BENJAMIN FRANKLINAs Scientist
FOUR
One of the stories that has always charmed schoolchildren is that of Dr. Franklin and his kite; and the quaint little illustration that appeared in Franklin’s lifetime, and that was printed by him hundreds of times over, is still reproduced in the accounts of this experiment. It was not until 1746, or 1747, after Franklin had been making original researches in science for about five years, that he took up the subject of electricity. Franklin was then forty-one years old. The subject was literally “in the air.” Peter Collinson, of London, had presented to the Philadelphia Library one of the new glass tubes that was rubbed with silk or skin to produce electricity. Franklin began at once to experiment with this tube, and people came in crowds to see his performances. Thomas Hopkinson and Philip Syng, who experimented with him, discovered electrical fire, and invented an electrical machine for producing the electrical spark. Franklin discovered what is now known as “positive” and “negative” electricity. He also attempted to explain, in his letters to Collinson, thunder and lightning as phenomena of electricity; and, in 1759, sent him a paper announcing his invention of the lightning-rod, and an explanation of its purpose and action. He also suggested an experiment that would prove that lightning was a form of electricity; and to show that lightning was attracted by points he proposed that a man should stand on a tall steeple, or tower, with a pointed rod and draw electricity from the thunder-clouds. The experiment was tried in France and England, and Franklin was proclaimed the discoverer of the identity of lightning with electricity. Some of the scientists used a tall metal rod. Franklin now thought of the kite experiment, because there were no steeples in Philadelphia tall enough. To an ordinary kite covered with silk he fixed a sharp, pointed wire, rising about a foot above the frame of the kite. To the end of the twine next the hand a silk ribbon was tied; and where the silk and twine joined a key was fastened. When the thunder-clouds passed over the kite, the pointed wire drew the electric fire from them, and down the string to the key, from which electric fire was obtained. This experiment was made in 1752; and the news, as contained in Franklin’s simple letter to Mr. Collinson, spread over the world, and with various theatrical embellishments in the telling.
“Franklin,” writes one of his biographers, “cannot be ranked among the great men of science, the Newtons, the Keplers, or the Humboldts, Huxleys or Darwins. He belongs, rather, in the second class, among the minor discoverers. But his discovery of the nature of lightning was so striking and so capable of arousing the wonder of the masses of mankind and his invention of the lightning rod was regarded as so valuable that he has received more popular applause than men whose achievements were greater and more important. His command of language had seldom been put to better use than in explaining the rather subtle ideas and conceptions in the early development of electricity. Even now, after the lapse of one hundred and fifty years, we seem to gain a fresher understanding of that subject by reading his homely and beautiful explanations; and modern students would have an easier time if Franklin were still here to write their text-books.”
Public business and long years of diplomatic service interrupted the original study of science to a great extent; but even so, in England, in France, and in the closing years of his life in Philadelphia, Franklin found time, now and then, to devote to that loving investigation of Nature, which, after his thirtieth year, became the great passion of his life.
Everything in the way of scientific research fascinated him: he investigated earthquakes, eclipses, storms, winds, the science of sound, the laws of hot air and its movements, ventilation, water-spouts, phosphorescence (“light in sea-water,” he called it), the cause of saltiness in the sea, the Gulf Stream, rainfall, evaporation, the aurora borealis, light, heat, the daily motion of the earth, and many other subjects. He studied music as a science, and invented a new kind of musical glasses (fashionable at that time) called “Armonica.” He studied political economy in a scientific way, and was so interested in agriculture that he tried experiments on his New Jersey farm. He also invented the “Pennsylvania fireplace” and the “Franklin” stove. Though his scientific writings are numerous, they are in the form of essays and letters. His investigations and experiments were thus made known to the world in letters to friends in France and England; for, as there were no scientific periodicals in those days, men of learning kept up a lively correspondence and occasionally issued a pamphlet.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATIONILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 6. No. 7. SERIAL No. 155COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
FROM THE ORIGINAL PAINTING BY CHAPPELDRAFTING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE—FRANKLIN, JEFFERSON, ADAMS, LIVINGSTON, SHERMAN
FROM THE ORIGINAL PAINTING BY CHAPPEL
DRAFTING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE—FRANKLIN, JEFFERSON, ADAMS, LIVINGSTON, SHERMAN