Title: Peter Kalm: Conversations with Franklin, 1750
From: Kalm, Peter
To:

During his visit to America in 1748–51, Peter Kalm kept extensive diary notes which he revised and prepared for publication after his return to Sweden. Three volumes appeared in Stockholm, 1753–61, two German translations soon after, and an English translation by John Reinhold Forster, 1770–71. A fourth volume was never published and survives only in the original notes. In addition, Kalm wrote seventeen scientific articles dealing in whole or in part with his American observations, which were printed in the Handlingar (Transactions) of the Swedish Academy of Sciences over a period of almost thirty years. In the “travelogue,” as he called his expanded and revised journal, Kalm arranged his material ostensibly in chronological order, but he placed together under specific dates the materials he had gathered on particular topics without regard to the actual days on which he had acquired them. He had met and talked with many of the leading men of scientific tastes in the Middle Colonies, with few more often or more profitably than with Franklin, whom he described as “my very special friend.” He recorded many of these conversations, or the information he had gained from them, in the journal under the topics with which they were concerned, and added some others in his separate scientific articles.
When the English translation of the journal appeared about twenty years after Kalm had returned to Sweden, both Franklin and members of the Colden family expressed annoyance at some of the statements he had attributed to them. Franklin commented to David Colden, March 5, 1773: “Kalm’s Account of what he learnt in America is full of idle Stories, which he pick’d up among ignorant People, and either forgetting of whom he had them, or willing to give them some Authenticity, he has ascrib’d them to Persons of Reputation who never heard of them till they were found in his Book. And where he really has Accounts from such Persons, he has varied the Circumstances unaccountably, so that I have been asham’d to meet with some mention’d as from me. It is dangerous Conversing with these Strangers that keep Journals.”
Kalm’s memory undoubtedly played tricks on him and, although a careful scientist, he may not have been above dressing up his account a little for publication. Yet, after all allowances are made, his reports of what Franklin told him have distinct value. Not strictly a part of the “Franklin Papers,” they are nevertheless a part of the near-contemporary record of things Franklin was interested in during his early forties and of his relations with a scientific visitor from Europe at the time when his own reputation as a “philosopher” was just beginning to be established overseas. For this reason a selection of the more significant passages from Kalm’s writings which relate to Franklin is included here, all but the last taken from the authoritative Benson edition of the Travels. The date under which each was recorded and the page references to the Benson edition are indicated in brackets at the end of the quoted passage. These extracts, for few if any of which a single appropriate date can be assigned with certainty, are placed here immediately following the last letter Franklin received from Kalm.

Land Formerly Covered with Water. I asked Mr. Benjamin Franklin and other gentlemen who were well acquainted with this country, whether they had come upon any evidence that places which were now a part of the continent had formerly been covered with water; and I received the following answer.
1. On travelling from here to the south, you meet with a place where the highway is very low in the valley between two mountains. On both sides you see nothing but oyster and mussel shells in immense quantities. Yet the place is many miles from the sea.
2. Whenever colonists dig wells or build houses in town, they find the earth lying in several strata above each other. At a depth of fourteen feet or more they find globular stones, which are as smooth on the outside as those which lie on the seashore and have been made round by the rolling of the waves. After having dug through the sand and reached a depth of eighteen feet or more they discovered in some places a mud like that which the sea throws up on the shore, and which commonly lies at its bottom and in rivers; this mud is full of stumps, leaves, branches, reed, charcoal, etc.
3. It has sometimes happened that new houses have sunk on one side in a short time, and have obliged the people to pull them down again. On digging deeper for hard ground to build upon they have found a quantity of the above mud, wood, roots, etc.
Are not these reasons sufficient to make one suppose that those places in Philadelphia which are at present fourteen feet and more under ground were formerly the bottom of the sea, and that by several violent changes, sand, earth, and other things were carried upon them? or, that the Delaware formerly was broader than it is at present? or that it has changed its course? This last still happens at present, the river tearing off material from the bank on one side, and depositing it on the other. Both the Swedes and English often showed me such places.
[October 16, 1748; pp. 106–7]

Herring. Mr. Franklin told me that in that part of New England where his father lived, two rivers flowed into the sea, in one of which they caught great numbers of herring, and in the other not one. Yet the places where these rivers discharged themselves into the sea were not far apart. They had observed that when the herrings came in spring to deposit their spawn, they always swam up one river, where they used to catch them, but never came into the other. This circumstance led Mr. Franklin’s father, who had settled between the two rivers, to try whether it was not possible to make the herrings also live in the other river. For that purpose he put out his nets, as they were coming up for spawning, and he caught some. He took the spawn out of them, and carefully carried it across the land to the other river. It was hatched, and the consequence was that every year afterwards they caught more herring in that river, and this is still the case. This leads one to believe that the fish always like to spawn in the same place where they are hatched, and from which they first put out to sea, being as it were accustomed to it. The following is another peculiar observation: it has never formerly been known that codfish were to be caught off Cape Henlopen; they were always caught at the mouth of the Delaware. But at present they are numerous in the former place. From this it may be concluded that fish likewise change their places of abode, of their own accord.
[November 9, 1748; pp. 154–5]

Greenland. [A sea captain reported on the high summer temperatures north of the seventieth degree of latitude and concluded that the summer heat at the pole must be even higher because the sun shone so long without setting.] The same account with similar consequences Mr. Franklin had heard from sea captains in Boston, who had sailed to the most northern parts of this hemisphere. But still more astonishing is the account he got from Captain Henry Atkins, who still lives at Boston. He had for some time been fishing along the coasts of New England, but not catching as much as he wished, he sailed north as far as Greenland. At last he went so far that he discovered people who had never seen Europeans before (and what is more astonishing) who had no idea of the use of fire, which they had never employed, and if they had known it, they could have made no use of their knowledge, as there were no trees in the country. But they ate the birds and fish raw. Captain Atkins got some very rare skins in exchange for some trifles.
[November 9, 1748; p. 155]

The Moose. [Very long and branched horns are occasionally dug up in Ireland, although no one there or elsewhere knows of any corresponding animal. Some people believe it must be the “Moose-deer so famous in North America.” The supposition is that such animals formerly lived in Ireland but have become extinct, or that the island and North America were once connected, directly or by a chain of other islands. Kalm inquired as to whether any animal with such large horns had ever been seen in this country. John Bartram said he had never found any reliable evidence in the affirmative and believed there was no such animal in North America.] Mr. Franklin related that he had, when a boy, seen two of the animals which they call Moose-deer, but he well remembered that they were not of such a size as they must have been, if the horns found in Ireland were to fit them. The two animals which he saw, were brought to Boston in order to be sent to England to Queen Anne. Anyone who wanted to see them had to pay two-pence. A merchant paid for a number of school-boys who wanted to see them, among whom was Franklin. The height of the animal up to the back was that of a pretty tall horse, but the head and its horns were still higher. …
[November 11, 1748, p. 156]

Rocks and Minerals. Mr. Franklin gave me a piece of stone, which on account of its indestructibility in fire is used in New England for making smelting furnaces and forges. It consists of a mixture of Lapis ollaris or serpentine stone and of asbestos. The greatest part of it is a gray serpentine which is fat and smooth to the touch and is easily cut and worked. Here and there are some glittering speckles of that sort of asbestos whose fibres come from a center-like ray, or “star asbestos.” This stone is not found in strata or solid rocks, but is here and there scattered on the fields. …
The salt which is used in the English North American colonies is brought from the West Indies, but it is more corrosive than the European. … Mr. Franklin was of the opinion that the people in Pennsylvania could easier make good salt of sea water than in New England, where sometimes salt is made of the sea water on their coast, though their location is more northerly. …
Asbestos. The mountain flax, or that kind of stone which Bishop Brovallius in his lectures on mineralogy published in 1739 calls Amiantus fibris separabilibus molliusculis, or the amiant with easily separable soft fibres, is found abundantly in Pennsylvania. Some pieces are very soft, others pretty tough. Mr. Franklin told me that twenty and some odd years ago, when he made a voyage to England, he had a little purse with him, made of the mountain flax of this country, which he presented to Sir Hans Sloane. I have likewise seen paper made of this stone, and I have received some small pieces of it which I keep in my cabinet. Mr. Franklin had been told by others that on exposing this mountain flax to the open air in winter, and leaving it in the cold and wet, it would grow together and become tougher and more suitable for spinning. But he did not venture to determine how well this opinion was founded. On this occasion he related a very amusing incident which happened to him with this mountain flax. He had several years ago gotten a piece of it, which he gave to one of his journeymen printers in order to get it made into a sheet at the paper mill. As soon as the fellow brought the paper, Mr. Franklin rolled it up and threw it into the fire, telling the journeyman he would see a miracle, a sheet of paper which did not burn. The ignorant fellow insisted upon the contrary, but was greatly terrified upon seeing himself convinced. Mr. Franklin then explained to him, though not very clearly, the peculiar qualities of the paper. As soon as he was gone, some of his acquaintances came in, who immediately recognized the paper. The journeyman thought he would show them a great curiosity and astonish them. He accordingly told them that he had curiously made a sheet of paper which would not burn, though it were thrown into the fire. They pretended to think it impossible, and he as strenuously maintained his assertion. At last they laid a wager about it, but while he was busy with stirring up the fire the others slyly besmeared the paper with fat. The journeyman, who was not aware of it, threw it into the fire and that moment it was all in flames. This astonished him so much that he was almost speechless, upon which they could not help laughing, and so disclosed the whole artifice.
[November 11, 1748; pp. 157, 158, 159–60]

Ants. [In several Philadelphia houses there are numerous black or dark red ants about one twelfth of an inch long, which carry off sweet things.] Mr. Franklin was much inclined to believe that these little insects could by some means communicate their thoughts or desires to each other, and he confirmed his opinion by some examples. When an ant finds some sugar, it runs immediately under the floor to its hole, where having stayed a little while a whole army comes out, unites and marches to the place where the sugar is, and carries it off by pieces. If an ant meets with a dead fly, which it cannot carry alone, it immediately hastens home, and soon after some more come out, creep to the fly and carry it away. Some time ago Mr. Franklin put a little earthen pot with treacle in it into a closet. A number of ants got into the pot and devoured the treacle very quietly. But as he observed it he shook them out, and tied the pot with a thin string to a nail which he had fastened in the ceiling, so that the pot hung down by the string. A single ant by chance remained in the pot: this ant ate till it was satisfied; but when it wanted to get away it was under great concern to find its way out. It ran about the bottom of the pot, but in vain. At last it found after many attempts the way to get to the ceiling by the string. After it had come there, it ran first to the wall and then to the floor. It had hardly been away for half an hour, when a great swarm of ants came out, climbed up to the ceiling, crept along the string to the pot, and began to eat again. This they continued till the treacle was all eaten. In the meantime one swarm kept running down the string and the other up all day long.
[November 11, 1748; pp. 160–1]

