Part 1
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
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/ebooks/48138.
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources.
More detail can be found at the end of the book.
The WORKS Of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, L.L.D.
VOL. 1.
PRINTED,
for Longman, Hurst, Rees, & Orme, Paternoster Row, London.
THE COMPLETE WORKS, IN PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS, AND MORALS, OF THE LATE DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, NOW FIRST COLLECTED AND ARRANGED: WITH MEMOIRS OF HIS EARLY LIFE, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
London:
PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD; AND LONGMAN, HURST, REES AND ORME, PATERNOSTER-ROW.
1806.
ADVERTISEMENT.
_The works of Dr. Franklin have been often partially collected, never before brought together in one uniform publication._
_The first collection was made by Mr. Peter Collinson in the year 1751. It consisted of letters, communicated by the author to the editor, on one subject, electricity, and formed a pamphlet only, of which the price was half-a-crown. It was enlarged in 1752, by a second communication on the same subject, and in 1754, by a third, till, in 1766, by the addition of letters and papers on other philosophical subjects, it amounted to a quarto volume of 500 pages._
_Ten years after, in 1779, another collection was made, by a different editor, in one volume, printed both in quarto and octavo, of papers not contained in the preceding collection, under the title of Political, Miscellaneous, and Philosophical Pieces._
_In 1787, a third collection appeared in a thin octavo volume, entitled Philosophical and Miscellaneous Papers._
_And lastly, in 1793, a fourth was published, in two volumes, crown octavo, consisting of Memoirs of Dr. Franklin's Life, and Essays humourous, moral and literary, chiefly in the Manner of the Spectator._
_In the present volumes will be found all the different collections we have enumerated, together with the various papers of the same author, that have been published in separate pamphlets, or inserted in foreign collections of his works, or in the Transactions of our own or of foreign philosophical societies, or in our own or foreign newspapers and magazines, as far as discoverable by the editor, who has been assisted in the research by a gentleman in America. Among these papers some, we conceive, will be new to the English reader on this side of the Atlantic; particularly a series of essays entitled The Busy-Body, written, as Dr. Franklin tells us in his Life, when he was an assiduous imitator of Addison; and a pamphlet, entitled Plain Truth, with which he is said to have commenced his political career as a writer. We hoped to have been enabled to add, what would have been equally new, and still more acceptable, a genuine copy of the Life of our author, as written by himself; but in this hope we are disappointed, and we are in consequence obliged to content ourselves with a translation, which has been already before the public, from a copy in the French language, coming no farther down than the year 1731; and a continuation of his history from that period, by the late Dr. Stuber of Philadelphia._
_The character of Dr. Franklin, as a philosopher, a politician, and a moralist, is too well known to require illustration, and his writings, from their interesting nature, and the fascinating simplicity of their style, are too highly esteemed, for any apology to be necessary for so large a collection of them, unless it should be deemed necessary by the individual to whom Dr. Franklin in his will consigned his manuscripts: and to him our apology will consist in a reference to his own extraordinary conduct._
_In bequeathing his papers, it was no doubt the intention of the testator, that the world should have the chance of being benefited by their publication. It was so understood by the person in question, his grandson, who, accordingly, shortly after the death of his great relative, hastened to London, the best mart for literary property, employed an amanuensis for many months in copying, ransacked our public libraries that nothing might escape, and at length had so far prepared the works of Dr. Franklin for the press, that proposals were made by him to several of our principal booksellers for the sale of them. They were to form three quarto volumes, and were to contain all the writings, published and unpublished, of Franklin, with Memoirs of his Life, brought down by himself to the year 1757, and continued to his death by the legatee. They were to be published in three different languages, and the countries corresponding to those languages, France, Germany, and England, on the same day. The terms asked for the copyright of the English edition were high, amounting to several thousand pounds, which occasioned a little demur; but eventually they would no doubt have been obtained. Nothing more however was heard of the proposals or the work, in this its fair market. The proprietor, it seems, had found a bidder of a different description in some emissary of government, whose object was to withhold the manuscripts from the world, not to benefit it by their publication; and they thus either passed into other hands, or the person to whom they were bequeathed received a remuneration for suppressing them. This at least has been asserted, by a variety of persons, both in this country and America, of whom some were at the time intimate with the grandson, and not wholly unacquainted with the machinations of the ministry; and the silence, which has been observed for so many years respecting the publication, gives additional credibility to the report._
_What the manuscripts contained, that should have excited the jealousy of government, we are unable, as we have never seen them, positively to affirm; but, from the conspicuous part acted by the author in the American revolution and the wars connected with it, it is by no means difficult to guess; and of this we are sure, from his character, that no disposition of his writings could have been more contrary to his intentions or wishes._
_We have only to add, that in the present collection, which is probably all that will ever be published of the works of this extraordinary man, the papers are methodically arranged, the moral and philosophical ones according to their subjects, the political ones, as nearly as may be, according to their dates; that we have given, in notes, the authorities for ascribing the different pieces to Franklin; that where no title existed, to indicate the nature of a letter or paper, we have prefixed a title; and lastly, that we have compiled an index to the whole, which is placed at the beginning, instead of, as is usual, at the end of the work, to render the volumes more equal._
_April 7, 1806._
CONTENTS.
