Title: To Benjamin Franklin from William Strahan, 26 August 1752
From: Strahan, William
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Dear Sir
London August 26. 1752
I was favoured with yours of June 20, inclosing a Bill for £50 for the Library Company of Philadelphia, which is paid, and an Order for some Books from them, which I have sent as on the preceding Leaf, amounting to £48 9s. 0d. So that I remain indebted to them .£1 11s. 0d. I have sent every thing that could be procured, except Catesby’s Carolina Coloured, which as it is a very dear Book, (no less than £18) and consequently much exceeded the £50, (which you desire me not to do) I have omitted. Savary is publishing in Numbers, but I fancy the Society would rather have it all at once, and not peacemale. Please let me know by your next. I am very much obliged to you for your kind Recommendation, and hope the Prices are such as will give Satisfaction. I am sure they are as low as can be afforded. If there are any Mistakes, they shall be rectified next Occasion. Mean time, with my Complements to the Society, I remain Dear Sir Your obliged and obedient Servant
Will: Strahan
 Addressed: To  Mr Franklin at  Philadelphia  By the Peak Bay  Captain Stirling  Q.D.C.
Invoice of Books for the Library Company of Philadelphia shipt on board the Peak Bay Captain Stirling August 22. 1752

£.
  s.
  d.

Travels of Alexr. Drummond Esq. (not yet published)

Neale’s Uranographia Britannica (can’t find it)

Savary’s Dictionary of Trade (publishing in Numbers)

Blair’s New Tables of Chronology (not published yet)

Argument of Divine Legation fairly Stated

2
6

Alston’s Critical Observations on Shakespear

5

Gregorian and Julian Calendars expld by Hawkins

1
6

Epistle to the Earl of Orrery, by Henry Jones

1

Hume’s Enquiry concerning Morals

3

—— Political Discourses

3

Tucker’s Essay on the Trade of Britain and France

1

The Agreeable Medley

3

Considerations on Proposals for Relief of the Poor

1

A Letter to the Author of these Considerations (out of print)

History of Debts and Taxes from 1688 to 1752 3 parts

5
6

The Value of a Child

6

Dinsdale’s Isocrates

6

Oppian’s Haleuticks translated

5

Mably’s Observations on the Romans

3
6

Revolutions of Genoa 3 vol.

8
6

Theory and Practise of Commerce, by Kippas 2 vol.

9
6

Lord Somers’s Collection of Tracts, 4to., 12 vols.
7
16

Lowman’s Dissertation on the Hebrew Government

5

Simpson’s Conic Sections, English (never translated)

Grove’s Moral Philosophy, 2 vol.

11
6

King’s Origin of Evil, with Law’s Notes

7

Bohours Art of Logic and Rhetorick

3
6

——— Ingenious Thoughts of the Fathers

2
6

Arbuthnot’s Rules of Diet 8 vo.

3
6

———— Miscellaneous Works, 2 vol. 12mo.

5
6

D’Argens Philosophy of Common Sense

5
9

Brownrig’s Method of making Common Salt

4
6

Feuquiere’s Memoirs 2 vol. 8vo.

10

Gibson’s Method of Dieting Horses

3
6

Pilot’s Theory of Working Ships

5

Turnbull’s System of Universal Law, 2 vol.

9
6

Cheneaux’s true French Master

2
3

Emanuel Bowen’s Complete Atlas, coloured
1
10

Crito, a Dialogue on Beauty (out of print)

Observations on the English Language

6

———— on the Practice of a Justice of Peace

6

Rolt’s Conduct of the Powers in Europe, 4 vol.
1
3

—— Memoirs of the Earl of Crawford (not published)

Burlamaqui’s Principles of Natural Law

5

—————— of Politick Law

5

Orations of Demosthenes

2
6

Modern Story Teller 2 vol.

6

Brown’s Essay on the Characteristics

5

New Designs for convenient Farm-houses

8
6

Pringle on the Diseases of the Army

5
6

Bolingbroke’s Letters on the Study of History 2v.

10

Winstanley’s New Form of Self-Examination

1
6

Middleton’s Miscellaneous Works 4 vol.
2
10

Treatise on the Teeth by A. Tolver

1

Necessity of an able bodied Watch

1

Voltaire’s Elements of Newtonian Philosophy

5

Hippocrates on Air, Water, Situation, &c.

3
6

Halley’s Astronomical Tables
1
5

Foster’s Discourses on Natural Religion, 2d vol.

10

Manningham’s Complete Treatise of Mines

5
6

Eugenia, a Trajedy, by Mr. Francis

1
6

The Complete Juryman

3

Churchill’s Voyages Volumes 7th and 8th
3

Life of Boerhaave

3

Smith’s Compendious Division

1

Catesby’s Carolina, 2 vol. coloured, (will cost £18)

Treatise concerning the Militia

1

Rambler, 6 vols. (wrote by Mr. Samuel Johnson Author of the New English Dictionary)

17

Polite Epistolary Correspondence

2
6

Ayscough on the Eye and Spectacles

6

Hill’s Review of the Works of the Royal Society

7
6

Portuguese Grammar

5

Ayre’s Life of Pope, 2 vol.

5

Campbell’s Lives of the Admirals 4 vol.
1
4

Spirit of the Laws, 2 vol.

11
6

Du fresnoy’s Art of Painting, by Dryden

5

Woodward’s Natural History of Fossils

6

—————————— the Earth

4

Keil’s Examination of Burnet’s Theory

5

Letters concerning Mythology

5
6

Turnbull’s Classical Dictionary, 2 vol.

6

Guthrie’s Character of an Orator

5
6

—— Morals of Cicero

5
6

Cambray on Eloquence

3

Baxter’s Appendix to his Enquiry into the H[uman] Soul

4

De Pile’s Art of Painting

5

Banier’s Mythology, 4 vol.
1
4

Condamine’s Figure of the Earth determined

4
6

Leland’s Divine Authority of O. and N. Test. asserted

5

Clark’s Origin of Evil, 2 vol.

8

Hayes’s Negociator’s Magazine

6

Lex Parliamentaria

5

Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Surgery at Paris 2 vol.

7
6

Sir William Petty’s Essays (not to be had)

Essays on the Emprovement of Time (out of print)

Polygraphic Dictionary, 2 vol.

12

Fontenelle on Oracles

2
6

Solomon Lowe’s Arithmetic

2
6

Sheridan’s Persius

1
6

Plott’s Natural History of Oxfordshire and Staffordsh. 2 vol.
2
2

Chaucer’s Works, 3 vol.

11

Short’s Observations on the Bills of Mortality

5
6

LeCat’s Physical Essay on the Senses

5
6

Cleghorn’s Observations on Diseases of Minorca

3
6

Newton’s Milton 8vo. 2 vol.

11
6

Index to Mankind

1

Hill’s History of the Materia Medica 4to
1
1

Oliver’s Essay on Warm-bathing (out of print)

Holmes’s Geography

5

Salmon’s Geographical Grammar

6

Philosophical Letters upon Physiognomies

2
9

DeLairesse’s Art of Painting (not to be had)

Trunk and Matt

15

Freight, Primage, &c.
1
15
9

Insurance of £50 @ 2s. 10d. per Cent and Policy
1
  9
  6

  £48
  9


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 1 September 1752
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Strahan, William

Dear Sir,
Philada. Sept. 1. 1752
This is only to enclose a second Bill for £20 Sterling, drawn on Alexr Grant Esqr per Mrs. Mary Stevens. I am, Yours affectionately
B Franklin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Edward and Jane Mecom, 14 September 1752
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Mecom, Edward,Mecom, Jane

Dear Brother and Sister
Philada. Sept. 14. 1752, ns.
Benny sail’d from hence this Day two Weeks, and left our Capes the Sunday following. They are seldom above 3 Weeks on the Voyage to Antigua.