Mr. Franklin and several other gentlemen frequently told me that an Indian, who owned Rhode Island, had sold it to the English for a pair of spectacles. It is large enough for a principality, and has a separate government at present. This Indian knew how to set a true value upon a pair of glasses, for if they were scarce, they would undoubtedly on account of their great usefulness have the same value as diamonds.
[December 6, 1748; p. 204]

Blackbirds. [Kalm gives a long account (pp. 248–50) of a species of blackbirds, called in Sweden “corn thieves,” and of the great depredations they commit in the American corn fields when gathered in large flocks. The laws of Pennsylvania and New Jersey offer bounties for their destruction.] In New England the people are still greater enemies to them; for Dr. Franklin told me in the spring of the year 1750, that by means of the premiums which had been paid for killing them in New England they had been so thoroughly extirpated, that they were very rarely seen, and in a few places only. But in the summer of the year 1749 an immense quantity of worms appeared on the meadows, which devoured the grass, and did great damage, so the people repented of their enmity against the corn thieves for they thought they had observed that those birds lived chiefly on such worms before the corn was ripe, and consequently exterminated them, or at least prevented their increasing too much. They seem therefore to be entitled, as it were, to some reward for their trouble. But after these enemies and destroyers of the worms (the corn thieves) were killed off, the worms were of course more at liberty to multiply, and therefore they grew so numerous that they did more mischief now than the birds did before. In the summer of 1749 the worms left so little grass in New England that the inhabitants were forced to get hay from Pennsylvania, and even from Old England. …
[February 23, 1749; p. 250]

Frost Damage. [A late killing frost inspires an account of its destructive effect on various forms of vegetation in southern New Jersey, where Kalm was staying. A Swedish inhabitant had planted an English walnut tree (Juglans regia) now about twelve feet high and in full blossom. The frost had no noticeable effect on the native wild black walnuts, not yet in leaf or blossom, but:] Last night’s frost had killed all the leaves of the European variety. Dr. Franklin told me afterwards that there had been some English walnut trees in Philadelphia which thrived very well for a while, but that they had finally been killed by the frost.
[May 1, 1749; pp. 290–1]

Varieties of Stone. To-day Benjamin Franklin showed me several varieties of stone, which he had in part collected himself and in part received from others. All were formed in the English provinces of America and consisted of:
1. A rock crystal, the largest I had ever seen. It was four inches long and of a diameter of three fingers’ breadth. I regretted it was not transparent but of a dingy, watery color and opaque texture. All six sides were smooth as if ground, and had been found in Pennsylvania.
2. Asbestus stellatus, with fibers radiating out from the center, as described in Wallerius’s Mineralogy, page 145. Its color was a very dark gray, mostly blackish, and felt oily to the touch. It came from New England, where it is found in big stones that are utilized for fireplaces, because it does not change or crumble in the least from the action of fire.
3. Stalactites. These were discovered in a cave near Virginia and were of two kinds: the stalactites conicus which had depended from the roof of the cavern, and the [stalagmite] that had been deposited like a round, uneven, scraggy fungus on the floor of it, where the [calcareous] water had dripped from above. In color they resembled an unclean white.
[November 27, 1749; p. 643]

More about the Franklin Stoves. [Under date of Dec. 8, 1749, is an extended description of the Pennsylvania Fireplace with a reference to Franklin’s pamphlet of 1744. Kalm continued his discussion the next day, writing particularly about the criticisms and objections raised against the stove, mentioning especially the difficulty of cleaning the chimney and the consequent danger of fire, and the fact that, in the view of some people, “the stoves gave too much heat.” Franklin had loaned one for the winter to Kalm, who found it very satisfactory.] The chimney is seldom cleaned more than once a year, but Mr. Franklin was in the habit of setting fire to a sheet of paper every fortnight and let it pass through the flue leading to the stove and so burn off the soot there also. If the stove is narrow it is not so easy to sweep the chimney, after everything is closed up by masonry; but Mr. Franklin had a brick removed beside the stove, let a man pass down through the chimney, clean it, and when he reached the bottom near the stove had him force the soot through the hole made by the removal of the brick. When this was done the brick was replaced. Where the hearth is broad the stove is placed on one side of it, and a door made on the other through which the chimney sweep can enter and do his work. To get fresh air into the stove of a house with no cellar, and where no outside air is wanted, Mr. Franklin this year had had the stove in his own room set on a rim of masonry six inches from the floor, with an opening through the bricks on one side to let the cold air near the floor enter, pass through the air-box, where it was heated, and then pass through the holes on the iron sides of the stove into the room, etc. This brought about a constant circulation of air.
[December 9, 1749; pp. 653–4]

How to Prevent Candles from Dripping. I asked several people how to prevent candles from dripping. I was told [at first] that no remedy was known for it, but that a frequent cause of it was the adulteration of the tallow by lard. Mr. Franklin admitted that he had seen such candles, but that he had found no other remedy for the dripping than to wind a strip of paper round the candle. This would prevent the tallow from running. The paper will burn of course as fast as the tallow but not faster, since the tallow itself hinders it. We tested the suggestion and found it to be true. The candle will burn as brightly as otherwise, but it is necessary from time to time to remove the charred paper. Five sheets of paper suffice for twenty tolerably large candles. This remedy applies only when the candles are stationary; when they are being carried the hot tallow may easily, with an unsteady hand, run down over the paper and fingers and burn them. But a paper-wound candle is not consumed any more rapidly than a bare one of the same size.
[December 22, 1749; p. 664]

[Hickory Tea.] Mr. Benjamin Franklin, a man now famous in the political world, told me that at different times he had drunk tea cooked from the leaves of the hickory with the bitter nuts. The leaves are collected early in the spring when they have just come out but have not yet had time to become large. They are then dried and used as tea. Mr. Franklin said that of all the species used for tea in North America, next to the real tea from China, he had in his estimation not found any as palatable and agreeable as this.
[1778; Agricultural History, XIX (1945), 59]


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Samuel Johnson, 13 September 1750
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Johnson, Samuel

Dear Sir
Philada. Sept. 13. 1750
I am sorry to hear of your Illness: If you have not been us’d to the Fever and Ague, let me give you one Caution. Don’t imagine yourself thoroughly cur’d, and so omit the Use of the Bark too soon. Remember to take the preventing Doses faithfully. If you were to continue taking a Dose or two every Day for two or three Weeks after the Fits have left you, ’twould not be amiss. If you take the Powder mix’d quick in a Tea Cup of Milk, ’tis no way disagreable, but looks and even tastes like Chocolate. ’Tis an old Saying, That an Ounce of Prevention is worth a Pound of Cure, and certainly a true one, with regard to the Bark; a little of which will do more in preventing the Fits than a great deal in removing them.
But if your Health would permit, I should not expect the Pleasure of seeing you soon: The Small Pox spreads apace, and is now in all Quarters: Yet as we have only Children to have it, and our Doctors inoculate apace, I believe they will soon drive it thro’ the Town: So that you may possibly visit us with Safety in the Spring. In the mean time we should be glad to know the Result you came to after consulting your Brethren at the Commencement. Messrs. Peters and Francis have directed me on all Occasions to present their Compliments to you. Please to acquaint me if you propose to make any considerable Additions to the Ethics, that I may be able in the Proposals to compute the Bigness of the Book. I am, with sincere Esteem and Respect, Dear Sir, Your most obliged humble Servant
B Franklin
Enclos’d I return the good Bishop’s Letter, with Thanks.
  Addressed: To  The Revd Dr Saml Johnson  Stratford  Free B Franklin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Jane Mecom, 20 September 1750
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Mecom, Jane

Dear Sister,
Philadelphia, 20 September, 1750
I received yours the 11th instant, with one enclosed for cousin Benny; but he, I suppose, is in Boston with you before this time, as he left New York fifteen days since with a fair wind for Rhode Island. I do not know how long his master gave him leave to stay; but as I hear the Assembly there is sitting, and doing business, I believe he will be wanted, and therefore would advise him to return expeditiously, as soon as you can spare him.
Mr. Cooper is not yet arrived. I shall be glad to see him; but as he has not had the smallpox, I suppose he will not come so far, for it is spreading here. As the doctors inoculate apace, they will drive it through the town, so that we may expect to be free of it before the winter is over.
My love to brother Mecom and the children, and duty to mother. I am, dear sister, Your affectionate brother,
B Franklin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Cadwallader Colden, 11 October 1750
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Colden, Cadwallader

Sir
Philada. Oct. 11. 1750
I have learnt by different hands, that Dr. Mitchel continues in a bad State of Health, which I suppose obliges him to drop his Correspondencies. ’Tis a Loss to us all.
Messrs. Bertram and Evans did not go their intended Journey to Lake Erie, but are both safe at home. Mr. Weiser is just return’d from Onondago, and gives a melancholly Account of the declining State of the English and Encrease of the French Interest among the Six Nations. I hope the Interview intended with them by your Government will be a Means of securing their Attachment to the British Nation. Methinks a great deal depends on you in this important Affair.
I wish you all the Satisfaction that Ease and Retirement from Publick Business can possibly give you: But let not your Love of Philosophical Amusements have more than its due Weight with you. Had Newton been Pilot but of a single common Ship, the finest of his Discoveries would scarce have excus’d, or atton’d for his abandoning the Helm one Hour in Time of Danger; how much less if she had carried the Fate of the Commonwealth.
Forgive this Freedom, and believe me to be, with the sincerest Esteem and Affection, Dear Sir, Your obliged humble Servant
B Franklin

P.S. All my Electrical Papers are transcribing for a Gentleman in Boston, to whom I shall send them per next Post thro’ your Hands. If you please you may keep them a Week or two to peruse; and if you find any thing in them worth Copying, ’tis at your Service. My last Paper, which you have not yet seen, is the largest, and the fullest on the Nature and Operations of the Electrical Matter.

