departments of natural science, the authors of which know little of what they undertake to teach, except what they have drawn from me and others like myself.  Again, see how numerous are the ‘Flora’s Emblems,’ and the ’Garlands of Flowers,’ and the ‘Flora’s Dictionaries,’ and how large is their sale—­ and how large must be the profits of those engaged in their production.  To recognize in such men as Cuvier and Lamarck the existence of any right to either their facts or their deductions would be an act of great injustice towards the race of literary men, while most inexpedient as regards the world at large, now so cheaply supplied with knowledge.  As regards the question of international copyright now before the Senate, my views are different.  Several of my books have been published abroad, and my publisher here tells me, that to prevent the republication of others he is obliged to supply them cheaply for foreign markets, and thus am I deprived of a fair and just reward for my labors.  Copyright should be universal and eternal, and such, I am persuaded, will be the result at which you will arrive when you shall have thoroughly studied the subject.”

Having studied it, and having given full consideration to the views that they and others had presented, your answer would probably be to the following effect:  “It is clear, gentlemen, from your own showing, that there are two distinct classes of persons engaged in the production of books—­the men who furnish the body, and those who dress it up for production before the world.  The first class are generally poor, and likely to continue so.  They labor without any view to pecuniary advantage.  They are, too, very generally helpless.  Animated to their work solely by a desire to penetrate into the secrets of nature the character of their minds unfits them for mixing in a money-getting world, while you are always in that world, ready to enforce your claims to its consideration.  As a consequence of this, they are rarely allowed even the credit that is due to them.  Their discoveries become at once common property, to be used by men like yourselves, and for your own individual profit.  We have here among ourselves a gentleman who has given to astronomy a new and highly important law essential to the perfection of the science, the discovery of which has cost him the labor of a life, as a consequence of which he is poor and likely so to remain.  Important as was his discovery, his name is already so completely forgotten that there is probably not a single one among you that can now recall it, and yet his law figures in all the recent books.  Is this right?  Has he no claim to consideration?”