consider t^he Voorhis Bill, \l.\{. i)7, now before the? Congress. This earnestly sponsored mea.sure does not begin to define how roiupulsnr-y licensing is lo he areninpli>hed. Il makes n o t even a pretence of protect in. the patent owner against conH>eation of his proper-ty. It contains not even a perfunctory j|)romise of a "reasonable" royalty. B u t it would hrimd as a criminal offense "any failure or refusal to grant licenses. . . which has theelTect of unreasonably limit ing tht· supply of any article in commerce . . .." Clearly, anyone who applied fora patent with such a statute in force unci this is only one of Severn 1 choice provisions would be s i candidate for a padded cell. Andevtiii as compulsory licensing would destroy tltevery root of our patent system, and corrode t h e underpinnings of our whole economy, so would expansion of government industrial research and patent ownership» bring about much the same result, by a process of neutralization and perversiora. For obviously no man can long continue to invest §n research when his competitor is enabled to d o as well without making such investment. Under such conditions, any reason for private enterprise to invent, or to invest i n invention, evaporates. And the government research which would arise to t-ake over would lack that vital incentive, the hope of profit, which sparks private industrial research. The advent of Government as t h e Great Enterpriser and t h e Great Controller of industry would doom the democratic economy ^we have known. T h e v a s t economic power t h u s concentrated in t h e hands of Government could lead only to the domiaation a n d control of every phase of human, activity. I t could lead only to the complete subjugation a n d destruction of the descmocratic principles which, have made this» great nation what it is. Threat to Democracy This i s not idle conversation about something which might possibly happen. It is happening. T h e Government is today spending millions of dollars each year for research -*vhidi directly competes with research in private industry. And government ownership of patents is increasing by leapsand bounds. According to CHEMICAL AND ENGINEERING N E W S ( / ) , " t h e United
States Government is now one of t h e world's largest patent holders". And in the single fiscal year 1944 the Government was seekiing more patents than it had obtained in all previous years combined! If we w a n t t o let our form of economy, and OUE -democratic institutions a s well, run d o w n the drain, all we have t o do is relax a n d let the planners t a k e over. I t is the easiest thing in the world t o do. David Hume s a i d two centuries ago, " I t is seldom that liberty of a n y kind is lost all a t once." And we today h a v e seats in the front row center where w e can blandly watch t h a t kind of performance if we are content that 1622
it shall continue. But it m u s t n o t continue if our way of life is to continue. The frontal assault on the patent system we must meet. T h e infiltration of statecontrolled industrial research and patent ownership we must recognize anil deal with for what it is a n insidious and growing collectivist menace lo every aspect of our démocratie tradition. On both fronts, we must manifest a n d renew our faith in the fundamentals of the economy a n d of the government under which we have grown strong and great, and under which, God willing, we shall grow stronger a n d greater still. Λ hove all, we m u s t have faith in ourselves. Faith in o u r creative ability, our courage, and o u r power t o use wisely a n d well t h e instrumentalities we have created. That abuses have arisen under our pat ent system cannot h e denied. T h a t they should and must be stamped out we all agree. But they must not be made t h e shallow excuse for scrapping; the very tilings which have m a d e us, a s a nation, what we are. We don't dull the razor's edge to prevent cutting ourselves. W e need t h e edge, keep it, a n d learn to use i t . And so it must be with o u r patent system. If we are so gullible as to fall into t h e hands of those who would destroy that
system, we deserve our fate. That will not be life in a democratic American society* In his Perkin Medal Address in 1943. Robert K. Wilson said, "Were it my job as a supersaboteur to destroy America's fu ture greatness, I can think of no more effec tive way than to destroy our patent sys t e m . " l i e spoke the t r u t h . W h a t ' s it t o you? J u s t your whole future, t h a t ' s all. Yours, and that of generations to come. Literature Cited (1) CHKM. E X O . NKVVS. 22, 1S90 (1044).
(2) Hayek. Friedrich Α.. "The Road to Serfdo.Ti", Chicago I'niversity Press, 1945 (3) Wallace, Henry Α., Header*' Digest (Ma\ HM5). Author's Note: Since the preparation of thitarti.le the Voorhis Hill. II.R. H7, hn* been super seded l»y u revision thereof, U.K. 3-1 fVj. which omits the provision specifically quote·! in thif article. However, it is hardly less objectionable than the old bill. Criminal penalties are still proposed as punishment for acts which are now. and for many years have been, held entirely legal by the Supreme Court of the United States. Secondly, a new Kilgore bill has been intro duced, S. 12D7, which reflects essentially the philosophy of t h e original S. 702. Thus the situation specifically reported in the article has changed, but it seems entirely clear that the issues remain at least as sharply drawn as they were months !IRO. Indeed/every passais day seems to shape these up more sharply.— Robert Gottsehalk This article appeared first in The Chirauf liullrtiti of the Chicago Section of the ACS
Penicillin as a Preservative T H E EFFICACY of penicillin i n the treat• m e n t of many h u m a n diseases of m i crobial origin is wrell established. In its therapeutic application the action of t h e drug is exerted against nonsporulating or vegetative organisms. Even in susceptible species penicillin is effective only when t h e organisms a r e in a physiologically active condition. The d o r m a n t nature of spores would seem to provide pri?na facie evidence of their nonsusceptibility to penicillin. However, as C u r r a n and E v a n s have recently shown, t h e spores of many aerobic species are highly vulnerable t o attack by penicillin. These investigators, working in the Division of Dairy Research Labora tories of t h e Bureau of Dairy Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, have demonstrated t h a t in a nutrient mediuiii like milk, under suitable conditions for growth» t h e spores of susceptible species are a t t a c k e d by penicillin after they h a v e undergone the initial stages of germina tion, a t which time they have assumed t h e lability characteristics· of vegetative cells. They also showed that t h e transition in t h e spores from t h e initially stable t o the labile condition is uninfluenced by t h e presence of penicillin—thus a situation exists wherein t h e drug permits initial stages of germination of the spores to take place, but before vegetation can occur, penicillin arrests further development a n d CHEMICAL
degenerative changes set in which lead ultimately to t h e death of the cells. T h e susceptibility of different species to penicillin varied w i d e l y . Bacillus subtilis was particularly sensitive; other species exhibited lesser susceptibility, down to B. cereiib, which was very resist ant. There seemed to he an inverse rela tionship between t h e susceptibility of spores to penicillin a n d their thermal re sistance. T h e concentration of penicillin used was 5 Oxford units per ml. T h e residual penicillin was eliminated from t h e test suspensions after exposure by means of penicillinase. T h e extraordinary effectiveness of peni cillin against bacterial spores of high ther mal resistance, coupled with i t s nontoxic nature, suggested to the authors a role of possible utility in nonmedical fields, in cluding t h a t of food preservation. A suit able combination of penicillin with mild heating seems t o offer the best prospect of success. T h e possible presence of penicil lin-resistant spores, even though they are likely to be relatively thermolabile, con stitutes a serious problem in the use of the drug as a preserving agent. T h e effect of penicillin on flavor has received little or no attention. Until these and other phases of t h e problem are solved, no claims can be made a s to the practical value of peni cillin as a preservative. A N D
ENGINEERING
NEWS