 Addressed: To  The honble Cadwalader Colden Esqr  New York Free  B Franklin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Jared Eliot, 25 October 1750
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Eliot, Jared

Dear Sir,
Philada. Oct. 25. 1750
I ought to have inform’d you sooner that we got well home, and should have enquir’d after your Health as we left you in the Hands of a Fever; I beg you’d excuse the Delay, and desire you would remember in my favour the old Saying, They who have much Business must have much Pardon. Whenever Mr. Francis and I meet of an Evening, we drink your Health among our other New England Friends, and he desires to be always respectfully remember’d to you. I am glad to hear you are got well again, but cannot have the Pleasure of seeing you again this Year. I will write to Col. Schuyler, and obtain for you a particular Account of his manner of improving his Bank’d Grounds; and will also procure you a Specimen of our Alum Earth, with Mr. Syng’s Observations on it. In return (for you know there is no Trade without Returns) I request you to procure for me a particular Account of the manner of making a new kind of Fence we saw at Southhold on Long Island, which consists of a Bank and Hedge: I would know every Particular relating to this Matter, as, the best Thickness, Height, and Slope of the Bank; the Manner of erecting it; the best Time for the Work; the best Way of planting the Hedge; the Price of the Work to Labourers per Rod or Perch, and whatever may be of Use for our Information here, who begin in many Places to be at a Loss for Wood to make Fence with. We were told at Southhold that this kind of Fencing had been long practis’d with Success at Southhampton and other Places on the South Side of the Island, but was new among them. I heard the Minister of Southhold is esteem’d an ingenious Man; perhaps you may know him, and he will at your Request favour me with an explicit Account of these Fences.
The fore part of the Summer here was extream dry, and the Grass in many Places was burnt up. But we had a good Crop of Wheat; and Rains coming on about the End of July we had in August a new Spring, the Grass sprouting again wonderfully thick and fast in Fields where we thought the very Roots had been destroy’d. Our Grave Diggers said they found the Earth hot sensibly at 3 Feet depth even after these Rains; perhaps the great Heat below and the Moisture above occasion’d this sudden and profuse Vegetation, the whole Country being as it were one great Hotbed.
I am, with Esteem and Affection, Dear Sir Your obliged humble Servant
B Franklin


Title: Rules for Making Oneself a Disagreeable Companion, 15 November 1750
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

Rules, by the Observation of which, a Man of Wit and Learning may nevertheless make himself a disagreeable Companion.
Your Business is to shine; therefore you must by all means prevent the shining of others, for their Brightness may make yours the less distinguish’d. To this End,
1. If possible engross the whole Discourse; and when other Matter fails, talk much of your-self, your Education, your Knowledge, your Circumstances, your Successes in Business, your Victories in Disputes, your own wise Sayings and Observations on particular Occasions, &c. &c. &c.
2. If when you are out of Breath, one of the Company should seize the Opportunity of saying something; watch his Words, and, if possible, find somewhat either in his Sentiment or Expression, immediately to contradict and raise a Dispute upon. Rather than fail, criticise even his Grammar.
3. If another should be saying an indisputably good Thing; either give no Attention to it; or interrupt him; or draw away the Attention of others; or, if you can guess what he would be at, be quick and say it before him; or, if he gets it said, and you perceive the Company pleas’d with it, own it to be a good Thing, and withal remark that it had been said by Bacon, Locke, Bayle, or some other eminent Writer: thus you deprive him of the Reputation he might have gain’d by it, and gain some yourself, as you hereby show your great Reading and Memory.
4. When modest Men have been thus treated by you a few times, they will chuse ever after to be silent in your Company; then you may shine on without Fear of a Rival; rallying them at the same time for their Dullness, which will be to you a new Fund of Wit.
Thus you will be sure to please yourself. The polite Man aims at pleasing others, but you shall go beyond him even in that. A Man can be present only in one Company, but may at the same time be absent in twenty. He can please only where he is, you whereever you are not.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Samuel Johnson, [November 1750]
From: Johnson, Samuel
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir:
[November 1750]
As I could not make a tour to Philadelphia this Fall I have lately taken a Car’g [carriage] ride to several parts of this Colony and being absent when your kind letter arrived, this must be my apology for not answering last [illegible]. Nobody would imagine that the draught you have made for an English education was done by a Tradesman. But so it sometimes is, a True Genius will not content itself without entering more or less into almost everything, and of mastering many things more in spite of Fate it self. I cannot pretend to be qualified to criticize much on things of this kind having never had anything that could be called an Education myself, the most of what I did learn being of such a cobweb kind that the best thing I could do with it was to forget it as fast as I could. So that I am free to say that I am not able to find any fault with your scheme much less to devise a better. So far from this that I can’t but admire it as a most excellent Draught and particularly your contrivance to promote [public?] speaking and sundry observations on the advantages of good reading and speaking. The only thing I can think of that may meliorate what you have done is that as the business of your third class seems less than that of the others, and that you say nothing of Rhetoric and Oratory considered as an Art, perhaps you might have done well to prescribe in that year the learning of some system of Rhetoric so as to have a good notion of the Tropes and Figures. The best I know of is that of Blackwell on the Classics; this therefore and the Port Royal art of Speaking … would be well thummed in that year. And … you might do well to mention Milton and Telemachus and the Travells of Cyrus with the works of Shakespear, Addison and Pope and Swift … as the best English classics. If you have a copy of this Draught I would beg to keep this, otherwise I would transcribe and return it 2 or 3 posts hence when I will also return my Noetica but as I am now examining one Ellis a late piece on the original of our Knowledge especially of Divine things, I would see whether it will administer any thing that may be an advantage to it, but I must … you capable of having suggested what might have been of use to it and I wish you had. Indeed I might have much enlarged if I had not been obliged to study brevity. If I should never remove to your parts I shall be glad to be as useful to your great design as I am able. By the way, I have heard you have had bad success in inoculating. I should be glad to know if truth. My very humble service to Messrs. John and Francis. I remain &c. &c.
S.J.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Samuel Johnson, 22 November 1750
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Johnson, Samuel

Dear Sir
Philada. Nov. 22. 1750
You are very obliging in your Compliments on my Sketch of the English School; But I find ’tis deficient in the main Thing; like the Man’s excellent Race-Horse that had every good Quality, Courage excepted. I approve exceedingly of the Additions you propose, and guess you could if you would make an equal Amputation as much to its Advantage: But you are too humane and tender a Critic, thinking it does not hurt a Man so much, to fill him as to pare him. I have no other Copy but that I sent you, yet you need not be at the Trouble of writing it: If you please to annex a Piece of Paper with the Alterations you propose, and send it me, I will return you a compleat Copy of the whole. I have not time to add, but that I am, with great Respect Dear Sir Your most obliged humble Servant
B Franklin
P.S. Our Physicians have had great Success here formerly in Inoculation; but this Time 3 inoculated Persons died of the Distemper, which has something discouraged the Practice. The Pock we now have is not reckon’d to be of the most favourable kind.
I shall have immediate Occasion for the Sketch; please to send the Noetica after it as soon as you can.
 Addressed: To  The Revd.  Dr Saml. Johnson  at Stratford Connecticut  Free  B Franklin


Title: Franklin and Hall: Account with Benjamin Franklin, 1750–54
From: Franklin, Benjamin,Hall, David
To:

   MS Account: Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Two sheets have been found of Franklin and Hall’s record of Franklin’s personal purchases from the firm, probably opened soon after the partnership was formed in 1748 (see above, III, 263). The first page, numbered 4, covers the period from Nov. 27, 1750, to Jan. 11, 1752, and starts with an entry of £97 3s. brought forward from the three earlier pages now lost. The second surviving page, numbered 7, runs from May 5, 1753, to Feb. 20, 1754, when the charges reached £219 15s. 4½d.
The record of purchases includes a variety of books, printing supplies, stationery and writing materials, and a few miscellaneous articles like “1 Pair of green Spectacles” for 7s. 6d. Franklin bought Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws, Nov. 27, 1750, a copy of Cadwallader Colden’s History of the Five Indian Nations, March 16, 1751, copies of his own Experiments and Observations on Electricity, with the first Supplement, Oct. 10, and Dec. 14, 1753. On July 26, 1750, possibly for an aspiring medical student, Franklin bought Winslow’s Anatomy, Stahl’s Chemistry, and Sharp’s Surgery; on Sept. 5, 1753, he was charged 2s. for “Fairy Tales for Miss Sally”; and six months later he bought his daughter a chapbook for 1s. 6d. More than a dozen charges in 1753 were for schoolbooks, paper, ink, quills, pencils, an inkhorn, a “Brass Inkpot,” and a prayer book for “Mr. Parker’s Son”—young Samuel Franklin Parker, son of Franklin’s partner James Parker.
Franklin also bought articles for business associates: lampblack for Anton Armbrüster and the “Dutch Office,” the German printer with whom Franklin formed a partnership in 1754; several dozen copies each of the Young Man’s Companion (see above, III, 304) and Robert Dodsley’s Oeconomy of Human Life, printed by Franklin and Hall in 1751. In January 1752 Franklin bought five dozen Poor Richards and pocket almanacs for Samuel Holland, his partner in Lancaster, Pa. Some of the latter were interleaved and cost 2d. more than the plain ones.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 6 December 1750
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Strahan, William

Dear Sir
Philada. Dec. 6. 1750
I receiv’d your Favour of Augt. 31. per Mesnard, and Copy per Shirley who is just arrived. Mr. Joseph Crellius is gone to Holland and I suppose may call at London before he returns, and settle his Daughter’s Affair. I am sorry there has been so long Delay in this Payment of my Son’s Money; I must contrive some Way to make you Satisfaction.
My Son is now engag’d in the Study of the Law, and I believe I shall hardly have the Pleasure of seeing you in England till I accompany him when he goes over, as we intend to finish his Studies in one of the Inns of Court. I suppose this may be two or three Years hence if we live. In the mean time we request that you would enter his Name (William Franklin, of Philadelphia) as a Student of Law in one of those Inns as you think best, and pay the Charges, which we are told will not exceed 4 or 5 Pounds, out of the enclos’d Bill: And that you would also send us by the first Ship, the following Books, viz. Coke’s Institutes, Wood’s Ditto of the Common Law, Bacon’s, Viner’s, and Danvers’s Abridgments. The Reason of having his Name now enter’d, is that the usual Time being expired, he may, when in England, be called to the Bar. Please to enquire what that Time is, and let us know.
The Vessel is just sailing, and I can only add that I am, with great Esteem and Affection, Dear Sir Your obliged humble Servant
B Franklin
 P.S. The Bill is drawn by Messrs. Robt. and Amos Strettell on Messrs. Jonathan Gurnell & Co. for Fifty Pounds Sterling.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to [John Franklin?], 25 December 1750
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Franklin, John