That Island is reckoned one of the healthiest in the West Indies. My late Partner there enjoy’d perfect Health for four Years, till he grew careless and got to sitting up late in Taverns, which I have caution’d Benny to avoid, and have given him all other necessary Advice I could think of relating both to his Health and Conduct, and hope for the best.
He will find the Business settled to his Hand, a Newspaper establish’d, no other Printing-house to interfere with him or beat down his Prices, which are much higher than we get on the Continent. He has the Place on the same Terms with his Predecessor, who I understand cleared 5 or 600 Pistoles during the 4 Years he lived there.
I have recommended him to some Gentlemen of Note, for their Patronage and Advice.
Mr. Parker, tho’ he look’d on Benny as one of his best Hands, readily consented to his going on the first Mentioning of it. I told him Benny must make him Satisfaction for his Time. He said he would leave that to be settled by me; and Benny as readily agreed with me to pay Mr. Parker as much as would hire a good Journeyman in his Room. He came handsomely provided with Apparel, and I believe Mr. Parker has in every respect done his Duty by him; and in this Affair has really acted a generous Part; therefore I hope if Benny succeeds in the World he will make Mr. Parker a Return beyond what he has promis’d. I suppose you will not think it amiss to write Mr. and Mrs. Parker a Line or two of Thanks; for notwithstanding some little Misunderstandings, they have on the whole been very kind to Benny.
We have Vessels very frequently going from this Port to Antigua. You have some too from your Port. What Letters you send this way, I’ll take Care to forward.
Antigua is the Seat of Government for all the Leeward Islands, to wit, St. Christophers, Nevis, and Montserrat. Benny will have the Business of all those Islands, there being no other Printer.
After all, having taken care to do what appears to us to be for the best, we must submit to God’s Providence, which orders all things really for the best.
While Benny was here, and since, our Assembly was sitting, which took up my Time, that I could not before write you so fully.
With Love to your Children, I am, Dear Brother and Sister, Your affectionate Brother
B Franklin


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Peter Collinson, 27 September 1752
From: Collinson, Peter
To: Franklin, Benjamin

My Dear Friend
Septr. 27: 1752 ns
In thine of June 19 mention is made of not receiveing a Letter which is a disappoinment to mee who keeps no Coppys. I always am carefull to Carry Letters my Self so how it should happen can’t say and I took particular care to write by Mesnard because of the books and Johns Watches and I saw it putt in the bagg. That Two should miscarry I cannot comprehend and I always Inclose John Bartrams in thine for more Certainty. It gives Mee unspeakable Joye to heare your Seminary of Learning has so promissing an aspect. Pray Lett Mee hear from Time to Time. I wish my Little offices has been of any Service. Your Electrical Observations came safe and packquet Deliverd to Mr. Jackson. His acknowledgement went by the Vessel that Sail’d before this. I put it my Self into the Letter Box.
I am much Obliged for the pretty Mapp. There wants a good one of your Capital. I lent the Curious Account of your Births and Burials &c. to a Curious friend and it can’t be found which gives Mee Concern. Pray send another.
All Europe is in Agitation on Verifying Electrical Experiments on points. All commends the Thought of the Inventor. More I dare not Saye least I offend Chast Ears.
I writt by Jo: Greenwood who I hope is arrived safe and sent books &c.
All Admire our Friend Peters Sermon. I wish my Dear Friend you’l oblige the Ingenious part of Mankind with a publick View of your Observations &c. on the Increase of Mankind. I don’t find anyone has hit it off so well. This very short commendation may be allow’d Mee without offence. The Bagg waits takeing away so must conclude with my best wishes for thy preservation and am thy Affectionate friend
P Collinson

I have many things to say but time wont permit the Ship going sooner then I Expected.

 Addressed: To  Benn Franklin Esqr  Philadelphia


Title: The Kite Experiment, 19 October 1752
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

Franklin was the first scientist to propose that the identity of lightning and electricity could be proved experimentally, but he was not the first to suggest that identity, nor even the first to perform the experiment. For many years pioneer electricians had noted the similarity between electrical discharges and lightning, and in 1746 John Freke in England and Johann Heinrich Winkler in Germany separately advanced the idea of identity and suggested theories to account for it. Franklin’s later adversary the Abbé Nollet wrote to the same effect in 1748. Franklin and his Philadelphia collaborators, working independently, also observed the similarities, and in his letter of April 29, 1749, to John Mitchell on thundergusts he took as the basis for his entire discussion the hypothesis that clouds are electrically charged. In the “minutes” he kept of his experiments he listed under the date of November 7, 1749, twelve particulars in which “electrical fluid agrees with lightning,” and noted further that “the electrical fluid is attracted by points,” but that it was not yet known whether this property was also in lightning. “But since they agree in all other particulars wherein we can already compare them, is it not probable they agree likewise in this? Let the experiment be made.”
However obvious the suggestion of such an experiment may now seem, no one had made it before. Herein lies Franklin’s principal claim to priority in this great discovery. A test of lightning required the prior discoveries embodied in the “doctrine of points,” of which he was the undisputed author, and the knowledge he had gained of the role of grounding in electrical experiments. It was the pointed metal rod, with its peculiar effectiveness in electrical discharge, which both led to the suggestion and facilitated the experiment.
In the following March Franklin, writing to Collinson, suggested that pointed rods, instead of the usual round balls of wood or metal, be placed on the tops of weathervanes and masts, and that they would draw the electrical fire “out of a cloud silently,” thereby preserving buildings and ships from being struck by lightning. He repeated the suggestion in July 1750 in his “Opinions and Conjectures,” with the important addition that a wire be run down from the rod to the ground or water, and he then proposed the “sentry-box” experiment. This was the first public suggestion of an experiment to prove the identity of lightning and electricity.
According to Joseph Priestley, who almost certainly received his information directly from Franklin about fifteen years later, he did not perform the experiment himself at once because he believed a tower or spire would be needed to reach high enough to attract the electrical charge from a thunder cloud, and there was no structure in Philadelphia he deemed adequate for the purpose. Presumably he was waiting until Christ Church steeple, then in the early discussion stage, should be erected. English scientists, who could have read Franklin’s proposal when it was published in Experiments and Observations in April 1751, apparently failed to recognize its significance. But about a year later, in the spring of 1752, when a translation had been published in Paris, the French reaction was very different. Delor, “master of experimental philosophy,” repeated most of Franklin’s experiments before the King, and then in May Dalibard, Franklin’s translator, and Delor each set up apparatus which performed successfully the “Philadelphia experiment” of drawing electricity from a thunder cloud. Word of these achievements awoke the English electricians, and during the summer of 1752 the experiment was repeated several times in England as well as in France and Germany.
At some time during 1751 or 1752 Franklin got the idea that he could send his conductor high enough by means of a kite, and that if it were flown during a thunder shower, the wet string might serve to bring the electrical charge down within reach. When the idea first came to him and just when he carried it out cannot be established with absolute certainty. Priestley wrote that the famous experiment with kite and key took place during June 1752, and the present editors believe there is no good reason to doubt the correctness of this date. If so, then Franklin performed his experiment before he learned of what Dalibard and Delor had done in France.
Almost never during these years did Franklin report a particular electrical experiment until some time had elapsed and this affair seems to have been no exception. Word of Dalibard’s and Delor’s successes reached Philadelphia toward the end of August and the Pennsylvania Gazette of August 27 carried a short account reprinted from the May issue of the London Magazine. During September Franklin erected a lightning rod on his own house, ingeniously equipping it with bells that would ring when the wire became charged and thus notify him when the atmosphere above the house was electrified. Then at last, on October 19, he printed in the Gazette a brief statement about the kite experiment with instructions for repeating it. The text of this statement, transmitted to Collinson, was read to the Royal Society on December 21. Neither in this paper nor at any later time did Franklin—or Priestley on his behalf—ever claim priority in carrying out the experiment he had been the first to propose.

The same October 19 issue of the Gazette also announced that Poor Richard for 1753 was then “In the Press, and speedily will be published”; in that almanac Franklin printed for the first time precise instructions for the erection of lightning rods for the protection of buildings. The sequence of events in this somewhat complicated chain may be clarified by the following chronology:

1749

April 29:
Franklin to Mitchell on thundergusts, discusses the electrical charge in clouds.

November 7:
Franklin’s “Minutes” list points of similarity of lightning and electricity and call for experiment to prove their identity.

  1750

[March 2]:
Franklin to Collinson suggests protection of buildings and ships by pointed rods.

July 29:
“Opinions and Conjectures” repeats substance of next above with proposal for grounding of rods; suggests “sentry-box” experiment; further discusses similarity of lightning and electricity.

  1751

April:
Experiments and Observations published in London, containing above documents of April 29, 1749, and July 29, 1750.

June 6:
Watson reviews Franklin’s treatise before Royal Society but ignores suggestions for lightning rods and “sentry-box” experiment.

  1752

February:
Experiments and Observations translated and published in Paris.

May 10:
Dalibard’s assistant successfully carries out Franklin’s proposed experiment at Marly, France.

May 18:
Delor repeats the experiment in Paris. Other repetitions during following summer in France.

May 20 and 26:
French reports on Dalibard and Delor experiments sent to England.

[June]:
Gentleman’s Magazine and London Magazine issues for May both print translations of the French reports.

June:
According to Priestley, Franklin performs the kite experiment in Philadelphia.

July–August:
Canton, Wilson, and Bevis separately repeat the French experiments in England.

