the appropriation of the funds so levied was fully discussed; and another committee, consisting of His Grace the Duke of Argyll, the Earl of Harrowby, Colonel Sabine, the Master of the Mint (Prof. Graham), Mr. Fairbairn and Mr. Webster, were appointed with similar powers. The Glasgow Committee addressed a memorial to the Lord Chancellor (Lord Cranworth), calling attention to the proceedings which had taken place at the various meetings of the British Association, to the numerous questions of administration and legislation then adverted to, or which might be expected to arise, and suggesting that Her Majesty should be advised, in accordance with the provisions of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852, to appoint others than the official commissioners, and to make the working of that Act the subject of immediate inquiry.

At the meeting of the British Association, held at Cheltenham in 1856, a committee, consisting of the Earl of Harrowby, Lord Stanley, M.P., Mr. Fairbairn, Prof. Graham, the Master of the Mint, Mr. James Heywood, Mr. Commissioner Hill, General Sabine, and Mr. Webster, were appointed with like powers; the Earl of Harrowby and Mr. James Heywood communicated personally with the Lord Chancellor; the Lord Stanley took a warm interest in the subject, embodying his views on the necessary alterations in a published pamphlet; but up to this time the objects in view have not been attained, and it will be for this meeting of the British Association to consider what further steps should be taken.

The printing and publication of the specifications has led to results which were hardly anticipated, as to which the following extract from a Report of the Commissioners of Patents in 1856, will be read with interest :

"The Commissioners of Patents have presented complete copies of all their publications to such of the government officers and seats of learning as have applied for them, and to the principal towns in the United Kingdom, on condition of their being daily open to the inspection of the public free of charge. In their selection of towns for this gift, they have been guided by the number of applications for patents proceeding from each.

"This gift has in most cases laid the foundation of public free libraries where none previously existed. In some instances, where the local authorities hesitated to accept the works on account of the incidental expenses, the custody has been solicited and temporarily undertaken by scientific institutions, which have modified their by-laws to enable a free admission of the public daily to the library in which the works are deposited."

The same Report, after enumerating a list of the places which have received the works, says, "it is satisfactory to find that these national records of invention are especially consulted by that class whose skill in the improvement of manufactures is so essential to the maintenance of the commercial prosperity of this kingdom;" and adds the testimony of the librarians of several of the free libraries to the same effect.

Complete sets of the Commissioners' works have been sent to the Colonies; to many Foreign States; to the Patent Office, Washington; to the Aster Library, New York; to the Franklin Institution of Pennsylvania; ; to the Public Free Library, Boston, U.S.; and the Honourable Charles Mason, Commissioner of Patents for the United States, addressing the Commissioners of Patents in this country, writes as follows:

"The admirable example you have set in publishing the specifications and drawings in full, and putting them on sale at a moderate price, so that all can easily provide themselves with what they need for private use, will ere long, I trust, stimulate our own Government to do the like. Nothing short of this in the way of publication can give permanent satisfaction."

A free library and reading-room has been opened at the office of the Commissioners of Patents, containing a large collection of works of reference, which the same Report states to be numerously attended by professional men, the agents of foreign and provincial inventors, and by practical mechanics and operatives; and Mr. Woodcroft has collected a large number of portraits of inventors and of models, illustrative of the history and progress of invention, which it may be hoped, at no distant period, will form a principal object in a national gallery of inventors and museum of inventions.

These and other undertakings, well suited to promote the advance of practical science and the interest of inventors, afford legitimate objects for the expenditure of the surplus funds levied on inventors; but when ample provision shall have been made for these objects, there will be a considerable annual surplus.

The amount paid by patentees during the last year was upwards of £83,000; and after the commencement of the payment of £100 at the expiration of the seventh year, the amount levied on inventors will not be found less than £100,000 per annum; a sum, which, as being levied on inventors and inventions, may reasonably be expected to be expended on objects in which inventors have some interest.

In reference to this branch of the subject, the following questions would appear to arise for consideration :

1. Should the present scale of payment be maintained or reduced, so as to leave no great surplus beyond what may be necessary for the official expenses?