Phila. Decr. 25. 1750
I have lately made an Experiment in Electricity that I desire never to repeat. Two nights ago being about to kill a Turkey by the Shock from two large Glass Jarrs containing as much electrical fire as forty common Phials, I inadvertently took the whole thro’ my own Arms and Body, by receiving the fire from the united Top Wires with one hand, while the other held a Chain connected with the outsides of both Jars. The Company present (whose talking to me, and to one another I suppose occasioned my Inattention to what I was about) Say that the flash was very great and the crack as loud as a Pistol; yet my Senses being instantly gone, I neither Saw the one nor heard the other; nor did I feel the Stroke on my hand, tho’ I afterwards found it raised a round swelling where the fire enter’d as big as half a Pistol Bullet by which you may judge of the Quickness of the Electrical Fire, which by this Instance Seems to be greater than that of Sound, Light and animal Sensation. What I can remember of the matter, is, that I was about to try whether the Bottles or Jars were fully charged, by the Strength and Length of the stream issuing to my hands as I commonly used to do, and which I might safely eno’ have done if I had not held the chain in the other hand; I then felt what I know not how well to describe; an universal Blow thro’out my whole Body from head to foot which seem’d within as well as without; after which the first thing I took notice of was a violent quick Shaking of my body which gradually remitting, my sense as gradually return’d, and then I tho’t the Bottles must be discharged but Could not conceive how, till att last I Perceived the Chain in my hand, and Recollected what I had been About to do: that part of my hand and fingers which held the Chain was left white as tho’ the Blood had been Driven Out, and Remained so 8 or 10 Minutes After, feeling like Dead flesh, and I had a Numbness in my Arms and the back of my Neck, which Continued till the Next Morning but wore off. Nothing Remains now of this Shock but a Soreness in my breast Bone, which feels As if it had been Brused. I Did not fall, but Suppose I should have been Knocked Down if I had Received the Stroke in my head: the whole was Over in less than a minute.
You may Communicate this to Mr. Bowdoin As A Caution to him, but do not make it more Publick, for I am Ashamed to have been Guilty of so Notorious A Blunder; A Match for that of the Irishman, Sister Told me of, who to Divert his Wife pour’d the Bottle of Gun Powder on the live Coal; or of that Other, who being About to Steal Powder, made a Hole in the Cask with a Hott Iron. Yours &c.
B Franklin
The Jars hold 6 Gallons each.


Title: Poor Richard Improved, 1751
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

Courteous Reader,
Astrology is one of the most ancient Sciences, had in high Esteem of old, by the Wise and Great. Formerly, no Prince would make War or Peace, nor any General fight a Battle, in short, no important Affair was undertaken without first consulting an Astrologer, who examined the Aspects and Configurations of the heavenly Bodies, and mark’d the lucky Hour. Now the noble Art (more Shame to the Age we live in!) is dwindled into Contempt; the Great neglect us, Empires make Leagues, and Parliaments Laws, without advising with us; and scarce any other Use is made of our learned Labours, than to find the best Time of cutting Corns, or gelding Pigs. This Mischief we owe in a great Measure to ourselves: The Ignorant Herd of Mankind, had they not been encourag’d to it by some of us, would never have dared to depreciate our sacred Dictates; but Urania has been betray’d by her own Sons; those whom she had favour’d with the greatest Skill in her divine Art, the most eminent Astronomers among the Moderns, the Newtons, Halleys, and Whistons, have wantonly contemn’d and abus’d her, contrary to the Light of their own Consciences. Of these, only the last nam’d, Whiston, has liv’d to repent, and speak his Mind honestly. In his former Works he had treated Judiciary Astrology as a Chimera, and asserted, That not only the fixed Stars, but the Planets (Sun and Moon excepted) were at so immense a Distance, as to be incapable of any Influence on this Earth, and consequently nothing could be foretold from their Positions: but now in the Memoirs of his Life, publish’d 1749, in the 82d Year of his Age, he foretels, Page 607, the sudden Destruction of the Turkish Empire, and of the House of Austria, German Emperors, &c. and Popes of Rome; the Restoration of the Jews, and Commencement of the Millennium; all by the Year 1766; and this not only from Scripture Prophecies; but (take his own Words) “From the remarkable astronomical Signals that are to alarm Mankind of what is coming, viz. The Northern Lights since 1715; the six Comets at the Protestant Reformation in four Years, 1530, 1531, 1533, 1534, compar’d with the seven Comets already seen in these last eleven Years 1737, 1739, 1742, 1743, 1744, 1746, and 1748. From the great Annular Eclipse of the Sun, July 14, 1748, whose Center pass’d through all the four Monarchies, from Scotland to the East-Indies. From the Occultation of the Pleiades by the Moon each periodical Month, after the Eclipse last July, for above three Years, visible to the whole Roman Empire; as there was a like Occultation of the Hyades from A. 590, to A. 595, for six Years foretold by Isaiah. From the Transit of Mercury over the Sun, April 25, 1753, which will be visible thro’ that Empire. From the Comet of A.D. 1456, 1531, 1607, and 1682, which will appear again about 1757 ending, or 1758 beginning, and will also be visible thro’ that Empire. From the Transit of Venus over the Sun, May 26, 1761, which will be visible over the same Empire: And lastly, from the annular Eclipse of the Sun, March 11, 1764, which will be visible over the same Empire.” From these Astronomical Signs, he foretels those great Events, That within 16 Years from this Time, “the Millennium or 1000 Years Reign of Christ shall begin, there shall be a new Heavens, and a new Earth; there shall be no more an Infidel in Christendom, Page 398, nor a Gaming-Table at Tunbridge!” When these Predictions are accomplished, what glorious Proofs they will be of the Truth of our Art? And if they happen to fail, there is no doubt but so profound an Astronomer as Mr. Whiston, will be able to see other Signs in the Heavens, foreshowing that the Conversion of Infidels was to be postponed, and the Millennium adjourn’d. After these great Things can any Man doubt our being capable of predicting a little Rain or Sun-shine? Reader, Farewell, and make the best Use of your Years and your Almanacks, for you see, that according to Whiston, you may have at most, but sixteen more of them.
R. Saunders
Patowmack, July 30, 1750.

When the young Trader, aided by your Loan,
Thrives in his Trade, a worthy Merchant grown;
When, snatch’d from Ruin’s Jaws by your kind Hand,

The Farmer pays his Debts and saves his Land;
  When Good like this is done, your Money lent
  Brings you, besides your Interest, Cent. per Cent.
  In pleasing Satisfaction and Content.

January. XI Month.

Who rise to Glory, must by Virtue rise,
’Tis in the Mind all genuine Greatness lies:
On that eternal Base, on that alone,
The World’s Esteem you build, and more—your own.
For what avails Birth, Beauty, Fortune’s Store,
The Plume of Title, and the Pride of Pow’r,
If, deaf to Virtue, deaf to Honour’s Call,
To Tyrant Vice a wretched Slave you fall?

Pray don’t burn my House to roast your Eggs.

Some Worth it argues, a Friend’s Worth to know;
Virtue to own the Virtue of a Foe.

    Prosperity discovers Vice, Adversity Virtue.
    The Romans were 477 Years, without so much as a Sun-dial to show the Time of Day: The first they had was brought from Sicily, by Valerius Messala: One hundred and eighteen Years afterwards, Scipio Nasica, produced to them an Invention for measuring the Hours in cloudy Weather, it was by the Dropping of Water out of one Vessel into another, somewhat like our Sand-Glasses. Clocks and Watches, to shew the Hour, are very modern Inventions. The Sub-dividing Hours into Minutes, and Minutes into Seconds, by those curious Machines, is not older than the Days of our Fathers, but now brought to a surprising Nicety.
Since our Time is reduced to a Standard, and the Bullion of the Day minted out into Hours, the Industrious know how to employ every Piece of Time to a real Advantage in their different Professions: And he that is prodigal of his Hours, is, in Effect, a Squanderer of Money. I remember a notable Woman, who was fully sensible of the intrinsic Value of Time. Her Husband was a Shoemaker, and an excellent Craftsman, but never minded how the Minutes passed. In vain did she inculcate to him, That Time is Money. He had too much Wit to apprehend her, and it prov’d his Ruin. When at the Alehouse among his idle Companions, if one remark’d that the Clock struck Eleven, What is that, says he, among us all? If she sent him Word by the Boy, that it had struck Twelve; Tell her to be easy, it can never be more. If, that it had struck One, Bid her be comforted, for it can never be less.
If we lose our Money, it gives us some Concern. If we are cheated or robb’d of it, we are angry: But Money lost may be found; what we are robb’d of may be restored: The Treasure of Time once lost, can never be recovered; yet we squander it as tho’ ’twere nothing worth, or we had no Use for it.

The Bell strikes One: We take no Note of Time,
But from its Loss. To give it then a Tongue
Is wise in Man. If heard aright
It is the Knell of our departed Hours;
Where are they? With the Years beyond the Flood:
It is the Signal that demands Dispatch;
How much is to be done? ——
Be wise To-day, ’tis Madness to defer;
Next day the fatal Precedent will plead;
Thus on, till Wisdom is push’d out of Life:
Procrastination is the Thief of Time,
Year after Year it steals till all are fled,
And to the Mercies of a Moment leaves
The vast Concerns of an eternal Scene.
If not so frequent, would not this be strange?
That ’tis so frequent, This is stranger still.

February. XII Month.

Affect not that vain Levity of Thought,
Which sets Religion, Virtue, all at nought.
For true Religion like the Sun’s blest Beam,
Darts thro’ the conscious Mind a heav’nly Gleam,
Irradiates all the Soul, no Care allows,

Calms the blest Heart, and smooths the easy Brows.
Yet think it not enough what’s right to know,
But let your Practice that right Knowledge show.
To Christians bad rude Indians we prefer;
’Tis better not to know, than knowing err.

    Many a Man would have been worse, if his Estate had been better.
    We may give Advice, but we cannot give Conduct.
March. I Month.

Some sweet Employ for leisure Minutes chuse,
And let your very Pleasures have their Use.
But if you read, your Books with Prudence chuse.
Or Time mis-spent is worse than what you lose.
Be fully e’er you speak your Subject known,
And let e’en then some Diffidence be shown.
Keep something silent, and we think you wise,
But when we see the Bottom, we despise.

    He that is conscious of a Stink in his Breeches, is jealous of every Wrinkle in another’s Nose.
    Love and Tooth-ach have many Cures, but none infallible, except Possession and Dispossession.
    On the 15th of this Month, Anno Romae 709, Julius Caesar was slain in the Senate-House: He fought! he conquer’d! he triumph’d! For what? For Fame.

And with what rare Inventions do we strive
Ourselves then to survive.
Some with vast costly Tombs would purchase it,
And by the Proofs of Death pretend to live.
Here lies the Great —— False Marble, where?
Nothing but small and sordid Dust lies there.
  Some build enormous Mountain Palaces
The Fools and Architects to please:
A lasting Life in well hewn Stone they rear.