August 27:
Pennsylvania Gazette reprints the French report of May 26 from London Magazine.

September:
Franklin erects a lightning rod with bell attachment on his house.

October 19:
Pennsylvania Gazette prints Franklin’s statement of the kite experiment and states that Poor Richard (containing lightning-rod instructions) is now in press.

December 21:
Franklin’s statement of kite experiment read to Royal Society.

Unfortunately, Franklin’s statement of the kite experiment has not been found in his own handwriting. Two text versions survive: that printed in the Pennsylvania Gazette of October 19, 1752, reprinted below; and a copy in the hand of Peter Collinson, now in the Royal Society. Aside from unimportant variations in paragraphing, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation, the Collinson copy differs from the Gazette version in several respects: (1) It is headed “From Benn: Franklin Esqr To P Collinson” and is dated “Philadelphia Octo: 1: 1752.” (2) At the end, following the words “compleatly demonstrated,” Collinson skipped the equivalent of about three lines, then added in two lines: “See his Kite Experiment” and “to be printed with the rest.” These lines were later struck out. (3) In the intervening space and running on to the right of the two canceled lines appears the following insertion not in Collinson’s hand, but in one which is strikingly like that of William Watson: “I was pleased to hear of the Success of my experiments in France, and that they there begin to Erect points on their buildings. Wee had before placed them upon our Academy and Statehouse Spires.” (4) The paper is endorsed in the hand of a Royal Society clerk: “Letter of Benjamin Franklin Esq to Mr. Peter Collinson F.R.S. concerning an Electrical Kite. Read at R.S. 21 Decemb. 1752. Ph. Trans. XLVII. p. 565.”
These text differences present several puzzles. The heading and date (item 1) have led several writers to believe that the text which follows is an extract of a letter from Franklin to Collinson of October 1, written more than two weeks before the statement was printed in the Gazette. In that case the Gazette text would be an extract from this earlier letter to Collinson. This is possible, but it leaves unexplained Franklin’s undated letter to Collinson, assigned below (p. 376) to the latter part of October, in which he wrote that he was sending, among other items, “my kite experiment in the Pennsylvania Gazette.” If what he had printed in the Gazette was indeed a passage from a letter already sent to Collinson, there would seem to have been no need to send him another copy of it. Conceivably, Collinson’s pen slipped when he wrote “Octo: 1,” as it occasionally did in referring to other Franklin letters, and he should have written “19,” “21,” or “31,” in which case he might have been copying the Gazette statement enclosed in Franklin’s later letter. Subsequent correspondence between the two men does not clarify the point.
The canceled addendum at the bottom (item 2) seems to have been intended as an instruction to a printer. Possibly Collinson first meant this paper for the printer of the 1753 Supplement of Experiments and Observations, and then decided to submit this copy to the Royal Society instead. But the question remains unexplained why he should have written “See his Kite Experiment,” when this document itself is the kite experiment, and is the only account of it we have in Franklin’s own words. The endorsement (item 4) presents no problem. The fact that the paper is lodged in the Royal Society makes it clear that this endorsement was added later for filing purposes after it had been printed in the Philosophical Transactions.
This leaves for consideration item 3, the short paragraph added to Collinson’s paper which mentions the French experiments and the erection of “points” in France and Philadelphia. The facts that it is written in a different hand from Collinson’s and that it is clearly an addition have not been considered by previous commentators. The paragraph has been taken as evidence that lightning rods were erected on the Academy building and the State House (Independence Hall) before October 1, 1752. The words are doubtless Franklin’s, though they have not been traced with certainty to any surviving document of his. If they were in fact part of a letter of October 1 to Collinson which also contained the original text of the statement on the kite experiment, then they must have been added to Collinson’s copy by someone else, probably Watson, who saw the original letter and thought this passage more important than Collinson had done. Or the paragraph may have been part of the later undated letter, probably of late October (the full text of which may not have been printed in the 1753 Supplement), with which Franklin enclosed the item on the kite experiment from the Gazette. Whatever the source, the paragraph must have been written by about November 1, 1752, in order for it to be read to the Royal Society as part of the report on the kite experiment on December 21 and printed as such in the Philosophical Transactions. The probable date for the erection of the two Philadelphia lightning rods is not materially affected in any case. The problem of the source of this added paragraph is not resolved by any printed version of Franklin’s account. The Philosophical Transactions printed the text from Collinson’s copy. The Gentleman’s Magazine and London Magazine and the 1753 Supplement to Experiments and Observations also printed the report, but all three followed the dating and text of the Gazette version, not the Collinson copy.
It will be noticed that Franklin’s paper is not really an account of the kite experiment, but rather a brief statement that the experiment had taken place, followed by instructions as to how it could be successfully repeated. Franklin never, so far as is known, wrote out a narrative of his experience. The most detailed account that has survived is that which Joseph Priestley inserted in 1767 in his History of Electricity. There is every reason to believe that he learned the details directly from Franklin, who was in London at the time Priestley wrote the book. Franklin encouraged him to undertake the work and Priestley acknowledged in his preface the information Watson, Franklin, and Canton had supplied him. The account of the kite experiment, as Priestley wrote it about fifteen years after the event, may err in some details through faulty memory on Franklin’s part or misunderstanding on the Englishman’s, but it is probably correct in all major respects. In any case, since it is the nearest thing we have to a contemporary, first-hand account of one of the most famous episodes in Franklin’s career, it is reprinted here directly following Franklin’s statement.

I. Franklin’s Statement
Philadelphia, October 19
As frequent Mention is made in the News Papers from Europe, of the Success of the Philadelphia Experiment for drawing the Electric Fire from Clouds by Means of pointed Rods of Iron erected on high Buildings, &c. it may be agreeable to the Curious to be inform’d, that the same Experiment has succeeded in Philadelphia, tho’ made in a different and more easy Manner, which any one may try, as follows.

Make a small Cross of two light Strips of Cedar, the Arms so long as to reach to the four Corners of a large thin Silk Handkerchief when extended; tie the Corners of the Handkerchief to the Extremities of the Cross, so you have the Body of a Kite; which being properly accommodated with a Tail, Loop and String, will rise in the Air, like those made of Paper; but this being of Silk is fitter to bear the Wet and Wind of a Thunder Gust without tearing. To the Top of the upright Stick of the Cross is to be fixed a very sharp pointed Wire, rising a Foot or more above the Wood. To the End of the Twine, next the Hand, is to be tied a silk Ribbon, and where the Twine and the silk join, a Key may be fastened. This Kite is to be raised when a Thunder Gust appears to be coming on, and the Person who holds the String must stand within a Door, or Window, or under some Cover, so that the Silk Ribbon may not be wet; and Care must be taken that the Twine does not touch the Frame of the Door or Window. As soon as any of the Thunder Clouds come over the Kite, the pointed Wire will draw the Electric Fire from them, and the Kite, with all the Twine, will be electrified, and the loose Filaments of the Twine will stand out every Way, and be attracted by an approaching Finger. And when the Rain has wet the Kite and Twine, so that it can conduct the Electric Fire freely, you will find it stream out plentifully from the Key on the Approach of your Knuckle. At this Key the Phial may be charg’d; and from Electric Fire thus obtain’d, Spirits may be kindled, and all the other Electric Experiments be perform’d, which are usually done by the Help of a rubbed Glass Globe or Tube; and thereby the Sameness of the Electric Matter with that of Lightning compleatly demonstrated.

