SuT9zian FRUITS' OF AMERICO GENIUS. U. S. Lettere Patent. Irl'"a recent lecture tY Prof. W. R. Jonrlsorr, before a Mechanics Institute in Baltimore, after "discussing the• general subject of the dignity and adyantage' of labor, Professor Johnson proCeeds with an examination the Patents 'granted * during the existence of the establishment by law and the specific character of the inventions. The followhig analysis will be found useful for reference, and to con valuable infOrmation on a subject, in which it may be said, all interests of the community are deeply concerned. 4 , The patent laivs of the 'United States . have now been in existence 59 years.— , Prom their commencement down to the Ist of - January, 1849, the number of pa tents issued have been 16,208, and this number would doubtless have been much greater had the laws continued, as they werebefOre":l§6, When the system of examinations prior to the grant 0-letters , patent, was established.. Under that sys - 7 tem, a large proportion of all the appli.. cations is now rejected : some for want of essential novelty, and - others, for want of suitable care and ability in preparing the ' specifications and other documents. Not; withstanding this, it may be mentioned as a fact indicative-of- the high degite„to which inventive genius is eXcited among us, that in 1818—excbisive of a few granted to foreigners—the number was 649. ...To what subjects all this ingenuity has been devoted, and how it has been _tied among the different branclits of are, -an inquiry at once - toteiesting and — practicalrant - t-will endeavor concisely to state the result. Of the whole 16 208 patents issued, -7- 1966. or 12. 03 per cent have' had for their object Agriculture, its instruments • and operations. • This as might be antic ipated from the vast interest and impor • tance of of that department .of -industry, • is the urgent class. - To the manufactiire of fibrous_and tex tile substances, including - machines 'for preparing wool, cotton, silk, fur and pa per, 1579 patented inventions or 9. 74 per cent of the whole number, have been devoted. For calorific purposes, compri- sing lamps, fire places, stoves, grates, fur ^"riaces- for heating buildings, cooking ap paratus and preparation of fuel, 1479, : or 9. 12 per cent of the whole number of patenti have been 4ranted. For the manufacture of metals 1831 patents;— chemical purposes, 1501 ; for Hydrau lics, including water wheels, &c. 976 patents; machines for lumber working, 950. Patents; Implements for household purposes, 1615; mill gearing, &c. 986; Instruments for navigation, 615; steam and gas Engines, 654; Leather maim-. factures, 553; Vehicles, cars, &c. 558;- 6 Fine Arts, 475; Mechanical powers, 402; Manufactures of stone, pottery, 338 ; Wearing apparel, 280; Mathematical anti Surgical Instruments, 511; Warliko . 4 lmplements, 230. And finally .a miscel laneous and very heterogeneous class, for bidding systematic arrangement, 182 pa tents,-or 1: 12 per cent. Of all this varied multitude of objects towards which the :nventive genius of Amlrica has, for the,Jast fifty-nine years been directed, it will be remarked, that, the first four classes, via: Agriculture which yields food to man and beast, the manufactUre of textile fibres, which affords clothing and various furniture;— metallurgy, which supplies all the tools and implements of industry, and calorific processes, which give heat and light for the,comfort and manifold uses of daily life, comprise 2. 5 of the entire number of inventions which have bten patented in the United States. Another remark is, that though this aggregate of all the patents issued, Agri , ture and textile fibres occupy the two highest places, yet 'Then we compare shorter and more recent periods, as the last two years„.for v./ample, We find that metallurgy and calorifia purposes have both had - higher proportioni of the entire numberof patents issued during that pe riod, than either Agriculture•or