2. If the present scale be maintained, how should the surplus be appropriated?

It appears that the second payment of £50 before the end of the third year is not made in respect of more than about one-fourth of the whole number of patents issued, that payment being made on about 500 out of 2000 patents, so that 1500 are permitted to lapse; the cost of which in money to the patentees cannot be taken at less than £75,000, in addition to the expenditure of time and labour on the respective inventions. Can anything be done to diminish this loss beyond affording every facility for access to information as to what has been done before, and the improved education of the people?

In addition to these considerations and suggestions in connexion with the new system as recently established, and which are of a fiscal character, there are some other questions deeply affecting the interests of inventors and the advancement of practical science, which it would not be proper to close this Report without adverting to.

The Patent Law Reform of 1852 was never regarded as a final measure. It was but a first instalment obtained under great difficulty; it only laid the foundation of the superstructure yet to be raised. The following important questions of-1. improved protection to the property so created; 2. the amendment of existing patents and specifications, so as to save what is really new and useful according to the amendment of the Patent Law as effected by Lord Brougham in 1835; 3. the confirmation of an invention reinvented and introduced into successful use, according to the principle of the confirmation of rights effected by the same noble Lord; 4. the extension of the term of patents which have not yielded adequate remuneration to the inventor; 5. reward to a meritorious inventor, who from causes wholly beyond his control, has been a great loser by, or derived no benefit from a meri

On the Lead MINING DISTRICTS OF YORKSHIRENIVERSITY

torious invention, from which the public have derived great benefit; a system of compulsory licences under existing patents, are questions, all of which were omitted advisedly by the promoters of the recent measure, their attention being directed mainly to the destruction of the existing, and the establishment of a new system of creating property in inventions.

These, with other amendments and matters of minor importance, which the experience of six years of the working of the new system has disclosed, will involve further legislation, and the consolidation and repeal of no less than sixteen statutes, or part of statutes, an object of great importance to every inventor.

Your Committee now remit this subject to the consideration of the Meeting of the British Association, deriving confidence from the belief that the times are not unfavourable for further action, and that the town and neighbourhood in which the Association is now assembled may appropriately claim to take a prominent part in the consummation of those reforms which have occupied the attention of so many previous Meetings.

On the Lead Mining Districts of Yorkshire.
By STEPHEN EDDY, Carlton, Skipton.

In comparison with the vast coal fields and iron-stone beds of Yorkshire, the
lead-producing district of this county seems trifling; yet in consideration of
the large population dependent upon the mining and manufacture of lead, it
necessarily claims our attention.

I cannot take it upon me to say, when lead mining was first commenced in this county; but that many veins were discovered and worked to some extent, at a very early period, is fully established, both by the Roman explorations frequently met with, and the discovery in the vicinity of Greenhow Hill, near Pateley Bridge, of two pigs of lead, inscribed with the name of the Emperor Domitian, and bearing date A.D. 82. It is not improbable, however, that the mines of these districts were worked at a still more remote period by the ancient Britons.

In the earlier age of lead mining, and indeed up to a comparatively recent period, the discovery of a vein entitled the party finding it to a grant, or licence to work, on a certain length of such particular vein, generally two meers; the meer being 28, 29, 30, or 32 yards, in different districts, respectively. The width of the ground granted was confined to a distance of 8 yards on each side of the vein. This was called the "Quarter Cord."

Thus, each vein formed a distinct mine, and from the well-known fact, that (though there is, generally speaking, a certain degree of parallelism maintained by the major part of the veins), in each of our mining fields, numerous intersections take place; the parties pursuing their allotted veins frequently found themselves within the quarter cord of the adjacent sett, and sometimes on their neighbour's vein. The result of such a system of holding, was not only to cramp the energies of the miner, from his not having a reasonable extent of ground for works of trial; but also to involve him in constant disputes and litigations with his neighbour.

The pernicious system of letting ground on a certain vein, with a given width on each side of such vein, was however continued to a comparatively recent date; when parties with capital becoming connected with the mines, and the works being so extended as to render the introduction of machinery advisable, the necessity for grants on a larger scale was so apparent, that small holders were by degrees disposed of, and the custom of granting setts