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at the latest from the date of his application and if he fails to do so, the application will be deemed to be abandoned. Where an application for a patent has been accepted, the invention sought to be patented may, during the period between the date of the application and the date of sealing such patent, be used and published without prejudice to the patent to be granted for such invention. This protection from the consequences of use and publication is termed provisional protection. Where the same applicant has put in two or more provisional specifications for inventions which are cognate or modifications one of theother, and has thereby obtained concurrent provisional protection for the same, and the Comptroller is of opinion that the whole of such inventions are such as to constitute a single invention and may be properly included in the patent, he may accept one complete specification in respect of the whole of such applications and grant a single patent thereon, bearing the date of the earliest of such applications ; but in considering the validity of the patent and for the purpose of statutory provisions with respect to oppositions to the grant of patents, the Court or the Comptroller as the case may be is to have regard to the respective dates of the provisional specifications relating to the several matters contained in the complete specification. With the object of checking applications for speculative patents for alleged inventions, based only on chemical theories, and not submitted to the test of experiment, typical samples and specimens are, in any particular case where the Comptroller considers it desirable, required to be furnished in connection with applications for patents for chemical inventions before the acceptance of the complete specification. Where the Examiner reports disconformity between the provisional and complete specifications, the Comptroller may, with the consent of the applicant, cancel the provisional specification and treat the application as made on the date on which the complete specification was left at the Patent Office. After the acceptance of a complete specification, and until the date of the sealing of a patent in respect thereof, or the expiration of the time for sealing, the applicant has the like privileges and rights, as if a patent for the invention had been sealed on the date of the acceptance of the complete specification, with this exception that he may not institute any proceeding for infringement until a patent for the invention has been granted to him. In Newfoundland every applicant for a patent is required with his petition to deliver into the office of the Colonial Secretary " a written description of his inven- " tion, and of the manner of using or process of compounding the same," in accordance with the detailed instructions contained in the Act; and after the expiration of one week, and until the expiration of six months from the date of the delivery of this description, the applicant has the like privileges and rights as if a patent had been sealed to him on the date of such delivery. In Australia, New Zealand, and the Transvaal, the law relating to provisional and complete specifications resembles that of the United Kingdom (1) in leaving it to the option of the applicant whether his application shall be accompanied with a provisional or a complete specification; (2) in the provisional protection which, after the acceptance of an application, is accorded to him during the period before the date of the application and the sealing of the Patent; and (3) in the privileges and rights granted to him during the interval between the acceptance of the complete specification and the sealing of the patent or the expiration of the time for sealing. In all these Colonies the normal time allowed for leaving the complete specification is nine months, whereas the normal time allowed in the United Kingdom is six months. This time may be extended, on payment of the prescribed fee, by one month in Australia and New Zealand. The Australian law also contains a provision similar to that in the law of the United Kingdom whereby one complete specification may be filed in respect of two or more provisional specifications for inventions which a,re cognate or modifications one of the other. In the Orange River Colony the time allowed for leaving the complete specification is limited to six months, at the expiration of which the term of provisional protection expires. In Natal every applicant has also the option of selecting whether he will deposit a provisional or a complete specification with his application. In either case his invention obtains provisional protection for six months from the date of the deposit; and if no complete specification is deposited within eight weeks at least before the expiration of the term of provisional protection, the application will be deemed to be abandoned. Extension of this time, for what appears to be an indefinite period