VOL. I.
_Page._
LIFE of Dr. FRANKLIN 1
LETTERS AND PAPERS ON ELECTRICITY.
Introductory Letter. 169
Wonderful effect of points.--Positive and negative electricity.--Electrical kiss.--Counterfeit spider.--Simple and commodious electrical machine. 170
Observations on the Leyden bottle, with experiments proving the different electrical state of its different surfaces. 179
Further experiments confirming the preceding observations.--Leyden bottle analysed.--Electrical battery.--Magical Picture.--Electrical wheel or jack.--Electrical feast. 187
Observations and suppositions, towards forming a new hypothesis, for explaining the several phenomena of thunder-gusts. 203
Introductory letter to some additional papers. 216
Opinions and conjectures, concerning the properties and effects of the electrical matter, and the means of preserving buildings, ships, &c. from lightning, arising from experiments and observations made at Philadelphia, 1749.--Golden fish.--Extraction of effluvial virtues by electricity impracticable. 217
Additional experiments: proving that the Leyden bottle has no more electrical fire in it when charged, than before: nor less when discharged: that in discharging, the fire does not issue from the wire and the coating at the same time, as some have thought, but that the coating always receives what is discharged by the wire, or an equal quantity: the outer surface being always in a negative state of electricity, when the inner surface is in a positive state. 245
Accumulation of the electrical fire proved to be in the electrified glass.--Effect of lightning on the needle of compasses, explained.--Gunpowder fired by the electric flame. 247
Unlimited nature of the electric force. 250
The terms, electric per se, and non-electric, improper.--New relation between metals and water.--Effects of air in electrical experiments.--Experiment for discovering more of the qualities of the electric fluid. 252
Mistake, that only metals and water were conductors, rectified.--Supposition of a region of electric fire above our atmosphere.--Theorem concerning light.--Poke-weed a cure for cancers. 256
New experiments.--Paradoxes inferred from them.--Difference in the electricity of a globe of glass charged, and a globe of sulphur.--Difficulty of ascertaining which is positive and which negative. 261
Probable cause of the different attractions and repulsions of the two electrified globes mentioned in the two preceding letters. 264
Reasons for supposing, that the glass globe charges positively, and the sulphur negatively.--Hint respecting a leather globe for experiments when travelling. _ibid._
Electrical kite. 267
Hypothesis, of the sea being the grand source of lightning, retracted.--Positive, and sometimes negative, electricity of the clouds discovered.--New experiments and conjectures in support of this discovery.--Observations recommended for ascertaining the direction of the electric fluid.--Size of rods for conductors to buildings.--Appearance of a thunder-cloud described. 269
Additional proofs of the positive and negative state of electricity in the clouds.--New method of ascertaining it. 284
Electrical experiments, with an attempt to account for their several phenomena, &c. 286
Experiments made in pursuance of those made by Mr. Canton, dated December 6, 1753; with explanations, by Mr. Benjamin Franklin. 294
Turkey killed by electricity.--Effect of a shock on the operator in making the experiment. 299
Differences in the qualities of glass.--Account of Domien, an electrician and traveller.--Conjectures respecting the pores of glass.--Origin of the author's idea of drawing down lightning.--No satisfactory hypothesis respecting the manner in which clouds become electrified.--Six men knocked down at once by an electrical shock.--Reflections on the spirit of invention. 301
Beccaria's work on electricity.--Sentiments of Franklin on pointed rods, not fully understood in Europe.--Effect of lightning on the church of Newbury, in New England.--Remarks on the subject. 309
Notice of another packet of letters. 313
