Schmitt is an amateur gardener. He one day comes across a strange new

blossom in his garden. He takes it next door to his neighbor, a botanist, to

analyze. The botanist returns with the news that his flower is a one-in-a-

billion mutation, with properties such that if its nectar were analyzed and

synthesized, we would have the cure for heart disease.

When word gets out, pharmaceutical company representatives line

Schmitt's driveway, offering him exorbitant sums to buy his blossom in

order to produce such a cure. But Schmitt is so taken by the beauty of his

flower he cannot bring himself to part with it. It's my plant, he reminds

everyone, produced on my land with my efforts. I should get to keep it if I

want.

Is Schmitt correct here? Or should society have the right to take the

blossom from Schmitt and so cure heart disease?