“Few men possess greater ingenuity, or have greater merit. If their (Boulton and Watt’s) Patent can be sustained in point of law, no man ought to envy them the profit and advantages arising from it. Even if it cannot be supported, no man ought to envy them the profit,” &c. We come to C. J. Eyre:— “According to the letter of the statute, the words ... fall very short ... but most certainly the exposition of the statute, so far as usage will expound it, has gone very much beyond the letter. ‘A deliberate surrender,’ comments Mr. Coryton, ‘of judicial power in favour of an accumulation of popular errors.’... Later judges, following in the same course, have striven rather to regulate the inconsistencies they found, than to address themselves to the cause and thus prevent the possibility of their recurrence. Writers on this subject have on this head followed in the course indicated by the Bench.” A practical commentary, and a confirmation of Mr. Coryton’s views, are furnished by the fact that the number of Patents granted in the six reigns preceding that of Geo. III. was only 540 in 85 years, or less than 6½ a-year; whereas now a greater number is granted daily. The actual administration of Patents is exhibited to us by a Return which the House has been good enough to order on my motion. That return shows how the rate of multiplication has increased, especially in Scotland and Ireland. There have been granted for— In England England. Scotland. Ireland. for the Colonies. In 1650—None. 1700 2 1750 7 1800 96 13 2 6 1825 250 62 33 87 1850 523 227 531 191 1866 2,121 2,121 2,121 none 1867 2,292 2,292 2,292 none There were in operation in the United Kingdom at the end of last year no fewer than 11,369.