On

"electrical tube," with instructions for using it. Soon after receiving it, Franklin began a series of experiments, resulting in discoveries "the extent and brilliancy of which," according to a celebrated English authority, "gave a form and dignity to the science of electricity which it had never before possessed, and raised their author to a high rank among the distinguished philosophers of the eighteenth century." March 28, 1747, he wrote to Mr. Collinson, saying, "For my own part, I never was before engaged in any study that so totally engrossed my attention and my time, for what with making experiments when I can be alone, and repeating them to my friends and acquaintance, who, from the novelty of the thing, come continually in crowds to see them, I have, during some months past, had little leisure for anything else."

The results of and deductions from these experiments were communicated to Mr. Collinson in letters transmitted to him from time to time. These were read to the Royal Society, but they did not at first meet with a cordial reception. Some were laughed at, and none were thought worthy of publication in the Transactions of the Society until electricians in other countries, and notably in France, had repeated the experiments, and acknowledged the genius of their

author.

They were, however, published in London, and, at the instigation of Buffon, translated into French; in which language they met with a juster appreciation than in the English, in which they were written. The Royal Society was soon obliged to retrace its steps in the matter; and in the Transactions for 1751 appears a fair and favorable account of Franklin's experiments up to that time, prepared by Sir William Watson. In the way of making the amende honorable, this account concludes as follows:

On the whole, Mr. Franklin appears in this work in the light of a very able and ingenions man; that he had a head to conceive and a hand to carry into execution whatever he thought might conduce to enlighten the subject of which he was treating; and though there are in this work some few opinions in which Mr. W. could not perfectly agree with him, he thought scarcely any body was better acquainted with the subject of electricity than Mr. F. was.

In justice to the society it ought to be added, that, on the occasion of his visit to Europe in 1755, Franklin was received by its members with every honor, was elected a fellow, the payment of dues being remitted, the great Copley medal was bestowed upon him, and the Transactions of the Society were sent to him without expense during the remainder of his life.

Franklin's contributions to the science of electricity were numerous and comprehensive. His experiments were wisely planned and skilfully executed. His discussion of principles and his elaboration of hypotheses were characterized by that simplicity and clearness which made his writings upon all subjects the admiration of his own and future generations. He was the first who made an investigation of the Leyden jar which was at all satisfactory. In experimental work he improved both methods and instruments. The discovery which gave him the greatest fame was that of the identity of lightning and electricity; and his immediate use of the known laws of electricity, principally those of which he was himself the discoverer, in the invention of means for protecting buildings from damage by lightning, stands singular and alone as the only really useful application to the affairs of every-day life of centuries of study and experiment. The germ of this discovery seems to have existed in his mind during the year 1749; and under date of November 7 of that year the following passages occur in his note-book:

Electrical fluid agrees with lightning in these particulars: 1. Giving light. 2. Color of the light. 3. Crooked direction. 4. Swift motion. 5. Being conducted by metals. 6. Crack or noise in explod

ing. 7. Subsisting in water or ice. 8. Rending bodies it passes through. 9. Destroying animals. 10. Melting metals. 11. Firing inflammable substances. 12. Sulphureous smell. The electric fluid is attracted by points, we do not know whether this property is in lightning. But since they agree in all the particulars wherein we can already compare them, is it not probable they agree likewise in this? Let the experiment be made.

Shortly after this, the hypothesis was elaborated and communicated to his friend Mr. Collinson. This account of it reached France in the manner already described, where it attracted much attention. It is not generally known that his suggested experiment of drawing electricity from the clouds was not first tried by himself, but by Monsieur D'Alibard at Marly on May 10, 1752. A few days later it was successfully repeated by M. de Lor in Paris. The results of these trials were communicated to the Royal Society by Mazeas, who added, that the "Philadelphian experiments were so universally admired that the King himself desired to see them." They became the sensation of the time, and were repeated wherever electricity was studied."

Franklin's original plan for drawing electricity from the clouds was to place a man in a sort of sentry-box, insulating him by means of a

cake of wax, and putting him in connection with an iron rod which extended many feet into the air. If the experiment succeeded, sparks might be drawn from the man. He did not appear to think that the person thus experimented upon might possibly be in danger; but, suspecting that some might be apprehended, he afterward suggested slight modifications in the experiment, to secure his safety. The arrangement which he proposed is shown in the cut,