Extract of a letter from a gentleman in Boston, to Benjamin Franklin, Esq. concerning the crooked direction, and the source of lightning, and the swiftness of the electric fire. 314
Observations on the subjects of the preceding letter.--Reasons for supposing the sea to be the grand source of lightning.--Reasons for doubting this hypothesis.--Improvement in a globe for raising the electric fire. 320
Effect of lightning on captain Waddel's compass, and the Dutch church at New York. 324
Proposal of an experiment to measure the time taken up by an Electric spark, in moving through any given space. 327
Experiments on boiling water, and glass heated by boiling water.--Doctrine of repulsion in electrised bodies doubted.--Electricity of the atmosphere at different heights.--Electrical horse-race.--Electrical thermometer.--In what cases the electrical fire produces heat.--Wire lengthened by electricity.--Good effect of a rod on the house of Mr. West, of Philadelphia. 331
Answer to some of the foregoing subjects.--How long the Leyden bottle may be kept charged.--Heated glass rendered permeable by the electric fluid.--Electrical attraction and repulsion.--Reply to other subjects in the preceding paper.--Numerous ways of kindling fire.--Explosion of water.--Knobs and points. 343
Accounts from Carolina (mentioned in the foregoing letter) of the effects of lightning on two of the rods commonly affixed to houses there, for securing them against lightning. 361
Mr. William Maine's account of the effects of the lightning on his rod, dated at Indian Land, in South Carolina, Aug. 28, 1760. 362
On the electricity of the tourmalin. 369
New observation relating to electricity in the atmosphere. 373
Flash of lightning that struck St. Bride's steeple. 374
Best method of securing a powder magazine from lightning. 375
Of lightning, and the methods (now used in America) of securing buildings and persons from its mischievous effects. 377
St. Bride's steeple.--Utility of electrical conductors to Steeples.--Singular kind of glass tube. 382
Experiments, observations, and facts, tending to support the opinion of the utility of long pointed rods, for securing buildings from damage by strokes of lightning. 383
On the utility of electrical conductors. 400
On the effects of electricity in paralytic cases. 401
Electrical experiments on amber. 403
On the electricity of the fogs in Ireland. 405
Mode of ascertaining, whether the power, giving a shock to those who touch either the Surinam eel, or the torpedo, be electrical. 408
On the analogy between magnetism and electricity. 410
Concerning the mode of rendering meat tender by electricity. 413
Answer to some queries concerning the choice of glass for the Leyden experiment. 416
Concerning the Leyden bottle. 418
APPENDIX.
No. 1. Account of experiments made in electricity at Marly. 420
A more particular account of the same, &c. 422
Letter of Mr. W. Watson, F. R. S. to the Royal Society, concerning the electrical experiments in England upon thunder-clouds. 427
No. 2. Remarks on the Abbé Nollet's Letters to Benjamin Franklin, Esq. of Philadelphia, on electricity. 430
LIST OF THE PLATES
PLATE I. Electrical Experiments facing page 182
PLATE II. Electrical Air Thermometer 336
PLATE III. Cavendish Experiment 348
PLATE IV. Lightning Rod Experiments 388
_ERRATA._
_Page._ _Line._
2 10: for true, read me. 5 5: for was born, read who was born. 20 1: for Tryon, read Tyron's. _ib._ 7 from the bottom: for put to blush, read put to the blush. _ib._ 4 from the bottom: for myself, read by myself. 15 4: for collection, read works. 21 9 from the bottom: for or, read nor. 25 4 from the bottom: for pasquenades, read pasquinades. 28 7: dele the. _ib._ 12: for printer, read a printer. 28 3 from the bottom: for my old favourite work, Bunyan's Voyages, read my old favourite Bunyan. 40 5: for money, read in money. 44 3: for Bernet, read Burnet. _ib._ 17: for unabled, read unable. 50 19: for ingenuous, read ingenious. 67 5: dele bridge. 80 3 from the bottom: for into, read into which. 235 21: substitute + for *. 264 2: for course read cause.
LIFE OF _DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN._
_LIFE_ OF DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, &c. &c.