II. Priestley’s Account
To demonstrate, in the completest manner possible, the sameness of the electric fluid with the matter of lightning, Dr. Franklin, astonishing as it must have appeared, contrived actually to bring lightning from the heavens, by means of an electrical kite, which he raised when a storm of thunder was perceived to be coming on. This kite had a pointed wire fixed upon it, by which it drew the lightning from the clouds. This lightning descended by the hempen string, and was received by a key tied to the extremity of it; that part of the string which was held in the hand being of silk, that the electric virtue might stop when it came to the key. He found that the string would conduct electricity even when nearly dry, but that when it was wet, it would conduct it quite freely; so that it would stream out plentifully from the key, at the approach of a person’s finger.
At this key he charged phials, and from electric fire thus obtained, he kindled spirits, and performed all other electrical experiments which are usually exhibited by an excited globe or tube.
As every circumstance relating to so capital a discovery as this (the greatest, perhaps, that has been made in the whole compass of philosophy, since the time of Sir Isaac Newton) cannot but give pleasure to all my readers, I shall endeavour to gratify them with the communication of a few particulars which I have from the best authority.
The Doctor, after having published his method of verifying his hypothesis concerning the sameness of electricity with the matter of lightning, was waiting for the erection of a spire in Philadelphia to carry his views into execution; not imagining that a pointed rod, of a moderate height, could answer the purpose; when it occurred to him, that, by means of a common kite, he could have a readier and better access to the regions of thunder than by any spire whatever. Preparing, therefore, a large silk handkerchief, and two cross sticks, of a proper length, on which to extend it; he took the opportunity of the first approaching thunder storm to take a walk into a field, in which there was a shed convenient for his purpose. But dreading the ridicule which too commonly attends unsuccessful attempts in science, he communicated his intended experiment to no body but his son, who assisted him in raising the kite.
The kite being raised, a considerable time elapsed before there was any appearance of its being electrified. One very promising cloud had passed over it without any effect; when, at length, just as he was beginning to despair of his contrivance, he observed some loose threads of the hempen string to stand erect, and to avoid one another, just as if they had been suspended on a common conductor. Struck with this promising appearance, he immediately presented his knucle to the key, and (let the reader judge of the exquisite pleasure he must have felt at that moment) the discovery was complete. He perceived a very evident electric spark. Others succeeded, even before the string was wet, so as to put the matter past all dispute, and when the rain had wet the string, he collected electric fire very copiously. This happened in June 1752, a month after the electricians in France had verified the same theory, but before he heard of any thing they had done.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from John Perkins, 23 October 1752
From: Perkins, John
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir
Boston Octobr. 23d 1752
In the Inclos’d you have all I have to say of that Matter. It prov’d longer than I expected so that I was forced to ad a Cover to it. I confess it looks like a Dispute but that is quite contrary to my Intention. The Sincerity of Friendship and Esteem were my motives nor do I doubt your scrupling the goodness of the Intention. However I must confess I cannot tell exactly how far I was acted by hopes of better Information in discovering the whole Foundation of My Opinion, which indeed is but an Opinion, as I am very much at a loss about the validity of the Reasons. I have not been able to differ from you in Sentiment concerning any thing else in Your Suppositions. In the present Case I lye open to Conviction and shall be the gainer when inform’d. If I am right you will know that without my adding any more. Too much said on a meerly Speculative matter is but a Robbery commited on practical Knowledge. Perhaps I am too much pleas’d with these dry Notions. However by this you will see that I think it unreasonable to give you more trouble about them than your Leisure and Inclination may prompt you to. I am Sir Your oblidged Humble [Servant]
John Perkins

Postscript. On the 21t Instant early in the morning died Dr. W. Douglas of an Apoplectic Fit. He left a large Estate and one Child which he acknowledged as his own Son; but has not adopted him, nor after deligent Search do we yet hear of any Will.
 Addressed: For  Mr. Franklin Post-Master  Philadelphia
Endorsed: Dr Perkins

[Enclosure]
Sir
Since my last I consider’d that as I had begun with the reasons of my Dissatisfaction about the ascent of Water in Spouts You would not be unwilling to hear the Whole I have to say and then you will know what I rely upon.
What occasion’d my thinking all Spouts descend is that I found some did certainly do so. A difficulty appeard concerning the ascent of so heavy a Body as Water by any Force I was apprised of as probably sufficient. And above all a view of Mr. Stuarts Portraits of Spouts in Phil. Trans.
Some Observations on these last will include the chief Part of my Difficulties.
Mr. Stuart has given us the Figures of a Number observ’d by him in the Mediterranean All with some Particulars which make for my Opinion, if well drawn.
The great Spattering which relators mention in the Water where the Spout descends And which appears in all his Draughts I conceive to be occasiond by Drops descending very thick And large into the Place.

On the place of this Spattering arises the Appearance of a Bush into the Center of which the Spout comes down. This Bush I take to be form’d by a Spray made by the force of these Drops which being uncommonly Large and descending with unusual Force by a Stream of Wind descending from the Cloud with Them increases the height of the Spray which Wind being repulsed by the Surface of the Waters rebounds and Spreads; by the first raising the Spray higher than otherwise it would goe; and by the last making the Top of the Bush appear to bend outwards (i.e.) the Cloud of Spray is forced off from the Trunk of the Spout and falls backward.
The Bush dos the same where there is no appearance of a Spout reaching it And is depress’d in the middle where the Spout is expected. This I imagin to be from numerous Drops of the Spout falling into it together with the Wind I mention by their descent which bent back the rising Spray in the Center.
This Circumstance of the Bush bending outwards at the Top seems not to agree with what I call a Direct Whirlwind but consistent with the revers’d: For a Direct one would sweep the Bush inwards; if in that Case any thing of a Bush would appear.
The Pillar of water as they call it from its likeness I suppose to be only the End of the Spout immers’d in the Bush a little blaken’d by this additional Cloud and perhaps appears to the Eye beyond its real bigness by a refraction in the Bush and which Refraction may be the cause of the appearance of Seperation betwixt the part in the Bush and that above it. The part in the Bush is Cylindrical as ’tis above (i.e.) the bigness the Same from the Top of the Bush to the Water. Instead of this Shape, in Case of a Whirlwind it must have been Pyramidal.
Another Thing remarkable is the Curve in some of them. This is easy to conceive in Case of descending Parcels of Drops through various winds, at least till the Cloud condenses so fast as to come down as it were Uno rivo: But it is harder to me to conceive it in the ascent of Water that it should be convey’d along, Secure of not leaking or often droping through the under Side in the prone part. And Should the water be convey’d So Swiftly and with such force up into the Cloud as to prevent this, it would by a natural disposition to move on in a present Direction presently Straiten the Curve raising the Shoulder very Swiftly till lost in the Cloud.

Over every one of Stuart’s Figures I see a Cloud: I suppose his Clouds were first, and then the Spout; I dont know whether it be so with all Spouts, but Suppose it is. Now if Whirlwinds carry’d up the Water I Should expect them in fair weather but not under a Cloud; as is observable of whirlwinds. They come in fair Weather, not under the Shade of a Cloud, nor in the Night since Shade cools the Air. But on the contrary violent Winds often descend from the Clouds; Strong Gusts which occupy Small Spaces; and from the higher Regions extensive Hurricanes &c.
Another Thing is the appearance of the Spout coming from the Cloud. This I cant account for on the notion of a Direct Spout. But in the real descending one it is easy. I take it that the Cloud begins first of all to pour out drops at that particular Spot or Foramen. And when that current of Drops increases So as to force down wind and vapour the Spout becomes so far as that goes Opaque. I take it that no Clouds drop Spouts but such as make very fast and happen to condense in a particular Spot which perhaps is coldest and gives a determination downwards so as to make a passage through the Subjacent Atmosphear.
If Spouts ascend it is to carry up the warm rarified Air below, to let down all and any that is colder above: And if so they must carry it through the Cloud they go into (for that is cold and dense I imagin) perhaps far into the high Region making a wonderfull appearance at a convenient Distance to Observe it, by the Swift rise of a body of vapour above the region of the Clouds. But as this has never been Observ’d in any Age, if it be supposable thats all.
I cannot learn by Mariners that any Wind blows towards a Spout more than any other way but it blows towards a Whirlwind to a large Distance round.
I Suppose there has been no Instance of the water of a Spout being Salt when comeing across any vessel at Sea. I Suppose too that there have been no Salt Rains. These would make the Case clear.
I suppose it is from some unhappy Effects of these Dangerous Creatures of Nature that Sailors have a universal dread on them of breaking in their Decks should they come across them.
I imagin Spouts in cold Seasons as Gordon’s in the Downs prove the descent.

