DICKSON vs. KINSMAN.—INTERFERENCE.—TELEPHONE.
The subject matter of the interference is defined in the preliminary declaration thereof as follows:
The combination in one instrument of a transmitting telephone and a receiving telephone, so arranged that when the mouthpiece of the speaking or transmitting telephone is applied to the mouth of a person, the orifice of the receiving telephone will be applied to his ear.
1. While it is true that the unsupported allegations of an inventor, that he conceived an invention at a certain date, are not sufficient to establish such fact, the testimony of a party that he constructed and used a device at a certain time is admissible.
2. Abandonment is an ill-favored finding, which cannot be presumed, but must be conclusively proven.
The decision of the Board of Examiners-in-Chief is reversed, and priority awarded to Dickson.
Characteristics of Arctic Winter.
Lieutenant Schwatka, whose recent return from a successful expedition in search of the remains of Sir John Fanklin's ill-fated company, combats the prevalent opinion that the Arctic winter, especially in the higher latitudes, is a period of dreary darkness.