Caesar an higher Place does claim,
In the Seraphic Entity of Fame:
He, since that Toy his Death,
Does fill all Mouths, and breathes in all Men’s Breath;
  ——The two immortal Syllables remain;
But O ye learned Men explain,
What Essence, what Existence this
In six poor Letters is?
In those alone does the great Caesar live;
’Tis all the conquer’d World could give,
We Poets madder yet than all,
With a refin’d fantastick Vanity
Think we not only have but give Eternity.
Fain would I see that Prodigal
Who his To-morrow would bestow,
For all old Homer’s Life, e’er since he dy’d till now. Cowley.

April. II Month.

O barb’rous Waggoners, your Wrath asswage,
Why vent you on the generous Steed your Rage?
Does not his Service earn you daily Bread?
Your Wives, your Children by his Labour fed?
If, as the Samian taught, the Soul revives,
And, shifting Seats, in other Bodies lives,
Severe shall be the brutal Carter’s Change,
Doom’d in a Thill-horse o’er rough Roads to range;
Amd while transform’d the groaning Load he draws,
Some Horse turn’d Carter shall avenge the Cause.

    There are lazy Minds as well as lazy Bodies.
    Most People return small Favours, acknowledge middling ones, and repay great ones with Ingratitude.

That admirable Instrument the Microscope has opened to us of these latter Ages, a World utterly unknown to the Ancients. There are very few Substances, in which it does not shew something curious and unexpected; but for the Sake of such Readers as are unacquainted with that Instrument, I shall set down some of the most remarkably entertaining Objects, upon which actual Observations have been made.
1. The Globules of the Blood, which are computed to be almost a two thousandth Part of an Inch in Diameter, each consisting of six small Globules, each of which again probably consists of six smaller, and so on. The Circulation of the Blood is to be seen very distinctly in the Tail of a small Fish, the Web of the Foot of a Frog, &c. and the Globules to split and divide, before they can enter the smallest Vessels.
2. The Bones of all Creatures, sliced extremely thin, afford an entertaining Object for the Microscope, consisting of innumerable Perforations, and Ramifications, disposed in an endless Variety of Forms.
3. The Flesh of all Land and Sea Animals dried, and cut into very thin Slices, gives a beautiful View of the various Fibres, and their Convolutions. The Brain, the spinal Marrow, and even the Hairs of Animals, exhibit different Curiosities.
4. The human Skin, by the Help of the Microscope, is found to be covered over with an infinite Number of Scales lying over one another, as in fishes; and it is probably the same in other Animals. It has been computed that a Grain of Sand will cover two hundred of these Scales.

5. All Sorts of Feathers, especially those of the Peacock, afford a surprizing View in the Microscope. It is supposed that a single Feather contains no less than a Million of different Parts.
6. Flies are found by the Microscope to be produced from Eggs laid by the Mothers, from whence they are hatched in the Form of Maggots, or small Worms, which are afterwards transformed into Aurelias, and these into perfect Flies. This is the Process most of the winged Insects go through in their Production. They have a great Number of Eyes fixed to their Heads, so that they see on all Sides around them, without turning their Heads or Eyes. A common Fly is supposed to have eight thousand, and a great Drone Fly no less than fourteen thousand Eyes, with a distinct optic Nerve to each; and each Eye appears through the Microscope, tho’ magnified many hundred thousand Times, more exactly shaped, and more curiously polished, than human Art could finish an Object as large as the whole Cluster, containing seven thousand distinct ones. The Wings of Flies, especially of the Moth and Butterfly Kind, are found to be contrived with admirable Art, to answer their Use, and with inimitable Beauty and Ornament. The Dust, which sticks to the Fingers, when we handle them, is found to be Feathers; each of which has its Quill and vane Parts as compleat as that of a Fowl or a Goose, and are inserted in the Film of the Wing, with the utmost Regularity of Arrangement. With the Microscope, the Stings of Moths and Bees appear to be Instruments finished to the highest Perfection; their Points, and saw-like Teeth, being perfectly polished and sharp; whereas the Edge of a Razor appears like that of a Butcher’s Cleaver, and the Point of a Lancet like an iron Spike just come from the Anvil.
7. By the Help of the Microscope the innumerable and inconceivably minute Animalcules in various Fluids are discovered, of the Existence of which we have no Reason to suppose any Mortal had the least Suspicion, till last Century. In the Melt of a single Cod-fish ten Times more living Creatures are contained, than the Inhabitants of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, taking it for granted, that all Parts of the World are as well peopled as Holland, which is very far from being the Case. Of a certain Species some are discovered so extremely minute, that it has been computed, three Millions of them, or three Times the Number of the Inhabitants of London and Westminster, would not equal the Bulk of a Grain of Sand. Of Animalcules, some Species resemble Tadpoles, Serpents or Eels, others are of a roundish or oval Form, others of very curiously turned and various Shapes; but in general they are extremely vigorous and lively, and almost constantly in Motion. Animalcules are to be found (besides those in the Bodies of Animals) in the Infusions of Pepper, Senna, Pinks, Roses, Jessamin, Tea, Rasberry Stalks, Fennel, Sage, Melons, sour Grapes, Wheat, Hay, Straw, and almost all vegetable Substances; in the Water, that is in the Shells of Oysters, Cockles, and other Shell-fish, in the Foulness upon our Teeth, and those of other Animals, in our Skins when affected with certain Diseases; in Vinegar, and Paste, and so on infinitely. In each of these Substances, when exposed to the Air some Time, Multitudes of living Creatures, beyond the Reach of Numbers, are discovered, of which many Hundreds of Species are already known, as different from one another as those of the largest Animals, and very probably there are many more yet unknown. As it is certain, that in the above mentioned Fluids few or no Animalcules are to be found, when covered from the Air, but when open to the Access of the Air, their Numbers are beyond reckoning; it is hardly to be doubted, but that either the Air is replete with infinite Multitudes of living Creatures too small for Sight, which come and deposite their Eggs in Places proper for the Nutrition of the Young, or that their Eggs are floating every where in the Air, and falling promiscuously every where, only those are hatched, or come to Perfection, which fall upon Places fitted for them, and the others perish. However it is, the countless Numbers of those living Creatures, the Profusion of Life every where to be observed, is above Measure astonishing, and shews the Maker to be an infinite Being.
8. By the Help of the Microscope, we find that the Scales of almost every different Fish are different from those of others, in internal Texture; and that all of them are wrought with surprising Art and Beauty.
9. By Means of this noble Instrument we find, that the Seeds of almost all Manner of Vegetables contain in them the Stamina of the future Plant or Tree, and that their Production from the Seed, and their Growth to Maturity is only the Swelling and Enlarging of the Stamina by the Addition of nutritious Juices. It is probable the Manner of Production and Growth of Animals is analogous to this. The Fertility of some Plants is almost beyond Belief. One particularly is said by Naturalists to produce annually a Million of Seeds from one. The Farina of Flowers is found by the help of the Microscope to be a regular organized Body, and not a meer Dust, as it appears to the naked Eye, and is reasonably supposed to be necessary to Fertility in Plants and Trees.
10. By the Microscope have been discovered many singular Properties of that most unaccountable of all Creatures the Polype, which is found at the Bottom of Ditches, and standing Waters; whose Manner of Production, Feeding and Digestion, are different from those of all other Animals. The young ones come out of the Sides of the old, like Buds and Branches from Trees, and at length drop off perfect Polypes. They do not seem to be of different Sexes. They take in Worms, and other Sustenance, by Means of a Sett of long Arms or Antennae, which surround their Mouths, and after keeping them some Time in their Stomachs, throw them out again the same Way. The Animal’s Body consists of a single Cavity, like a Tube or Gut, and what is wonderful, and almost beyond Belief, is, that it will live and feed after it is turned inside out, and even when cut into a great many Pieces, each several Piece becomes a compleat Polype. They are infested with a Kind of Vermin, as are almost all Animals from the largest down to Bees and other Insects. These Vermin sometimes in a long Time will eat up the Head and Part of the Body of a Polype, after which, if it be cleared of them, it shall have the devoured Parts grow up again, and become as compleat as ever. Some Polypes have around their Mouths a Sort of Plume, which they whirl round, and making with it an Eddy in the Water, draw in their Prey, and devour it.
11. By the Microscope it is found, that neither the Wood, the Bark, the Root, the Leaves, the Fruit, nor even the Pith of the meanest Vegetable is a Mass of crude or indigested Matter; but that every different Species is different in its internal Structure, and all curiously and delicately wrought. A Bit of Cork, cut extremely thin, a Slice of Oak or Fir, or a Bit of Elder Pith, in the Microscope, are so many curious Pieces of Mosaic Work. Even a Bit of Charcoal or burnt Wood appears with the Microscope an admirable Object.
12. By this Instrument it is found, that what we call Mouldiness upon Flesh, Leather, or other Substances, is no other than a great Number of extremely small, but perfect Plants, having Stalks and Tops like Mushrooms, and sometimes an Appearance of Leaves. The Seeds of these minute Plants must, in all Probability, be diffused universally through the Air, and falling upon Substances fit for their Growth, spring up in astonishing Profusion. There is, in short, no End of microscopic Objects. A Sprig of Moss, with the Help of that Instrument, is found to be a regular Plant, consisting of a Root, a Stock, Branches, Leaves, &c. and Naturalists tell us, there are some Hundreds of different Species of it. A Bit of Spunge before the Microscope is a curious Piece of Net-work. Every different chymical Salt has its parts differently figured. A Leaf of a common stinging Nettle, the Beard of a wild Oat, the Surfaces of some Pebble-stones, a Flake of Snow, a few Grains of Sand, or almost any natural Thing, with this Instrument, exhibit exquisite Beauties; while, on the contrary, the most delicate Works of Art, can by no Means bear its Examination; but degenerate before it into Masses of Irregularity, and Deformity.
May. III Month.

With ceaseless Streams a well-plac’d Treasure flows,
When spent increases, and by lessening grows.
Sarepta’s Widow, hoping no Supply,
Thought, on her little Store, to eat and die:
Soon as she welcom’d her prophetic Guest,
The Cruse flow’d liberal, and the Corn increas’d,
Th’ Almighty Pow’r unfailing Plenty sent,
The Oil unwasted, and the Meal unspent.

Fond Pride of Dress is sure an empty Curse;
E’re Fancy you consult, consult your Purse.
    Youth is pert and positive, Age modest and doubting: So Ears of Corn when young and light, stand bolt upright, but hang their Heads when weighty, full, and ripe.

June. IV Month.