Quere Whether there is not always more or less Cloud first where a Spout appears.
Whether they are not generally on the Borders of Trade-Winds And whether this is for or against me.
Whether there be any credible Account of a Whirlwind carrying up all the Water in a Pool or Small Pond. And when Shoal and the Banks low a Strong Gust might be Supposed to blow it all out.
Whether a Violent Tornado of a Small Extent and other Sudden and Strong Gusts be not Winds from Above descending nearly perpendicular. And whether many that are call’d Whirl-Winds at Sea are any other than these, and so might be call’d Air Spouts, if they were Objects of Sight.
I overlook’d in its proper Place Stuart’s No. 11 which is curious for its Inequalitys, And in particular the Approach to breaking which if it would not be too tedious I would have observed a little upon in my own way as I think this would argue against the Ascent &c. but I must pass it not only for the reason mention’d but want of Room, besides.
As to Mr. Stuarts Ocular demonstration of the Ascent in his Great perpendicular Spout the only one it appear’d in I say as to this what I have written Supposes him mistaken Which yet I am far from asserting.
The Force of an Airy Vortex having less Influence on the Solid Drops of Water than on the interspers’d cloudy Vapours makes the last whirl round Swifter tho it descend Slower. And this might easily deceive without great Care the most unprejudiced Person.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Cadwallader Colden, 24 October 1752
From: Colden, Cadwallader
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Dear Sir
Coldengham Octr 24th 1752
I now send back to you Wilson on Electricity for the use of which I am much obliged. My youngest son the only one I  have with me hopes to be able to make Electrical experiments tollerably well. Mr. Wilson I think is on the true scent of the cause of Electricity though it be plain he is not sufficiently informed of the nature of that elastic fluid which he calls Æther to be able sufficiently to account for the Phaenomena. In my Opinion some more perfect knowledge of the Air than we have is likewise necessary and the cause of the cohesion of the parts of bodies which last has been lately the subject of my Meditations. No tollerable account of this so far as I know has been given by any Philosopher and if this can be accounted for from my Principles it will go a great way to confirm them. I hope to let you see something on this head. At present I shall only mention one Theorem viz. That the parts or particles of Bodies are at a great distance from each other in the ratio of their bulk. To prove this it is supposed that the solid particles of inert Matter are impenetrable by light or that Light cannot be in the same space with matter. Then since light freely passes through pellucid bodies in streight lines and in all directions with a very small diminution of its quantity, the distance between the particles of pellucid bodies must be very great in proportion to their bulk if the prodigious number of those particls be considered which must be in a pellucid body of any bulk. This may be easily conceived by placeing a number of points in any order and considering how they must stop the progress of light in many directions. Again the number of particles in the same quantity of space in several bodies is as their Specific Gravities. Now considering the difference of Specific Gravity of pellucid bodies and of any other opac body that it does not arise to a great degree the parts of all bodies must be at a great distance from each other in proportion to their bulk. Sir Isaac Newtone accounts for the cohesion of the parts of bodies from the stronger attraction in litle bodies than in great bodies but if this were the cause the parts of bodies must run together into mutual contact if some other power do not keep them seperated. What I call Æther is essentially different from Mr. Wilson’s Æther and from that Elastic fluid which I think produces Electrical phaenomena. Sir Isaac Newtone was far from having clear conceptions of what I call Æther though he perceived from the Phaenomena that some such medium must necessarly exist between the several bodies in the Universe and within them between their component parts.
I have at last got the remarks on the First causes of Action in Matter well translated by Mr. Hartwick a Lutheran Minister who is well acquainted with the German systems of Philosophy and thereby more capable of making a good Translation. I have likewise drawn up an answer to the remarks which I expect may assist you to form a better conception of my principles and of the truth of them than what you have allready seen. I now send both the remarks and Answer to Mr. Alexander and I shall desire him to transmit them to you if he do not think it necessary to alter any thing in the Answer. In the mean time I send you the original remarks in the German language that you may the better judge of the Translation when you shall see it.
The remarks and Answer are chiefly on the Metaphysical parts of my System. The same subject is treated in Dr. Johnson’s Noetica but in a very different manner. I hope from your Friendship that you will give me your sentiments without reserve and I beg that you will take some pains because I have some distant prospect of being able to explain the phaenomena of Electricity from my Principles with your assistance. If this can be don I am perswaded that the greatest improvement will thereby be made in the most usefull parts of Physics. I conceive that Fermentations of all sorts arise from Electricity and that the life and vegetation of Animals and Vegetables arise from Fermentation. If so the knowlege of Electricity must give great light in Medecine and Agriculture. For this reason I will gladly take pains to remove any difficulties you may have in receiving or conceiving these Principles. I have not as yet heard that the Principles of Action in Matter is published though I had the first sheet sent me in January last.
P.S. This having lain by me some days for an Opportunity to send it I have in that time seen in the News papers the Account of the Electrical Kite. I hope a more perfect and particular account of it will be published in a manner to preserve it better and to give it more Credit than it can obtain from a common News paper. I wish you would attempt some experiments to know whether the Electrical fluid can be drawn from fermenting liquors or Mixtures. I propose to try but what may fail with me may succeed with you, you have such sagacity in contriving proper experiments for any purpose you have in view. The Clouds before a Thundergust and after in the time of it appear to be in a violent intestine motion or fermentation.
To Mr. Franklin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson, [October 1752]
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Collinson, Peter

[October, 1752]
As you tell me our friend Cave is about to add some later experiments to my pamphlet, with the Errata, I send a coppy of a letter from Dr. Colden which may help to fill a few pages; also my kite experiment in the Pennsylvania Gazette: to which I have nothing new to add, except the following experiment towards discovering more of the qualities of the electric fluid. From the prime conductor, hang a bullet by a wire hook; under the bullet, at half an inch distance, place a bright piece of silver to receive the sparks; then let the wheel be turned, and in a few minutes (if the repeated sparks continually strike in the same spot) the silver will receive a blue stain, near the colour of a watch spring. A bright piece of iron will also be spotted, but not with that colour: it rather seems to be corroded. On gold, brass, or tin, I have not perceived that it makes any impression. But the spots on the silver or iron will be the same, whether the bullet be lead, brass, gold, or silver. On a silver bullet there will also appear a small spot, as well as in the plate below it.
One Mr. Watts promised in the Magazine, to write something on electricity; I have not yet seen it advertised.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from William Mercer, 11 November 1752
From: Mercer, William
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir,
New-Brunswick, November 11, 1752
I am favoured with your letter of the 2d instant, and shall, with pleasure, comply with your request, in describing (as well as my memory serves me) the water-spout I saw at Antigua; and shall think this, or any other service I can do, well repaid, if it contributes to your satisfaction in so curious a disquisition.
I had often seen water-spouts at a distance, and heard many strange stories of them, but never knew any thing satisfactory of their nature or cause, until that which I saw at Antigua; which convinced me that a water-spout is a whirlwind, which becomes visible in all its dimensions by the water it carries up with it.
There appeared, not far from the mouth of the harbour of St. John’s, two or three water-spouts, one of which took its course up the harbour. Its progressive motion was slow and unequal, not in a strait line, but, as it were, by jerks or starts. When just by the wharff I stood about 100 yards from it. There appeared in the water a circle of about twenty yards diameter, which, to me, had a dreadful, though pleasing appearance. The water in this circle was violently agitated, being whisked about, and carried up into the air with great rapidity and noise, and reflected a lustre, as if the sun shined bright on that spot, which was more conspicuous, as there appeared a dark circle around it. When it made the shore, it carried up with the same violence shingles, staves,

   *I suppose shingles, staves, timber, and other lumber, might be lying in quantities on the wharff, for sale, as brought from the Northern colonies. B.F.

 large pieces of the roofs of houses, &c. and one small wooden house it lifted entire from the foundation on which it stood, and carried it to the distance of fourteen feet, where it settled without breaking or oversetting; and, what is remarkable, though the whirlwind moved from West to East, the house moved from East to West. Two or three Negroes and a white woman, were killed by the fall of timber, which it carried up into the air, and dropt again. After passing through the town, I believe it was soon dissipated; for, except tearing a large limb from a tree, and part of the cover of a sugar-work near the town, I do not remember any farther damage done by it. I conclude, wishing you success in your enquiry, and am, &c.
W.M.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 16 November 1752
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Strahan, William

Dear Sir
Philada. Nov. 16. 1752
Your Favours of Augt. 26. with the Books for the Library Company, &c. came safe to hand; and all turn out right; excepting that D’Argens Philosophy of Common Sense is not come, but another thing of his instead of it. The Life of Boerhave sent is an old and small Book; what we intended was a new Life lately published in (I think) 4 Vols. 8vo. Condamine’s Figure of the Earth, is not come; but Maupertuis’s instead of it, which we had before; And instead of Chaucer’s whole Works, in his old original English; only the Canterbury tales moderniz’d, are come. These too, we had before, or we should keep them; tho’ I think they are imperfect Books, and two of the Volumes intermix’d with each other in the Binding. We are very well pleas’d that you omitted Catesby’s Carolina, and we shall, as you judg’d, chuse rather to have Savery entire, than in Numbers.
The Sconce came out very well, and is a very handsome one. The Mirrour and Globes also came out well; but we think Mrs. Senex has impos’d on us in the Price of the Globes, there being 2 pair in this Town of the same Size and the same Prints, both bought at the same Shop, for 6 Guineas the pair. Please to speak to her about it.
I suppose you have receiv’d a £20 Bill from me since Augt. 26. the Date of your Account. I shall take Care speedily to remit the Ballance.
Our Compliments to Mrs. Strahan, Master Billy, and to Mr. Sterling. I am, with great Esteem and Affection, Dear Sir, Your obliged humble Servant
B Franklin
Do the Globemakers ever cover old Globes with new Prints? I have a Pair of Senex’s the same with these, but they having stood long uncover’d in a smoaky Room, are now scarce legible: The Balls and Frames &c. as good as ever.
 Addressed: To  Mr Wm Strahan  Printer  London  Per Myrtilla Capt. Budden


