The Complete Works in Philosophy, Politics and Morals of the late Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Vol. 1 [of 3]

There is another reason for sinking deeper the lower end of the rod, and also for turning it outwards under ground to some distance from the foundation; it is this, that water d...

26. From the before-mentioned law of electricity, that points as they are more or less acute, draw on and throw off the electrical fluid with more or less power, and at greater...

In the account of my first voyage from Boston to Philadelphia, I omitted, I believe, a trifling circumstance, which will not, perhaps, be out of place here. During a calm which...

I then turned the corner, and went through Chesnut-street, eating my roll all the way; and having made this round, I found myself again on Market-street wharf, near the boat in...

11. When a bottle is charged in the common way, its _inside_ and _outside_ surfaces stand ready, the one to give fire by the hook, the other to receive it by the coating; the on...

In compliance with your request, I send you the following account of what I can at present recollect relating to the effects of electricity in paralytic cases, which have fallen...

As the vessel is just upon sailing, I cannot give you so large an account of American electricity as I intended: I shall only mention a few particulars more.--We find granulated...

When the apparatus has lost part of its natural share of this fluid, by the approach of excited wax to one end of it, or is electrified negatively; the electrical fire is attrac...

With respect to your letters on electricity, * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *. Your hypothesis in particular for explaining the phenomena of lightning is very ingenious. That some...

I now began to think of laying by some money. The printing-house of Watts, near Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, being a still more considerable one than that in which I worked, it was pro...

Those who are versed in electric experiments, will easily conceive, that the effects and appearances must be nearly the same in either case; the same explosion, and the same fla...

There is an observation relating to electricity in the atmosphere, which seemed new to me, though perhaps it will not to you: however, I will venture to mention it. I have some...

7. Particles happening to be situated as _A_ and _B_, (FIG. VI. _representing the profile of a vessel of water_) are more easily disengaged than _C_ and _D_, as each is held by...

The time which I devoted to these exercises, and to reading, was the evening after my day's labour was finished, the morning before it began, and Sundays when I could escape att...

Thomas had learned the trade of a blacksmith under his father; but possessing a good natural understanding, he improved it by study, at the solicitation of a gentleman of the na...

If the Sun is not wasted by expence of light, I can easily conceive that he shall otherwise always retain the same quantity of matter; though we should suppose him made of sulph...

Place a thick plate of glass under the rubbing cushion, to cut off the communication of electrical fire from the floor to the cushion; then if there be no fine points or hairy t...

Things remained for some time in this state. At last, I said one day to my partner, "Your father is, perhaps, dissatisfied with your having a share only in the business, and is...

Meredith came to me in the evening. We talked for some time upon the quarrel that had taken place. He had conceived a great veneration for me, and was sorry I should quit the ho...

I put boiling water into a coated Florence flask, and found that the heat so enlarged the pores of the glass, that it could not be charged. The electricity passed through as rea...

The Abbé does not tell us what those effects were, all the effects I could never observe, and those that are to be observed can easily be accounted for, by supposing that side t...

"Nov. 7, 1749. Electrical fluid agrees with lightning in these particulars: 1. Giving light. 2. Colour of the light. 3. Crooked direction. 4. Swift motion. 5. Being conducted by...

I formerly had an opinion that a Leyden bottle, charged and then sealed hermetically, might retain its electricity for ever; but having afterwards some suspicion that possibly t...

Although the parliament of Great Britain had repealed the stamp-act, it was only upon the principle of expediency. They still insisted upon their right to tax the colonies; and,...

It has been an opinion, that he who receives an estate from his ancestors, is under some obligation to transmit the same to posterity. This obligation lies not on me, who never...

Pursuits of a different nature now occupied the greatest part of his attention for some years. He engaged in a course of electrical experiments, with all the ardor and thirst fo...

10. The beneficial uses of this electric fluid in the creation we are not yet well acquainted with, though doubtless such there are, and those very considerable; but we may see...

[83] Les cloches, en vertu de leur bénédiction, doivent écarter les orages & nous preserver des coups de foudre; mais l'église permet à la prudence humaine le choix des momens o...

I wish, with you, that some chemist (who should, if possible, be at the same time an electrician) would, in pursuance of the excellent hints contained in your letter, undertake...

The institution, thus successfully begun, continued daily to flourish, to the great satisfaction of Dr. Franklin; who, notwithstanding the multiplicity of his other engagements...

Whilst the French were in possession of Canada, their trade with the natives extended very far; even to the back of the British settlements. They were disposed, from time to tim...

This is Volume 1 of a 3-volume set. The other two volumes are also accessible in Project Gutenberg using https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48137 and https://www.gutenberg.org/ebo...

_Gulph-stream_, observations on, ii. 186. whalers frequent its edges, _ibid._ long unknown to any but the American fishermen, _ibid._ how generated, 187. its properties, _ibid._...

_Boats_, difference of their sailing in shoal and deep water, ii. 160. management of, best understood by savages, 176. how rowed by the Chinese, 177. methods of moving them by m...

_Printing_, Franklin apprenticed to the business of, i. 15. works at it as a journeymen in England, 58, 62. in America, 35, 71. enters on the business of, as master, 78. observa...