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In patent infringement suits, as might be expected, the Laboratory does yeoman service for the court. It does not construe claims, for that is a matter of law ; but it determines matters of technical fact, with the result that a judge is spared the necessity of considering a mass of testimony which, to a layman in science, even though he be a lawyer, must seem a hopeless jumble of cryptic phrases. One such case turned upon the point whether or not a certain brand of soap was so greatly superior to another in washing qualities as to be patentably different. On behalf of the court, the Laboratory made a study of the two soaps to determine their solubility in water, acids and lime solutions, and their effect on dyes and on fabrics. It showed conclusively that the one soap was no better than the other. These opinions of the Laboratory on matters of technical fact are by law made binding upon the courts. A judge must accept the technical decision of the Laboratory and rule accordingly. Germany has a tariff, which, like our own, is intended to protect the home producer. Disputes with the customs authorities are therefore as frequent in Germany as in the United States. The American appraiser submits imported goods for scientific examination either to chemists or physicists in the employ of the customs service, or else he employs outside experts. The German customs authorities call upon the Royal Laboratory for Testing Materials for assistance. In a controversy which arose between the customs authorities and an importer of mercerized cotton, the government maintained that the fabric was dyed and therefore subject to a higher duty than if it were undyed. The importer insisted that the cotton was undyed. Gross Lichterfelde examined the fabric scientifically and supported him in his contention. An American Appeals for Scientific Help. Foreigners, too, resort occasionally to the Laboratory when the questions at issue affect German industry. I was told an American importer of German paper who had been compelled, as he thought, to pay a higher duty in the United States than the Dingley tariff required. Because the importation was an oily German paper substitute for parchment. he asked the Laboratory to tell him how treated papers could be scientifically distinguished from untreated papers. He received an exhaustive description of the turpentine oil test, armed with which he intended to appeal to the American customs authorities again. Another foreign firm wished to ascertain whether its steel hydrogen flasks met the requirements of the German police regulations governing the traffic in liquid and compressed gases. were sent to Gross Lichterfelde. There it was found that the wrong kind of metal been employed, and that the police requirements had by no means been fulfilled. Whenever any department of the German Imperial Government is confronted with a technical problem for solution it is (Concluded on page 604.) 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