What will not Lux’ry taste? Earth, Sea, and Air,
Are daily ransack’d for the Bill of Fare.
Blood stuff’d in Guts is British Christian’s Food,
And France robs Marshes of the croaking Brood;
But he had sure a Palate cover’d o’er
With Brass or Steel, that on the rocky Shore,
First broke the oozy Oister’s pearly Coat,
And risk’d the living Morsel down his Throat.

    ’Tis easier to suppress the first Desire, than to satisfy all that follow it.
    Don’t judge of Mens Wealth or Piety, by their Sunday Appearances.
    Friendship increases by visiting Friends, but by visiting seldom.
July. V Month.

Vice luring, in the Way of Virtue lies,
God suffers This; but tempts not; tho’ He tries.
Go wrong, go right, ’tis your own Action still;
He leaves you to your Choice, of Good, or Ill.
Then chuse the Good! the Ill submisly bear!
The Man of Virtue is above Despair.
Safe on this Maxim with the Writer rest,
That all that happens, happens for the best.

    If your Riches are yours, why don’t you take them with you to the t’other World?
    What more valuable than Gold? Diamonds. Than Diamonds? Virtue.
    To-day is Yesterday’s Pupil.
August. VI Month.

Ye Party Zealots, thus it fares with you,
When Party Rage too warmly you pursue;

Both Sides club Nonsense and impetuous Pride,
And Folly joins whom Sentiments divide.
You vent your Spleen as Monkeys when they pass,
Scratch at the mimic Monkey in the Glass,
While both are one; and henceforth be it known,
Fools of both Sides shall stand as Fools alone.

    If worldly Goods cannot save me from Death, they ought not to hinder me of eternal Life.
    ’Tis great Confidence in a Friend to tell him your Faults, greater to tell him his.
September. VII Month.

Ah! What is Life? With Ills encompass’d round,
Amidst our Hopes, Fate strikes the sudden Wound;
To-day the Statesman of new Honour dreams,
To-morrow Death destroys his airy Schemes.
Is mouldy Treasure in thy Chest confin’d;
Think, all that Treasure thou must leave behind;
Thy Heir with Smiles shall view thy blazon’d Hearse,
And all thy Hoards, with lavish Hand disperse.

    Talking against Religion is unchaining a Tyger; The Beast let loose may worry his Deliverer.
    Ambition often spends foolishly what Avarice had wickedly collected.
October. VIII Month.

Should certain Fate th’impending Blow delay,
Thy Mirth will sicken, and thy Bloom decay;
Then feeble Age will all thy Nerves disarm,
No more thy Blood its narrow Channels warm;
Who then would wish to stretch this narrow Span,
To suffer Life beyond the Date of Man?
The virtuous Soul pursues a nobler Aim,
And Life regards but as a fleeting Dream.

    Pillgarlic was in the Accusative Case, and bespoke a Lawyer in the Vocative, who could not understand him till he made use of the Dative.

Great Estates may venture more;
Little Boats must keep near Shore.

    Nice Eaters seldom meet with a good Dinner.
    November. IX Month.

She longs to wake, and wishes to get free,
To launch from Earth into Eternity.
For while the boundless Theme extends our Thought,
Ten thousand thousand rolling Years are nought.
O endless Thought! divine Eternity!
Th’immortal Soul shares but a Part of thee;
For thou wert present when our Life began,
When the warm Dust shot up in breathing Man.

    Not to oversee Workmen, is to leave them your Purse open.
    The Wise and Brave dares own that he was wrong.
    Cunning proceeds from Want of Capacity.
    It is an amusing Speculation to look back, and compute what Numbers of Men and Women among the Ancients, clubb’d their Endeavours to the Production of a single Modern. As you reckon backwards the Number encreases in the same Proportion as the Price of the Coat which was sold for a Half-penny a Button, continually doubled.

Thus, a present Nobleman (for Instance) is
1

His Father and Mother were
  2

His Grandfathers and Grandmothers
  4

His Great Grandfathers and Great Grandmothers,
  8

    And, supposing no Intermarriages among Relations, the next Predecessors will be
    16

The next Ditto,
32
The next Ditto,
8192

  The next Ditto,
  64
The next Ditto,
  16384

  The next Ditto,
  128
The next Ditto,
  32768

  The next Ditto,
  256
The next Ditto,
  65536

  The next Ditto,
  512
The next Ditto,
  131072

  The next Ditto,
  1024
The next Ditto,
  262144

  The next Ditto,
  2048
The next Ditto,
  524288

  The next Ditto,
  4096
The next Ditto,
  1048576

Here are only computed 21 Generations, which, allowing 3 Generations to 100 Years, carry us back no farther than the Norman Conquest, at which Time each present Nobleman, to exclude all ignoble Blood from his Veins, ought to have had One Million, Forty-eight Thousand, Five Hundred and Seventy-six noble Ancestors. Carry the Reckoning back 300 Years farther, and the Number amounts to above 500 Millions; which are more than exist at any one Time upon Earth, and shews the Impossibility of preserving Blood free from such Mixtures, and that the Pretension of such Purity of Blood in ancient Families is a mere Joke. Hence we see how it happens that every Nation has a kind of general Cast of Feature, by which it may be distinguished; continual Intermarriages for a Course of Ages rendring all the People related by Blood, and, as it were, of one Family.
December. X Month.

Ere the Foundations of the World were laid,
Ere kindling Light th’Almighty Word obey’d,
Thou wert; and when the subterraneous Flame,
Shall burst its Prison, and devour this Frame,
From angry Heav’n when the keen Lightning flies,
When fervent Heat dissolves the melting Skies,
Thou still shalt be; still as thou wert before,
And know no Change when Time shall be no more.
    The Proud hate Pride—in others.

    Who judges best of a Man, his Enemies or himself?
    Drunkenness, that worst of Evils, makes some Men Fools, some Beasts, some Devils.
    ’Tis not a Holiday that’s not kept holy.
    On the 6th of this Month, 1711, died in England, Mrs. Jane Schrimshaw, aged 127 Years: But England boasts some much longer Livers. James Sands, of Horburn, in the County of Stafford, near Birmingham, lived 140 Years, and his Wife 120, in a perfect State of Health till the Day of their Deaths. He out-liv’d 5 Leases of 21 Years each, all made after his Marriage. Thomas Parr, married his first Wife at 80 Years of Age, by whom he had two Children; his second Wife after he was 120 Years old, by whom he had one Child, and lived till he was something above 150. Henry Jenkins, of the Parish of Bolton, in Yorkshire, died the 8th of this same Month, 1670, aged 169 Years. In these American Parts we have no such very old Men; not that the Climate is unhealthy, but because the present Inhabitants were not born soon enough.
    Of the Inequality of natural Time, and of the right adjusting and managing of Pendulum Clocks and Watches.
    The Day is of two Sorts, Mean and Solar; the Mean or equal Day is always 24 Hours exactly, and is the Day which all good Pendulum Clocks and Watches should exactly measure. The Solar, apparent, or natural Day, is pointed out by a good Sun Dial; or is that Space of Time that intervenes between the Sun’s leaving a given Meridian in the Heavens, and returning to it again; and does almost perpetually differ from the Mean or equal Day; as consequently a good Pendulum Clock, accurately adjusted, will almost perpetually differ from an exact Sun-Dial. In the preceding Table [see p. 100], you have the Quantity of this Difference in Minutes, for every Day in the Year; with the Titles Add. or Sub. which signifies thus much: If you can gain the exact apparent Time of the Day, either by the Sun’s Rising, Setting, transiting the Meridian, or by a good Sun-Dial, and would set your Clock or Watch to go with the exact equal Time, as it always should do; then, in this Table, find the Number of Minutes standing against the Day of the Month propos’d, and observe the Title above, if Add. or Sub. for according to the Title you must apply the said Minutes to the apparent Time, and the Sum or Difference will be the exact equal Time required; to which you must set your Clock or Watch.
A Correct Table for Equating of Time, or of the Inequality of Solar Days, for the Regulating of Clocks and Watches; exactly calculated to every Minute of Variation, or Difference in Time.

Days.
   Jan.|Add.
   Feb.|Add.
   Mar.|Add.
   April.|Add.
   May.|Sub.
   June|Sub.
   July.|Add.
   Aug.|Add.
   Sept.|Sub.
   Oct.|Sub.
   Nov.|Sub.
   Dec.|Sub.
Days.

1
9
15
10
1
4
1
5
5
4
13
15
6
1

2
9
15
10
0
4
1
5
4
4
14
15
5
2

3
10
15
10
0
4
1
5
4
5
14
15
4
3

4
10
15
9
su.
4
0
5
4
5
14
15
4
4

5
11
15
9
0
4
0
5
4
5
14
15
4
5

6
11
15
9
1
4
ad
5
4
6
14
15
3
6

7
11
14
8
1
4
0
6
3
6
15
14
3
7

8
11
14
8
1
4
0
6
3
6
15
14
2
8

9
12
14
8
1
4
1
6
3
6
15
14
2
9

10
12
14
7
2
4
1
6
3
7
15
14
1
10

11
12
14
7
2
4
1
6
3
7
15
13
1
11

12
13
14
7
2
4
1
6
2
7
15
13
ad
12

13
13
14
6
2
4
2
6
2
8
16
13
0
13

14
13
14
6
2
4
2
6
2
8
16
13
1
14

15
13
13
6
2
4
2
6
2
9
16
12
1
15

16
13
13
6
3
4
2
6
1
9
16
12
2
16

17
14
13
5
3
3
2
6
1
9
16
12
2
17

18
14
13
5
3
3
3
6
1
10
16
11
3
18

19
14
13
5
3
3
3
6
0
10
16
11
3
19

20
14
12
4
3
3
3
6
su.
10
16
10
4
20

21
14
12
4
3
3
3
6
0
11
16
10
4
21

22
14
12
4
4
3
3
6
1
11
16
10
5
22

23
14
12
3
4
3
3
6
1
11
16
9
5
23

24
15
11
3
4
2
4
6
1
11
16
9
6
24

25
15
11
3
4
2
4
5
1
12
16
8
6
25

26
15
11
2
4
2
4
5
2
12
16
8
6
26

27
15
11
2
4
2
4
5
2
12
16
8
7
27

28
15
10
2
4
2
4
5
2
13
16
7
7
28

29
15
—
2
4
2
5
5
3
13
16
7
8
29

30
15
—
1
4
1
5
5
3
13
16
6
8
30

31
15
—
1
—
1
—
5
3
—
16
—
9
31

Example I.
Suppose February 5, I observe by a good Sun-dial when it is exactly 10 a Clock; then against the 5th of February, in this Table, I find 15 min. Add. which makes 10 Hours 15 Minutes, the exact equal Time, which should be shown by the Clock at the same Time the Dial shows exactly 10 Hours.
    Example II.
On the 15th Day of October, Suppose I observe by a good Dial, when it is exactly 1 a Clock in the Afternoon; in this Table, against the 15th of October, stand 16 min. Sub. which leaves 44 Minutes after 12 for the Time to be shown by your Clock.
Note, When the Title is Add. then Clocks or Watches go too fast; but when the Title is Sub. then Clocks or Watches go too slow.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Samuel Johnson, 9 January 1751
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Johnson, Samuel