MY DEAR SON,
I have amused myself with collecting some little anecdotes of my family. You may remember the enquiries I made, when you were with me in England, among such of my relations as were then living; and the journey I undertook for that purpose. To be acquainted with the particulars of my parentage and life, many of which are unknown to you, I flatter myself will afford the same pleasure to you as to me. I shall relate them upon paper: it will be an agreeable employment of a week's uninterrupted leisure, which I promise myself during my present retirement in the country. There are also other motives which induce me to the undertaking. From the bosom of poverty and obscurity, in which I drew my first breath, and spent my earliest years, I have raised myself to a state of opulence and to some degree of celebrity in the world. A constant good fortune has attended me through every period of life to my present advanced age; and my descendants may be desirous of learning what were the means of which I made use, and which, thanks to the assisting hand of providence, have proved so eminently successful. They may also, should they ever be placed in a similar situation, derive some advantage from my narrative.
When I reflect, as I frequently do, upon the felicity I have enjoyed, I sometimes say to myself, that, were the offer made me, I would engage to run again, from beginning to end, the same career of life. All I would ask, should be the privilege of an author, to correct, in a second edition, certain errors of the first. I could wish, likewise if it were in my power, to change some trivial incidents and events for others more favourable. Were this, however, denied me, still would I not decline the offer. But since a repetition of life cannot take place, there is nothing which, in my opinion, so nearly resembles it, as to call to mind all its circumstances, and, to render their remembrance more durable, commit them to writing. By thus employing myself, I shall yield to the inclination, so natural in old men, to talk of themselves and their exploits, and may freely follow my bent, without being tiresome to those who, from respect to my age, might think themselves obliged to listen to me; as they will be at liberty to read me or not as they please. In fine--and I may as well avow it, since nobody would believe me were I to deny it--I shall perhaps, by this employment, gratify my vanity. Scarcely indeed have I ever read or heard the introductory phrase, "_I may say without vanity_," but some striking and characteristic instance of vanity has immediately followed. The generality of men hate vanity in others, however strongly they may be tinctured with it themselves: for myself, I pay obeisance to it wherever I meet with it, persuaded that it is advantageous, as well to the individual whom it governs, as to those who are within the sphere of its influence. Of consequence, it would in many cases, not be wholly absurd, that a man should count his vanity among the other sweets of life, and give thanks to providence for the blessing.
And here let me with all humility acknowledge, that to divine providence I am indebted for the felicity I have hitherto enjoyed. It is that power alone which has furnished me with the means I have employed, and that has crowned them with success. My faith in this respect leads me to hope, though I cannot count upon it, that the divine goodness will still be exercised towards me, either by prolonging the duration of my happiness to the close of life, or by giving me fortitude to support any melancholy reverse, which may happen to me, as to so many others. My future fortune is unknown but to Him in whose hand is our destiny, and who can make our very afflictions subservient to our benefit.
One of my uncles, desirous, like myself, of collecting anecdotes of our family, gave me some notes, from which I have derived many particulars respecting our ancestors. From these I learn, that they had lived in the same village (Eaton in Northamptonshire,) upon a freehold of about thirty acres, for the space at least of three hundred years. How long they had resided there prior to that period, my uncle had been unable to discover; probably ever since the institution of surnames, when they took the appellation of Franklin, which had formerly been the name of a particular order of individuals.[1]
This petty estate would not have sufficed for their subsistence, had they not added the trade of blacksmith, which was perpetuated in the family down to my uncle's time, the eldest son having been uniformly brought up to this employment: a custom which both he and my father observed with respect to their eldest sons.
In the researches I made at Eaton, I found no account of their births, marriages, and deaths, earlier than the year 1555; the parish register not extending farther back than that period. This register informed me, that I was the youngest son of the youngest branch of the family, counting five generations. My grandfather, Thomas, who was born in 1598, lived at Eaton till he was too old to continue his trade, when he retired to Banbury in Oxfordshire, where his son John, who was a dyer, resided, and with whom my father was apprenticed. He died, and was buried there: we saw his monument in 1758. His eldest son lived in the family house at Eaton, which he bequeathed, with the land belonging to it, to his only daughter; who, in concert with her husband, Mr. Fisher of Wellingborough, afterwards sold it to Mr. Estead, the present proprietor.
My grandfather had four surviving sons, Thomas, John, Benjamin, and Josias. I shall give you such particulars of them as my memory will furnish, not having my papers here, in which you will find a more minute account, if they are not lost during my absence.