Dr. Franklin about this period, in addition to his agency for Pennsylvania, received the separate appointments of agent for the respective colonies of New Jersey, Georgia, and Massachusetts. All of which he continued to fill with equal credit to himself and advantage to his constituents, during his stay in England.

In the course of this year (1766) he visited Holland and Germany, and received the greatest marks of attention and respect from men of science in those countries. In his passage through Holland, he learned from the watermen the effect which a diminution of the quantity of water in canals has, in impeding the progress of boats. Upon his return to England he was induced to make a number of experiments, which tended to confirm the observation. These, with an explanation of the phenomenon, he communicated in a letter to his friend sir John Pringle, which will be found among his philosophical writings.

Gawkee:1 after these Jemmy Twitcher,2 with a catch by way of funeral anthem; and by his side his friend and partner Mr. Falconer Donaldson of Halifax. At a little distance, to close the procession, are two worthy B****ps, Dr. Squirt, and another right reverend gentleman, who shall be nameless: and behind them lie, on this side of the river, two huge bales of returned commodities, one marked Stamps from America, the other Black Cloth from America.

"These few mourners are separated from the joyful scene that appears in the back ground, by the River Thames, in which are riding three firstrate ships, called, The ROCKINGHAM,3 The GRAFTON, and The CONWAY. Along the shore stand open warehouses for the several goods of our principal manufacturing towns, from which cargoes are Now shipping for America: among these is a large case, containing a statue of MR. PITT, which is heaving on board a boat number 250; and there is another boat taking in goods, nearer the first-rates, which is numbered 105; numbers which will ever remain sacred to liberty, and render the memory of the triumphant MAJORITY, on this side of the river, revered by our latest posterity."

1 (Perhaps) Lord Gower. 2 Lord Sandwich. quis of Rockingham.

tary Conway.

VOL. I.

3 The Mar

4 The Duke of Grafton.

5 Mr. Secre

E e

In the following year, as also in 1769, he visited Paris, where he was no less favorably received than he had been in Germany. He was introduced to the king (Louis XV.) and his sisters Mesdames de France, and particularly distinguished by them: as he was also by the Academy of Sciences (of which he was afterwards elected a foreign associate,) and many other scientific and literary characters.

Mons. Dubourg, a member of the same academy under took a French translation of Dr. Franklin's letters on his Discoveries in Electricity, and the third English edition of the same work was now published in London. With respect to the general merit and originality of the experiments and hypotheses of Dr. Franklin, as described and explained in these letters, that eminent natural philosopher, the late Dr. Priestly, bears the following testimony in his "History of Electricity."

"Nothing was ever written upon the subject of electricity, which was more generally read and admired in all parts of Europe than these letters. There is hardly any European language into which they have not been translated; and, as if this were not sufficient to make them properly known, a translation of them has lately been made into Latin. It is not easy to say, whether we are most pleased with the simplicity and perspicuity with which these letters are written, the modesty with which the author proposes every hypothesis of his own, or the noble frankness with which he relates his mistakes, when they were corrected by subsequent experiments.

"Though the English have not been backward in acknowleging the great merit of this philosopher, he has had the singular good fortune to be, perhaps, even more celebrated abroad than at home; so that, to form a just idea of the great and deserved reputation of Dr. Franklin, we must read the foreign publications on the subject of electricity; in many of which the terms Franklinism, Franklinist, and the

* See Postscript of letter to governor Franklin, August 22, 1772.

Franklinian system, occur in almost every page, In consequence of this, Dr. Franklin's principles bid fair to be handed down to posterity as equally expressive of the true principles of electricity, as the Newtonian philosophy is of the true system of nature in general."

As Dr. Franklin has only mentioned his electrical discoveries in a very transient way, in the former part of these memoirs, and as they are of a most important and interesting nature, it has been thought a short digression on the subject would be excusable, and not void of entertainment. For this purpose the following account of the same, including the first experiment of the Lightning Kite, as given by Dr. Stuber, is here given.

