Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1882-11-22
FACTS AND COMMENTS,


Some people. says ths HaslIeaa
Journal, Affect 70 believe tlal .hty 90
rive no benefit frOm Advertising iof
The reason that they cannot trace any
particular transaction 10 any particular
adyehiseneat Neither can We allFlD'
ute the growth Of vegetation 70 any
particular drop Of rain of ray oi suh'
shine-but IL is very eVldenl lhal WIth'
out rain o. sunshine u would iai 70
flourish,
A woman was lately indicted In
England foT causing tho death " hef
child by denying u adequate nouilsh-
ment, Investigation showed, how.
ever that the mother had fed the ehlid
regularly On corn starch, mixed WIN
little milk, ignorant Of the TACT that
starch isunable 10 supply The necessary
hutrimeht 70 young children, phaef
these circumstances the woman Wss'
0f course, acquitted, " ID a lesson
which mothers and nurses would 10
We'll 10 remember,
Tho London Times In a recent ar
tlcle says that Eufopeis u no longer aule
10 feed her population, and The total
gain crops produced fell AS,OOorOVo
bushels below the annual eohsump'
tloh, and 2S5,0O0,0OO bushels oi tl'is
deficiency 10 in the United klhgdom'
The wheat crop of Great btllaln 10
estimated this year at lbOOO'OVO TO
$4,000, 900 bushels. and the eonsump'
ton at about 2OO,0OQ,OVO bushela'
After deductlhg what u required Tor
seed, there viii DO q deficiency 10 10
supplied from fofeign countries OF
about l90O00.0O0 bushels, and perhaps
more than this.
Civilization has its peculiar diseases
from which sayages are comparatively
free, as they In their turn are slaugh-
tered by plaques which die out a. they
become civilized, Among these dis
eases that Of short.slghtedhess, or my
opIa. "a the oeulists prefer to call H.
grows constantly moro prominent
Every obseryant person OF middle ago
must have become convinced that the
wearing Of eyeglasses IL much more
common now than II was q score OF
years ago, and such statistics ~ have
been collected fully sustain this opinion.
A recent examination Of the pupils In
the public schools Of New York city
has shown that the proportion OF suf-
ferers from myopla Is In some cases as
high as eight and one-half and even
twelve and one-half per cent, While
at Coluabla college no less than sixty
nine Of the students We're near
sighted, or q full third Of the whole
20l. The disease is found 10 Increase
with the length Of school life, and Is
undoubtedly aggravated by the im-
perfect lighting arrangements In the
average school.room and the poor type
Of many textbooks.
A perpleying question often arises
under the patent laws: suppose
workman In the employ Of some large
establishment invents valuable im-
provement In the machinery or pro-
cesses does the patent belong to him
or his employersY They always say
that they were paying him for his time.
and are entitled to whatever he &C
complishes. lie argues that inventing
IL matter quite outside the duties Tor
which he was hired. For example,
plow manufacturing company in In
diana employed superintendent
Of their business, and he, during
his engagement, took out patent
for improvements he made In the
plows they were selling. They sued
him, claiming that he should transfer
the patent to them, for they said they
were led to engage him by his assur-
ence that he had large experience in
making and selling plows and devising
Improvements, and that he would de-
vote his time and services to manufac-
turing and perfecting their plows;
also, that theimprovement that he had
patented was made partly by aid Of
suggestions from other employees and
with employees belonging to the COM
pany. The Judge said that these facts
were not enough to make out their
case. Persons are not deprived Of the
right to the inventions they make while
in the service Of others, unless they
have been hired and paid to exercise
their inventive faculties for their EN-
ployers. A contract for the time,
labor and skill Of the employe in man
ufacturing and selling does not give
the employer the right to an improve.
ment which the employe invents. II
in this case the superintendent was ma
terlally aided by suggestions from
other persons, he was not sole inventor,
and perhaps his coadjutors were en-
titled to share in the patent, but the
fact would not give the employer q
right to it.