“I do not believe that any system of law could be devised which would enable a poor inventor in this country to fight his own battle. He can only fight it by interesting some capitalist, more or less wealthy, in the probable promise of his invention; the result is, as all know, that some ninety-eight out of every hundred Patents end in loss to the parties and are worthless to the public.” Mr. Grove leads to the same conclusion from another point:— “If the patentee himself was a wealthy man and a large manufacturer, having 20, 30, or 40 Patents in his possession, he would struggle to the utmost to maintain his Patent; he would retain the ablest advocates and the ablest scientific witnesses; and there would be no chance of repealing the Patent unless the person opposing it had something like an equality of purse to go into the field. You never could get the battle fought if one side was wealthy, without the opposite party having something like equal powers to oppose him.” Mr. Brunel thus states his conclusion:— “I believe them to be productive of almost unmixed evil with respect to every party connected with them, whether those for the benefit of whom they are apparently made, or the public.” I proceed to call attention to the effect of Patents as seen and felt in Government establishments. Before doing so I quote experience in a private shipbuilding-yard. Mr. Hall, the eminent builder of the Aberdeen clippers, says:— “As the sailor with his pockets full is a prey to the crimps, so is a ship-contractor a prey to Patent-mongers—patent windlasses, patent reefing apparatus, patent blocks, patent rudders, patent chain-lifters, patent capstans, patent steering gear, patent boat-lowering apparatus, patent paints, and numberless others, all attempting to hook on to the poor contractor. This would be no grievance, were we not aware that most of them are patent humbugs.” Like many others, he thinks it very doubtful whether the inventor “Would not be as well without a law which still allows the strong to prey on the weak.” The following is from the evidence of the Duke of Somerset:—