Dear Sir
Philada. Jan. 9. 1750, 1
I receiv’d your Favour of the 14th past, with the Noetica, which I shall immediately put to press, for I think it scarce necessary to ask Subscriptions for so small a Work; and believe we can not find a more suitable Piece of the kind to use in our Academy. Please to accept the enclos’d (with my Compliments) for the New Year. The Assembly sitting hurries me so that I have not Time to give you an Account as I intended of the opening of the Academy. I am, with great Respect, Dear Sir, Your most obliged humble Servant
B Franklin


Title: Petition for the Pennsylvania Hospital, 23 January 1751
From:
To:

January 23, 1751
The founding of the Pennsylvania Hospital is one of the best-known episodes in Franklin’s public career, for he related the history of it in his autobiography at length, if not accurately in all details, and he printed the relevant documents in Some Account of the Pennsylvania Hospital, 1754. Franklin’s friend Dr. Thomas Bond was one of the first to realize that Philadelphia needed a hospital to supplement the limited provisions of the almshouse and lazaretto. In 1750 Bond began to solicit funds, but met with no success. Prospective donors almost invariably asked what Franklin thought of the undertaking, and when Bond confessed that he had not consulted him, they replied they would think about his scheme, but gave him nothing. At length Bond came to Franklin, who “enquir’d into the Nature, and probable Utility of his Scheme, and receiving from him a very satisfactory Explanation, I not only subscrib’d to it myself, but engag’d heartily in the Design of Procuring Subscriptions from others.” Though the response was now more generous, it was still insufficient; and Franklin proposed to ask the Assembly for aid. A petition was accordingly drafted and submitted. The rural legislators, according to Franklin, objected that the institution would benefit only the city, and that therefore Philadelphia alone should be at the expense of it. Some charged that physicians’ fees would consume all the money raised, until three physicians —Thomas and Phineas Bond and Lloyd Zachary—announced they would serve the hospital gratis for three years. Some critics even alleged that many of the city’s residents did not favor the scheme. To this Franklin replied that the citizens were so strong in support that they would subscribe £2000—an assertion opponents of the petition “considered as a most extravagant Supposition, and utterly impossible. On this,” wrote Franklin, “I form’d my Plan.” He obtained leave to bring in a bill to incorporate the contributors and grant them a blank sum of money, making the grant conditional on the contributors raising an equal sum by voluntary effort. “This Condition carried the Bill through; for the Members who had oppos’d the Grant, and now conceiv’d they might have the Credit of being charitable without the Expence, agreed to its Passage.” The bill passed unanimously February 7, and on May 11, some amendments proposed by the governor having been adopted, it became law.

The sponsors of the hospital now had to raise £2000 to get the £2000 conditionally appropriated by the Assembly. “In soliciting Subscriptions among the People,” Franklin continued, “we urg’d the conditional Promise of the Law as an additional Motive to give, since every Man’s Donation would be doubled. Thus the Clause work’d both ways. … And I do not remember any of my political Manoeuvres, the Success of which gave me at the time more Pleasure. Or that in after-thinking of it, I more easily excus’d my-self for having made some Use of Cunning.”
On July 1, as the act provided, some of the contributors, to the number of thirty-six, met in the State House to elect twelve managers and a treasurer. These officers met next day to consider a site (they chose a lot belonging to the Proprietors), to raise money, and receive the Assembly grant. Though cash and pledges amounted to more than the required sum, the speaker refused to count the pledges unless the subscribers signed a penal bond. This they did; on August 16 contributions and subscriptions to the amount of £2751 16s. 8d. were reported; and on October 3 the first half of the Assembly’s grant was turned over to the managers.
Franklin served as a hospital manager until he went to England in 1757; he was the board’s first secretary, 1751–52, and their second president, 1755–57. He helped draft memorials, letters, by-laws, and regulations; with Thomas Bond he designed a seal and had James Turner in Boston make it; he even composed the inscription for the cornerstone of the hospital building. To the end of his life, as his letters show, he was helpful and interested; and he remembered the hospital in his will.
The following chronology of the principal events in the hospital’s history to 1755 may be helpful:

1751

May 11:
Governor Hamilton approves act of incorporation.

  July 1:
First meeting of the Contributors; Franklin elected a manager.

  6:
First meeting of the Managers; Franklin chosen secretary. Managers ask the Proprietors for a city lot. See below, pp. 145, 326.

  August 8–15:
Public appeal for the hospital made in the Pennsylvania Gazette. See below, p. 147.

  1752

  January 17:
By-law on the election and duties of Managers and a treasurer adopted. See below, p. 255.

  January 23:
Regulations for the admission of patients adopted.

  February 6:
Hospital opens in temporary quarters in the late Judge John Kinsey’s Market Street residence; first patient admitted February 10.

  April 13:
Rules for the choice of physicians and surgeons adopted.

  May 4:
First regular annual meeting of the Contributors.

  1754

  May 28:
1500 copies of Franklin’s Account of the hospital ordered printed; completed July 27.

  September 11:
Lot of ground at Eighth and Pine Streets purchased.

  1755

  May 28:
Cornerstone of hospital building laid.

  October 27:
Hospital roof raised.

Some of the memorials, by-laws, regulations, and other documents listed above were composed by Franklin, either individually or as a member of one of the managers’ committees; and all were included in Some Account of the Pennsylvania Hospital. To print each document both in its chronological place and in the Account would be needlessly repetitious; but to omit them from the Account because they had been printed under their own dates would reduce that work to a tatter of transitional paragraphs and cross references. The editors’ solution is to list under their respective dates the documents for which Franklin was responsible only as one of a committee (to indicate the times, amount, and quality of his work for the hospital), but to print them in full, annotated, as parts of his Account. The long, two-part essay on hospitals, which Franklin alone composed, published in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1751, and reprinted in the Account, is, however, printed below (p. 147) in its chronological place.
Thus the text of the petition to the Assembly, though in Franklin’s hand, is omitted here, but is printed and annotated in Some Account of the Pennsylvania Hospital in Volume v.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson, 4 February 1751
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Collinson, Peter

Dear Sir
Philada. Feb. 4. 1750, 1
I receiv’d yours of Oct. 4. via New England, with the Account of what you have laid out on Books and Mathematical Instruments for the Academy, by which I perceive there is but about £20 in your Hands, much too little, I fear, for the Philosophical Apparatus! and the Misfortune is, that our other Expences in purchasing, Building, &c. are like to pinch us so in the Beginning, that we cannot soon afford an Addition to that Sum; so that if our good Proprietors do not see fit to help us, we must wait for those valuable Advantages till we are better able to afford them. The Academy was open’d the Beginning of this Year and goes on well. Mr. Secretary Peters preach’d an excellent Sermon on the Occasion, which he will not suffer to be printed. I long for the Letter you mention relating to the Academy Affairs, which you intended to send me by Reeves.
By Ouchterlony I sent you my last Piece on Electricity, and have nothing new to add, except that Mr. Kinnersley, an ingenious Gentleman of this Place has apply’d my horizontal self-moving Wheel with Success, to the playing of Tunes on Chimes, which it does very prettily. I will get Mr. Evans to make a Draft of his Machine, and send it to you.
My Respects to Mr. Watson. He desir’d you to enquire what Success we had in our Attempts to kill a Turkey by the Electrical Strokes. Please to acquaint him, that we made several Experiments on Fowls this Winter; That we found two large thin glass Jars, gilt (holding each about 6 Gallons, and taking 2000 Turns of a Globe of 9 Inches Diameter to charge them full, when the Globe works very well, and will charge a common half pint Vial with 50 Turns) were sufficient to kill common Hens outright; but the Turkies, tho’ thrown into violent Convulsions, and then lying as dead for some Minutes, would recover in less than a quarter of an Hour. However, having added Mr. Kinnersley’s Jarrs and mine together, in all 5, tho’ not fully charg’d, we kill’d a Turky with them of about 10 lb.wt. and suppose they would have kill’d a much larger. I conceit that the Birds kill’d in this Manner eat uncommonly tender.
In making these Experiments, I found that a Man can without great Detriment bear a much greater Electrical Shock than I imagin’d. For I inadvertently took the Stroke of two of those Jars thro’ my Arms and Body, when they were very near full charg’d. It seem’d an universal Blow from head to foot throughout the Body, and was follow’d by a violent quick Trembling in the Trunk, which wore gradually off in a few seconds. It was some Moments before I could collect my Thoughts so as to know what was the Matter; for I did not see the Flash tho’ my Eye was on the Spot of the Prime Conductor from whence it struck the Back of my Hand, nor did I hear the Crack tho’ the By-standers say it was a loud one; nor did I particularly feel the Stroke on my Hand, tho’ I afterwards found it had rais’d a Swelling there the bigness of half a Swan Shot or pistol Bullet. My Arms and Back of my Neck felt somewhat numb the remainder of the Evening, and my Breastbone was sore for a Week after, [as] if it had been bruiz’d. What the Consequence would be, if such a Shock were taken thro’ the Head, I know not.
All the Instruments by Shirley, &c. and Books for the Academy came safe. Also those for the Library mention’d in your Letters.
Our Friend Mr. Kalm, goes home in this Ship, with a great Cargo of Curious Things. I love the Man, and admire his indefatigable Industry. I shall do my best Endeavour to have [the] Study of Natural History establish’d in the Academy, as what [I] am convinc’d is a Science of more real Worth and Usefulness, [than] several of the others we propose to teach, put together.
I am, with great Respect, Dear Sir Your obliged and most humble Servant
B Franklin
Please to send for the Library
  A large Glass Globe for an Electrical Machine
  A large Glass Cylinder for Ditto.
My Respects to Dr. Fothergill, and to Dr. Mitchel to whom I purpose to write per next Ship.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 4 February 1751
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Strahan, William

Dear Sir
Philada. Feb. 4. 1750, 1
I wrote you per Capt. Budden, who sail’d the Beginning of December, and sent you a Bill of Exchange on Jonathan Gurnel & Co. for Fifty Pounds, and desired you to send me Viner’s, Bacon’s and Danvers’s Abridgments of the Law, with Wood’s and Coke’s Institutes. I have no Copy of the Letter, and forget whether I added the Compleat Attorney in 6 or 8 Vols. 8vo. the Precedents in English; please to send that also. I likewise desired you to enter my Son’s Name, William Franklin, in one of the Inns of Court, as a Student of Law, which I am told costs between £4 and £5 and to let me know what Time must expire before he can be called to the Bar after such Entry, because he intends to go to London a Year or two before, to finish his Studies. I hope that Letter got to hand. Enclos’d I send you the second Bill. I see they have printed a new Translation of Tully on old Age; please to send me one of them. Mr. Hall continues well, and goes on perfectly to my Satisfaction. My Respects to Mrs. Strahan and Master Billy. I have not Time to add, but that I am, with great Esteem and Affection, Dear Sir Your most oblig’d humble Servant
B Franklin

Addressed: To Mr Wm Strahan Printer London per Capt. Mitchell.