"Dr. Franklin engaged in a course of electrical experiments, with all the ardor and thirst for discovery which characterized the philosophers of that day. Of all the branches of experimental philosophy, Electricity had been least explored. The attractive power of amber is mentioned by Theophrastus and Pliny, and, from them, by later naturalists. In the year 1600, Gilbert, an English physician, enlarged considerably the catalogue of substances which have the property of attracting light bodies. Boyle, Otto Guericke, a burgomaster of Magdeburg, (celebrated as the inventor of the air pump,) Dr. Wall, and sir Isaac Newton, added some facts. Guericke first observed the repulsive power of electricity, and the light and noise produced by it. In 1709, Hawkesbec communicated some important observations and experiments to the world. For several years electricity was entirely neglected, until Mr. Grey applied himself to it, in 1728, with great assiduity. He and his friend Mr. Wheeler, made a great variety of experiments; in which they demonstrated, that electricity may be communicated from one body to another, even without being in contact, and in this way may be conducted to a great distance. Mr. Grey afterwards found, that by suspending rods of iron by silk or hair lines, and bringing an excited tube under them, sparks might be drawn, and a light perceived at the extremities in the dark. M. Du Faye, intendant of the

French king's gardens, made a number of experiments, which added not a little to the science. He made the discovery of two kinds of electricity, which he called vitreous and resinous; the former produced by rubbing glass, the latter from excited sulphur, sealing-wax, &c. But this idea he afterwards gave up as erroneous. Between the years 1739 and 1742, Desaguliers made a number of experiments, but added little of importance. He first used the terms conductors and electrics, per se. 1742, several ingenious Germans engaged in this subject. Of these the principal were, professor Boze of Wittemberg, professor Winkler of Leipsic, Gordon, a Scotch Benedictine monk, professor of philosophy at Erfurt, and Dr. Ludolf of Berlin. The result of their researches astonished the philosophers of Europe. Their apparatus was large, and by means of it they were enabled to collect large quantities, of electricity, and thus to produce phenomena which had been hitherto unobserved. They killed small birds, and set spirits on fire. Their experiments excited the curiosity of other philosophers. Collinson, about the year 1745, sent to the library company of Philadelphia an account of these experiments, together with a tube, and directions how to use it. Franklin, with some of his friends, immediately engaged in a course of experiments; the result of which is well known. He was enabled to make a number of important discoveries, and to propose theories to account for various phenomena; which have been universally adopted, and which bid fair to endure for ages. His observations he communicated, in a series of letters, to his friend Collinson; the first of which is dated March 28, 1747. In these he makes known the power of points in drawing and throwing off the electrical matter, which had hitherto escaped the notice of electricians. He also made the grand discovery of a plus and minus, or of a positive and negative state of electricity. We give him the honor of this, without hesitation; although the English have claimed it for their countryman Dr. Watson. Watson's paper is dated Jan. 21, 1748; Franklin's, July 11, 1747; several months prior. Shortly after, Franklin, from his principles of plus and minus

state, explained, in a satisfactory manner, the phenomena of the Leyden phial, first observed by Mr. Cuneus, or by professor Muschenbroeck of Leyden, which had much perplexed philosophers. He showed clearly that the bottle, when charged, contained no more electricity than before, but that as much was taken from one side as was thrown on the other; and that to discharge it, nothing was necessary but to make a communication between the two sides, by which the equilibrium might be restored, and that then no signs of electricity would remain. He afterwards demonstrated by experiments, that the electricity did not reside in the coating, as had been supposed, but in the pores of the glass itself. After a phial was charged, he removed the coating, and found that upon applying a new coating the shock might still be received. In the year 1749, he first suggested his idea of explaining the phenomena of thunder-gusts and of the aurora borealis, upon electrical principles. He points out many particulars in which lightning and electricity agree; and he adduces many facts, and reasonings from facts, in support of his positions. In the same year he conceived the astonishingly bold and grand idea of ascertaining the truth of his doctrine, by actually drawing down the forked lightning, by means of sharp-pointed iron rods raised into the region of the clouds. Even in this uncertain state, his passion to be useful to mankind displays itself in a powerful manner. Admitting the identity of electricity and lightning, and knowing the power of points in repelling bodies charged with electricity, and in conducting their fire silently and imperceptibly, he suggests the idea of securing houses, ships, &c., from being damaged by lightning, by erecting pointed iron rods, which should rise some feet above the most elevated part, and descend some feet into the ground or the water. The effect of these, he concluded, would be either to prevent a stroke by repelling the cloud beyond the striking distance, or by drawing off the electrical fire which it contained; or, if they could not effect this, they would at least conduct the stroke to the earth, without any injury to the building.