Title: Petition of the Merchants of Philadelphia to the King, [18 November 1752?]
From: Merchants of Philadelphia
To: George III, King of Great Britain and Ireland

In 1745 Arthur Dobbs, long an advocate of a search for a northwest passage, prompted Parliament to offer a prize of £20,000 to any subject of the King who, in an English vessel, should sail from Hudson Bay to the South Sea. He then, in 1746–47, sponsored an expedition. Two accounts of it were published—one by Henry Ellis, later governor of Georgia, in 1748; and the other by Charles Swaine, “the Clerk of the California,” in 1748–49. In 1750 Swaine was living in Chester-town, Md., and he got a permit from Governor Samuel Ogle to undertake another northwest exploration. With Ogle’s recommendation and encouragement of several Maryland merchants, Swaine secured the support of Franklin and some Philadelphia merchants. The latter formed a company, raised £1500 among themselves and in Maryland, New York, and Boston, to buy a vessel—the Argo, 60 tons. Franklin tried to get information for them about previous New England voyages in the sub-Arctic. The sponsors hoped the sailing would be in 1752, but it was delayed until the spring of 1753. The objects of the expedition were three-fold: scientific (to find the passage and explore the Labrador coast), commercial (to open trade and promote fisheries), and political (to cultivate the friendship of the natives “and make them serviceable in a political Way”).
Meanwhile, one of the subscribers, Rev. James Sterling, parson, planter, poet, and playwright of Kent Co., Md., who had gone to England to solicit a political appointment, gave away their plans. Several London merchants quickly formed a company of their own, and petitioned the government for a monopoly of the Labrador trade. They pressed their aim in spite of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s opposition to it as an infringement of its charter rights, and the fact that the Board of Trade disapproved monopolistic grants on principle.
Alarmed for their project, the Philadelphians in turn, in the fall of 1752, petitioned against a monopoly for the Londoners. Their petition is printed here. William Allen sent it, with supporting papers, to Thomas Penn November 18; it arrived December 15 and Penn so advised the president of the Board of Trade the next day. On December 17 he presented it to the Council, in session to consider the London application. It was referred to a committee, then to the Board of Trade. Penn engaged a lawyer for the Philadelphians, apparently, from the endorsement on the petition, Ferdinand John Paris, former agent for Pennsylvania. Finally, the attorney general and the solicitor general gave their opinion that the Hudson’s Bay Company’s charter precluded an exclusive grant of the Labrador trade, and the London application was denied.
Meanwhile, the Argo sailed from Philadelphia March 4, 1753, stopping at Cape Cod and Portsmouth for provisions and to complete her crew of 15, and headed for the Arctic April 15. Turned back by heavy ice in Hudson Bay, Captain Swaine carried out the orders to explore and map the coast of Labrador, and took soundings off its banks. Swaine complained afterwards that the commercial interests interfered with the scientific aspects of the voyage. The Argo returned to Philadelphia November 11, and a brief but specific account appeared in the Gazette on November 15. The subscribers voted Swaine “a very handsome Present.”
But the real mission—a northwest passage—had not been accomplished, and the Argo set out again in the spring of 1754. It met with even less success than it had before: several of the party, against the captain’s orders, went searching for mines of precious metals and were killed by Eskimos; then the rest would not proceed, and Swaine had to return. He reached Philadelphia October 20, and presented to the Library Company almost the only tangible records of his voyage—some tools and Eskimo parkas.
When he sailed north in 1754 Swaine had left the journals and charts of his first voyage with Franklin for safekeeping, enjoining him to show them to no one. He must have reclaimed them, since his Probability of a Northwest Passage contains the portion of his journal from August 2 to September 20, 1753. The original papers, however, have not been found.

[November 18? 1752]
To THE Kings MOST Excellent Majesty
The Petition or Memorial of the Merchants of Philadelphia and North America against a Patent applied for by certain Merchants of London for an exclusive right of Trade to New Britain or Labrador
In most humble manner shews
That it being apparent, that New Britain, or Labrador, is not within the Limits of the Hudsons Bay Companys Charter, a Design hath been formed, by Your Petitioners, and other Merchants in North America, to improve, and carry, the Trade to New Britain, into a compleat Execution; The design was formed, in the latter part of the Year One Thousand Seven hundred and Fifty One, to be prosecuted at the Opening of the Spring One Thousand Seven hundred and Fifty Two, but, from the extream hard Winter, and uncommon, long Continuance, of the severe Weather, it was thought impracticable, to make suitable Preparations, and fit out, time enough to accomplish their Designs, that Season, therefore, they deferred it, untill the Spring One Thousand Seven hundred and Fifty three; not apprehensive that this delay, which necessity obliged them to, shou’d make them liable to be Supplanted, in such their laudable Design, as they must be, if the said Patent, for an exclusive right to Trade to those Parts, is granted.
That such Patent was never proposed to be applied for, or the Trade thought of, by those, who now make Application for the said Patent, until sometime after Your Petitioners had formed, and made some Progress, in such their Scheme, of carrying this Trade into Execution, as abovesaid; and untill those Gentlemen were let into Your Petitioners said Scheme and Designs, by a Person from these Parts, to whom the same had been communicated in Confidence, and who pretended to be a zealous Promoter thereof here, and well knew, that a Considerable Sum of Money was Subscribing (which is now actually Subscribed) and due Preparations making, by Your Petitioners, for entering upon the said Proposed Trade, and other Discoverys, of the utmost Importance, this next ensuing Spring; and which Trade, Your Petitioners proposed to carry on, as a free and open Trade, to all Your Majestys Subjects, and not to apply for a Monopoly, or exclusive right of Trade, for themselves, against others;
That, as Your Petitioners humbly conceive, this Trade cannot, even be carried on, to due effect, by the People of England, exclusive of the Americans, and much less so, by a Private Company;
Your Petitioners, therefore, humbly hope that the Patent, applied for, will not be granted; but that they, and all other Your Majestys Subjects, shall be left free, to pursue the said Trade, to their great and common Benefit and Advantage.
And Your Petitioners will ever Pray &ca.

Committee
{
Will: Allen

Samuel Mccall Senr

B: Franklin

John Stamper

Charles Stedman

John Mifflin

Wm Coleman Treasurer

 Endorsed: 21. Decr. 1752 Reference of the Petition of the Merchts of Philadelphia and North America praying that No Grant may pass for an Exclusive Right to trade to New Britain or Labrador, from the Lords of the Commtee. of Councill to the Lords Comrs. for Trade and Plantas.
 Paris.
[In another hand:]
Trade Labrador
 Order of the Lords of the Comittee of Council dated the 21. Decr. 1752. referring to this Board a Petition of the Merchants of Philadelphia and No. America praying that no Grant of an exclusive Trade to Labrador, may pass.
Reced Decr. 26. 1752.
Read Janry. 16. 1753.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Edward and Jane Mecom, 30 November 1752
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Mecom, Edward,Mecom, Jane

Dear Brother and Sister,
Philadelphia, November 30, 1752
I congratulate you on the news of Benny’s arrival, for whom I had been some time in pain.
That you may know the whole state of his mind and his affairs, and by that means be better able to advise him, I send you all the letters I have received from or concerning him. I fear I have been too forward in cracking the shell, and producing the chick to the air before its time.
We are at present all well, thanks to God, and hope you and yours are so. I am Your affectionate brother,
B Franklin
P.S. In my opinion, if Benny can but be prevailed on to behave steadily, he may make his fortune there. And without some share of steadiness and perseverance, he can succeed no where. Please to return me the letters.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to John Franklin, 8 December 1752
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Franklin, John

Dear Brother
Philada. Dec. 8. 1752
Reflecting yesterday on your Desire to have a flexible Catheter, a Thought struck into my Mind how one might possibly be made: And lest you should not readily conceive it by any Description of mine, I went immediately to the Silversmith’s, and gave Directions for making one, (sitting by ’till it was finish’d), that it might be ready for this Post. But now it is done I have some Apprehensions that it may be too large to be easy: if so, a Silversmith can easily make it less, by turning [written above: twisting] it on a smaller Wire, and putting a smaller Pipe to the End, if the Pipe be really necessary. This Machine may either be cover’d with a small fine Gut first clean’d and soak’d a Night in a Solution of Alum and Salt in Water, then rubb’d dry which will preserve it longer from Putrefaction: then wet again, and drawn on, and ty’d to the Pipes at each End where little Hollows are made for the Thread to bind in and the Surface greas’d: Or perhaps it may be used without the Gut, having only a little Tallow rubb’d over it, to smooth it and fill the Joints. I think it is as flexible as could be expected in a thing of the kind, and I imagine will readily comply with the Turns of the Passage, yet has Stiffness enough to be protruded; if not, the enclos’d Wire may be us’d to stiffen the hinder Part of the Pipe while the fore Part is push’d forward; and as it proceeds the Wire may be gradually withdrawn. The Tube is of such a Nature, that when you have Occasion to withdraw [it] its Diameter will lessen, whereby it will move more easily. It is also a kind of Scrue, and may be both withrawn and introduc’d by turning. Experience is necessary for the right using of all new Tools or Instruments, and that will perhaps suggest some Improvements to this Instrument as well as better direct the Manner of Using it.
I have read Whytt on Lime Water. You desire my Thoughts on what he says. But what can I say? He relates Facts and Experiments; and they must be allow’d good, if not contradicted by other Facts and Experiments. May not one guess by holding Lime Water some time in one’s Mouth, whether it is likely to injure the Bladder?
I know not what to advise, either as to the Injection, or the Operation. I can only pray God to direct you for the best, and to grant Success.
I am, my dear Brother Yours most affectionately
B Franklin

I find Whytt’s Experiments are approv’d and recommended by Dr. Mead.