Title: Subscription for Christ Church Steeple, 18 March 1751
From:
To:

The vestry of Christ Church, Philadelphia, unanimously voted, March 11, 1751, to erect a steeple and hang a chime of bells. The next week the subscription book was opened, Governor James Hamilton’s name leading the list of about three hundred signers with £50. Though not members, Franklin and his son William made subscriptions. Construction began in May 1751, but more funds were needed, and two lotteries were held in the winter and spring of 1752–53, Franklin serving as one of the managers of both. Bells ordered from England in October 1753 were shipped from London in August 1754 and were hung that fall and winter. The total cost of steeple and bells was £3162 9s. 11d.

Philadelphia, 18th March, 1750–51
Whereas many well disposed inhabitants of this city have declared their desire that there might be a fit and commodious steeple built upon the foundation already laid some years ago, by the care and pious benevolence of the church at that time, and that a set of bells may be provided to be placed therein, which work will be an ornament, as well as a credit to the city,
Therefore, in order to defray the charge of building said steeple and purchasing bells, we, whose names are underwritten, do promise to pay unto the church wardens of Christ Church in Philadelphia, for the time being, or to such other persons as the vestry of said church shall appoint to receive the same, such sums of money as shall be by us respectively subscribed. In witness whereof we have hereunto set our names the date above written.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Peter Collinson, 27 March 1751
From: Collinson, Peter
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Londn March 27 [1751]
I am now so prodigiously Engagd as well in my publick business as on Account of our very great National loss the Death of the Prince of Wales that I can only acknowledge the Receipt of thy kind Letters with the Tracts Inclosed.
I have sent per Capt. Richey in the Beulah the Magazins for Febuary.
I am thy sincere friend
P Collinson

Prince of a short Illness an Inflammatory Fever Died the 20th Universally Lamented.
I shall be much obliged at thy Leisure to give mee an account of the Numbers of People that annual come over for Tenn years past or more.
I am Vex’d to see J: Bartrams Journal printed with so many Faults. Whiston is greatly to Blame. My Friend would have Corrected the press, but to Save a little Trouble of sending It, He would do it himself.
Thy Experiments when Cave will think fitt to Deliver them will appear with More Advantage and Less Faults to the publick but there is no Excuseing his Delitoriness for all Has been ready for some time past only wants the small Engraving of the Instruments in thy first Letter which are but few.
There is a parcell for Jno. Bartram.

 Addressed: For  Benn: Franklin Esqr  in Philadelphia  Per the Beulah


Title: Experiments and Observations, [April 1751]
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

Franklin’s reports on electricity had an immediate and favorable reception in England. The first account of his experiments, which he sent to Collinson, May 25, 1747, though not read in the Royal Society, was shown to some of the members, particularly William Watson. Watson, who was the principal English electrician, warmly approved Franklin’s ideas (which he mistakenly believed corresponded with his own), and in a paper presented to the Society, January 21, 1748, quoted three pages of Franklin’s letter. Subsequent reports from Philadelphia Collinson communicated to the English philosophers in the same way. Franklin’s letters of April 29, 1749, on electricity and thundergusts, addressed respectively to Collinson and Dr. John Mitchell, were read in the Society in the fall of 1749, and were “Deservedly admired not only for the Clear Intelligent Stile, but also for the Novelty of the Subjects.” Franklin’s conjectures that earthquakes are caused by electricity were studied when earthquakes shook London in the spring of 1750, and William Stukeley explained the phenomenon entirely in terms of Franklin’s hypothesis. A wider audience learned something of the Philadelphians’ work through the Gentleman’s Magazine. A short résumé of some of their experiments appeared in the January 1750 issue; in May the editor printed Franklin’s letter to Collinson on pointed conductors, identifying the author only as “a Gentleman in America, whose ingenious Letters on this Subject will soon be published in a separate Pamphlet.”
For Franklin’s experiments and observations, though not printed in the Philosophical Transactions, were about to receive wider circulation and, because collected, have a greater impact. In February 1750 Collinson had written that he was collecting Franklin’s letters—five in all—“with Intention to putt them into some Printers Hand to be communicated to the Publick.” In April he reported that they had been given to Edward Cave, publisher of the Gentleman’s Magazine, and were “now on the Press under the Inspection and Correction of our Learned and Ingenious Friend Dr. Fothergill—for Wee thought it a great Pitty that the Publick should be deprived the benefit of so many Curious Experiments.” After the immemorial manner of printers, Cave was dilatory, and even Collinson grew impatient. In December 1750 Cave reported that the Experiments were in press; by February everything was ready except the engraved illustrations. The delay, however, gave Franklin time to make some additions and corrections and to send Collinson still another group of observations to include in the work. The pamphlet finally appeared in April 1751. It was entitled Experiments and Observations on Electricity, made at Philadelphia in America, and sold for 2s. 6d.
Enclosing an unfinished copy to a rural physician in Dorset in March, Dr. Fothergill explained that the author was “a Gentleman with whom I have corresponded, and who I think has said more sensible things on the subject, and let us see more into the nature of this delicate affair than all the other writers put together; … This little work … was published under my care, and so far as related to the press, my correction.” Joseph Priestley, reviewing the history of electricity fifteen years later, asserted unequivocally, “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.”

Fothergill’s “pretty preface,” as Collinson called it, is printed herewith, and below it is a list of the contents of the 1751 edition. The title of each paper is followed in brackets by the pages in Volume iii or iv of the present edition where the text is reprinted, together with any other information required to correct or supplement the heading as first printed. The plate of illustrations included in the 1751 edition is reproduced, facing p. 130.

The Preface.
It may be necessary to acquaint the reader, that the following observations and experiments were not drawn up with a view to their being made publick, but were communicated at different times, and most of them in letters wrote on various topicks, as matters only of private amusement.
But some persons to whom they were read, and who had themselves been conversant in electrical disquisitions, were of opinion, they contain’d so many curious and interesting particulars relative to this affair, that it would be doing a kind of injustice to the publick, to confine them solely to the limits of a private acquaintance.
The Editor was therefore prevailed upon to commit such extracts of letters, and other detach’d pieces as were in his hands to the press, without waiting for the ingenious author’s permission so to do; and this was done with the less hesitation, as it was apprehended the author’s engagements in other affairs, would scarce afford him leisure to give the publick his reflections and experiments on the subject, finish’d with that care and precision, of which the treatise before us shews he is alike studious and capable. He was only apprized of the step that had been thus taken, while the first sheets were in the press, and time enough for him to transmit some farther remarks, together with a few corrections and additions, which are placed at the end, and may be consulted in the perusal.
The experiments which our author relates are most of them peculiar to himself; they are conducted with judgment, and the inferences from them plain and conclusive; though sometimes proposed under the terms of suppositions and conjectures.
And indeed the scene he opens, strikes us with a pleasing astonishment, whilst he conducts us by a train of facts and judicious reflections, to a probable cause of those phaenomena, which are at once the most awful, and, hitherto, accounted for with the least verisimilitude.
He exhibits to our consideration, an invisible, subtile matter, disseminated through all nature in various proportions, equally unobserved, and, whilst all those bodies to which it peculiarly adheres are alike charged with it, inoffensive.
He shews, however, that if an unequal distribution is by any means brought about; if there is a coacervation in one part of space, a less proportion, vacuity, or want, in another; by the near approach of a body capable of conducting the coacervated part to the emptier space, it becomes perhaps the most formidable and irresistible agent in the universe. Animals are in an Instant struck breathless, bodies almost impervious by any force yet known, are perforated, and metals fused by it, in a moment.
From the similar effects of lightening and electricity our author has been led to make some probable conjectures on the cause of the former; and at the same time, to propose some rational experiments in order to secure ourselves, and those things on which its force is often directed, from its pernicious effects; a circumstance of no small importance to the publick, and therefore worthy of the utmost attention.
It has, indeed, been of late the fashion to ascribe every grand or unusual operation of nature, such as lightening and earthquakes, to electricity; not, as one would imagine, from the manner of reasoning on these occasions, that the authors of these schemes have, discovered any connection betwixt the cause and effect, or saw in what manner they were related; but, as it would seem, merely because they were unacquainted with any other agent, of which it could not positively be said the connection was impossible.
But of these, and many other interesting circumstances, the reader will be more satisfactorily informed in the following letters, to which he is therefore referred by
The Editor.

Contents
Letter I. To Peter Collinson, July 28, 1747. pp. 1–9. [III, 156–64]
Letter II. To Peter Collinson, Sept. 1, 1747. pp. 10–18. [May 25, 1747. III, 126–35]
Letter III. To Peter Collinson. Farther Experiments and Observations in Electricity. 1748. pp. 19–35. [April 29, 1749. III, 352–65]
Letter IV. Containing Observations and Suppositions, towards forming a new Hypothesis, for explaining the several Phaenomena of Thunder Gusts. [n.d.] pp. 36–49. [To John Mitchell, April 29, 1749. III, 365–77]
Additional Papers. To Peter Collinson, July 29, 1750. p. 50. [IV, 9]
Opinions and Conjectures, Concerning the Properties and Effects of the electrical Matter, arising from Experiments and Observations, made in Philadelphia, 1749. pp. 51–82. [Enclosure in next above, July 29, 1750. IV, 9–34]
Additional Experiment, proving that the Leyden Bottle has no more electric Fire in it when charged, than before; nor less when discharged: … [n.d.] pp. 83–5. [c. Sept. 27, 1750. IV, 65–7]
Corrections and Additions to the Preceding Papers. [n.d.] pp. 85–6. [Incorporated in annotation of the papers in the present edition and not separately reprinted.]