 Addressed: To  Mr John Franklin  Boston  Free  B Franklin
Endorsed: Br Benj Dec 8 1752


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Jared Eliot, 19 December 1752
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Eliot, Jared

Dear Sir,
Philadelphia, Dec. 19, 1752
I received your affectionate letter of the 1st. and am surprised to find that my letters do not of late get to your hand. I do not keep copies, but I remember well, that in one I acknowledged the receipt of the select transactions, and in another I complained of the long delay of your fourth Essay, and desired that if Mr. Green would not do it, you would send it to me, and it should be despatched in a trice. To this I own I have long wondered that there came no answer; but now the reason appears you never received it. I am not indeed the most punctual of correspondents, but am however less negligent than I have of late appeared to you to be. To converse in this manner with my friends is one of my greatest pleasures; but much business does sometimes interfere and occasion delays, which makes me more ready to excuse others, as I have frequent occasion to be excused. At present however, I am not to be blamed, but some defect in the conveyance, which I cannot now guess at; but to prevent the miscarriage of this, I send it under cover to Dr. Johnson, and request him to forward it by some safe hand, for having exchanged many letters lately with that gentleman on occasion of my printing his book, and not observing any of them to miscarry, I have reason to expect this will at least get safe as far as Stratford. By the way, are you not a letter in debt to our friend Bartram? If not I fear a long one of his to you, enclosed in one of mine has miscarried also.
Our friend Mr. Jackson wrote to me last year, for an account of the number of Palatines imported here within ten years, which I accordingly sent him, and accompanyed it with a sheet or two on the subject of peopling of countries, propagation of mankind, &c. in answer to which I have lately received a long and curious letter from him, which I will send for your perusal together with my paper, as soon as I find it can be done without danger of being lost.
In the mean time, I send you a meterological paper of mine, wrote in order to digest and methodise a few of my own thoughts, and to procure the corrections of my Friends, I beg your sentiments and criticisms, on such parts as you find wrong; and if you can give me any light into the nature of those meteors we commonly call falling stars, pray do; for I am extremely at a loss to know what to think of them. Also any thing that has come to your knowledge of the nature and effects of whirl-winds and water-spouts; concerning which I have seen only imperfect accounts.

I know you will be pleased to hear that our Academy flourishes, and therefore I inform you that we have now upwards of 300 scholars in all the schools. Our Hospital too, goes on very well, and does much good. We have this day been opening our cargo of choice Drugs and Medicines from London, that cost us £112 sterling; and find all in good order. I must not omit to acquaint you with one other instance of the public spirit of this people. A person who had been in the last expedition to discover a north-west passage, being fully persuaded from some observations he made, and notices he obtained there, that such a passage there probably is, wrote to me from Maryland, requesting I would endeavor to procure subscriptions here for another attempt. It is accordingly done; £1000 is raised for the purpose, and a vessel is actually fitting for him to proceed in early in the Spring. If you have any queries to make concerning that Country, its Productions, &c. or would have any particular observations made there; write them, and I will send them by our captain who is an ingenious and observing man.
Did you receive the votes of our last years Assembly, which I sent you, as I think; but am not very certain. I know I intended it.
And now my paper will only afford me room to add, that I have not received more pleasure and satisfaction from any correspondence I maintain, than from that you have favoured me with; which I hope will never again meet such interruption, as I am, with sincere esteem and affection, dear Sir, your obliged friend and servant,
B Franklin


Title: William Watson to the Royal Society, 20 December 1752
From: Watson, William
To: Royal Society

Gentlemen,
Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields, Dec. 20, 1752
After the communications, which we have received from several of our correspondents in different parts of the continent, acquainting us with the success of their experiments last summer, in endeavouring to extract the electricity from the atmosphere during a thunder-storm, in consequence of Mr. Franklin’s hypothesis, it may be thought extraordinary, that no accounts have been yet laid before you, of our success here from the same experiments. That no want of attention, therefore, may be attributed to those here, who have been hitherto conversant in these inquiries, I thought proper to apprise you, that, though several members of the Royal Society, as well as myself, did, upon the first advices from France, prepare and set up the necessary apparatus for this purpose, we were defeated in our expectations, from the uncommon coolness and dampness of the air here, during the whole summer. We had only at London one thunderstorm; viz. on July 20; and then the thunder was accompanied with rain; so that, by wetting the apparatus, the electricity was dissipated too soon to be perceived upon touching those parts of the apparatus, which served to conduct it. This, I say, in general prevented our verifying Mr. Franklin’s hypothesis: but our worthy brother Mr. Canton was more fortunate. I take the liberty, therefore, of laying before you an extract of a letter, which I received from that gentleman, dated from Spital-square, July 21, 1752.
“I had yesterday, about five in the afternoon, an opportunity of trying Mr. Franklin’s experiment of extracting the electrical fire from the clouds; and succeeded, by means of a tin tube, between three and four feet in length, fixed to the top of a glass one, of about eighteen inches. To the upper end of the tin tube, which was not so high as a stack of chimnies on the same house, I fastened three needles with some wire; and to the lower end was solder’d a tin cover to keep the rain from the glass tube, which was set upright in a block of wood. I attended this apparatus as soon after the thunder began as possible, but did not find it in the least electrified, till between the third and fourth clap; when applying my knuckle to the edge of the cover, I felt and heard an electrical spark; and approaching it a second time, I received the spark at the distance of about half an inch, and saw it distinctly. This I repeated four or five times in the space of a minute; but the sparks grew weaker and weaker; and in less than two minutes the tin tube did not appear to be electrised at all. The rain continued during the thunder, but was considerably abated at the time of making the experiment.” Thus far Mr. Canton.
Mr. Wilson likewise of the Society, to whom we are much obliged for the trouble he has taken in these pursuits, had an opportunity of verifying Mr. Franklin’s hypothesis. He informed me, by a letter from near Chelmsford in Essex, dated Aug. 12, 1752. that, on that day about noon, he perceived several electrical snaps, during, or rather at the end of, a thunder-storm, from no other apparatus than an iron curtain-rod, one end of which he put into the neck of a glass phial, and held this phial in his hand. To the other end of the iron he fasten’d three needles with some silk. This phial, supporting the rod, he held in one hand, and drew snaps from the rod with a finger of his other. This experiment was not made upon any eminence, but in the garden of a gentleman, at whose house he then was.

Dr. Bevis observed, at Mr. Cave’s at St. John’s gate, nearly the same phaenomena as Mr. Canton, of which an account has been already laid before the public.
Trifling as the effects here mention’d are, when compared with those, which we have received from Paris and Berlin, they are the only ones, that the last summer here has produced; and as they were made by persons worthy of credit, they tend to establish the authenticity of those transmitted from our correspondents.
I flatter myself, that this short account of these matters will not be disagreeable to you; and am, with the most profound respect, Gentlemen, Your most obedient humble servant,
W. Watson


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson, 1752
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Collinson, Peter

   Of Franklin’s magic square James Ferguson wrote that it went “far    beyond any thing of the kind I ever saw before; and the magic circle (which is the first of the kind I ever heard of, or perhaps any one besides) is still more surprising.” There are two descriptions of the circle, basically similar, but different in important respects: one is Franklin’s letter to Collinson of about 1752, printed as Letter XXVII in Experiments and Observations, 1769; the other survives as a draft in the American Philosophical Society, and, revised and expanded, in a letter to John Canton, May 29, 1765. Both descriptions are printed here, the second in the revised version of the letter to Canton.

I
Sir,
[1752?]

I am glad the perusal of the magical squares afforded you any amusement. I now send you the magical circle.
Its properties, besides those mentioned in my former, are these.
Half the number in any radial row, added with half the central number, make 180, equal to the number of degrees in a semicircle.
Also half the numbers in any one of the concentric circles, taken either above or below the horizontal double line, with half the central number, make 180.
And if any four adjoining numbers, standing nearly in a square, be taken from any part, and added with half the central number, they make 180.
There are, moreover, included four other sets of circular spaces, excentric with respect to the first, each of these sets containing five spaces. The centers of the circles that bound them, are at A, B, C, and D. Each set, for the more easy distinguishing them from the first, are drawn with a different colour’d ink, red, blue, green, and yellow.

   *In the plate they are distinguished by dashed or dotted lines, as different as the engraver could well make them.

These sets of excentric circular spaces intersect those of the concentric, and each other; and yet the numbers contained in each of the twenty excentric spaces, taken all around, make, with the central number, the same sum as those in each of the 8 concentric, viz. 360. The halves, also of those drawn from the centers A and C, taken above or below the double horizontal line, and of those drawn from centers B and D, taken to the right or left of the vertical line, do, with half the central number, make just 180.

It may be observed, that there is not one of the numbers but what belongs at least to two of the different circular spaces; some to three, some to four, some to five; and yet they are all so placed as never to break the required number 360, in any of the 28 circular spaces within the primitive circle.
These interwoven circles make so perplexed an appearance, that it is not easy for the eye to trace every circle of numbers one would examine, through all the maze of circles intersected by it; but if you fix one foot of the compasses in either of the centers, and extend the other to any number in the circle you would examine belonging to that center, the moving foot will point the others out, by passing round over all the numbers of that circle successively. I am, &c.
B.F.

II
[Extract of a letter to John Canton, May 29, 1765]

It is compos’d of a Series of Numbers from 12 to 75 inclusive, divided in 8 concentric Circles of Numbers, and rang’d in 8 Radii of Numbers, with the Number 12 in the Center, which Number, like the Center, is common to all the Circles and to all the Radii.
The Numbers are so dispos’d, as that all the Numbers in any one of the Circles, added together, make, with the central Number, just 360, the Number of Degrees in a Circle.
The Numbers in each Radius also, with the central Number, make just 360.
Also Half of any of the said 8 Circles, taken above or under the horizontal double Line with Half the Central Number, make 180, or half the Degrees in a Circle. So likewise do the Numbers in each Half Radius, with half the Central Number.
   There are moreover included 4 other Sets of concentric Circles, 5 in each Set, the several Sets distinguish’d by Green, Yellow, Red, and Blue Ink, and each Set drawn round a Center of the same Colour. These Sets of Circles intersect the first 8 and each   other; and the Numbers contain’d in each of these 20 Circles, do also, with the Central Number, make 360. Their Halves also, taken above or under the horizontal Line, do, with half the central Number, make 180.
Observe, That there is no one of the Numbers but what belongs to at least two different Circles, some to three, some to four, and some to five; and yet all so plac’d (with the central Number which belongs to all) as never to break the requir’d Number 360 in any one of the 28 Circles.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to John Franklin, 2 January 1753
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Franklin, John

Dear Brother
Philada. Jan. 2. 1753
Yours of the 12th past gave me a great deal of Pleasure, as it informed me that you are better and have reason to think the Stone either lessen’d or made smoother. I pray God to continue it to a perfect Cure.
When you have a little Leisure please to inform me how our Fathers Estate turns out as I hear every thing is now sold. Who bought the House, and what did it sell for? I feel some affection for that old fashioned Clock. It had I remember a sweet Bell; as it has been so long in the Family, I hope some of you have bought [it].
You have never mention’d any thing to me of my Electrical Papers nor of that on the Peopling of Countries, nor that on Meteorology, which have passed thro’ your Hands; So I conjecture you have either not had time to read them, or do not like them.
We are all well, and join in wishing you and Sister and the Girls a happy New Year. I am Your affectionate Brother
B Franklin


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from [William Parsons], 15 January 1753
From: Parsons, William
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Dear Sir
[January 15, 1753]
When I left Philadelphia and every Friend and Acquaintance that was dear to me it was with a View and, as I then thought, with a study [sic] Resolution to lead a quiet and private Life without even so much as thinking of publick Affairs, other than paying Taxes and Fines if any should be imposed upon me for not appearing if at any Time I should be called upon to appear abroad. How far I have kept to that Resolution you are not a Stranger. However be that as it will I can assure you my dear old Friend that since my venturing abroad again into the World Things have a very different Appearance to what they used to have. When I consider my old Acquaintance and indeed when I reflect upon the Conduct of the People of Philadelphia in general I am ready to cry out That there is no Virtue, Truth or Sincerity without the Liberties of Philadelphia. Not that I forget there are some even there that have too little of all three. Whether it be that People are realy worse who live far back in the Country or that they want Knowledge or that it is only the want of being carefully looked after I must not take upon me to determine. But this I can truly say that I never saw or heard of so much Schemeing low Contrivance and Insincerity in all the Time I lived in Philadelphia as I have seen in the little Time since I left it. These Considerations have prevailed upon me to write to you, not by way of Direction or Petition but as one Friend writes to another tho’ I must confess that if you were not a Member of the Honourable House I should hardly have troubled you now about the Situation of any of the publick Affairs of this County. Some of which are the Occasion of uneasiness to some of the Inhabitants. And amongst other Things the great Power of the Sherif which with us is at present something extraordinary. As he is not only Sherif: but Treasurer of the County and Clerk to the Commissioners and Assessors. His Father is president of our Court, his Wife’s Father and several of his very intimate Friends make up almost our whole Bench of Justices. And some of these with a Jury of his own summoning are the Persons who are to adjust and allow all his Accounts with the publick. By this I would not be understood to cast any Reflection upon any of the Justices for whom in general I have a very great Esteem but human Nature is Frail and the Power of Friendship and paternal Affection are very prevailing. The Power of Sherif is almost exorbitant as he is the sole judge of Elections and himself a Candidate. And has it wholly in his own power to summons who he pleases for Jurymen. And our Sherif besides all this acts publickly as a Justice of the Peace for this County by virtue of a Commission of the Peace granted before his Sheriffalty and how far that is agreable to Law others may determine it. People with us think it shews a strong desire after Dominion. If I remember right I have heard you mention another (and I think a much better) way of summoning Juries that attend at the Courts at Westminster. And what if the same Method were to be practised here? Truly it could not be worse but very probably would be much better in many Cases than the Method now in use. As I imagine your Head and Mind will be filled with other publick Business by this Time I will take up no more of your Time than to desire you will give my hearty Service to all Friends of which you are to take a great Share to your self From Dear Sir Your Affectionate humble Servant.
 Endorsed: Janry. 15th. 1753. Letter to Mr. Franklin


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Peter Collinson, 27 January 1753
From: Collinson, Peter
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Londn Jany 27 1753
Tho’ I am much engaged yett I cannot Lett Mesnard Sail without Acquainting you how Matters stand Here.
and first for Business
The Paduasoye is the best and I hope will please your Good Wife—it is well paper’d and is Packed in a Trunk By John Samuel who haveing other Silk Goods it was putt with his to have the Drawback. As there is three different Breadths in Paduasoyes and no mention which Twenty yards of Broad that is ¾ yds. wide (which is the breadth made fitt for Cloths) and is always made Richer and better then the Narrows would be too much—wee have therefore sent a full Quantity for a Suite. The price is not in proportion to the great Advance on Raw Silk.
The Tenn pound bill is Like to be protested—it has been denied payment, but it must lay out its Time, possibly they may think better on It, if not, it will be regularly protested—for your Sake and Security returned.
In the Hurry I am in I wrote you, 2 or 3: parcells per Capt. Lyon and sent Books, Turky Wheat for our Friend Elliot. Luckyly came a French trans[lation] to my Hands of your Electrical Experiments which I then Sent with Muschenbroeks Essays—all have been committed to the Care of Messrs. Neat & Neve who putt them up with their packetts and Letters.
Pere Bosckovisch’s Disertats not to be had here nor any other peices on Electricity from Abroad. All these as I have said in my last is most likely to be Had from Holland—if you have a Correspondent there.
In my last by Lyon I told you what passed between your proprietor and Mee who has orderd Mr. Peters to make the Academy a present of £500.
I have now to Thank you my Dear Friend for yours of December 2. The Packett with all the Books is come safe to hand. I am extreamly obliged to you for your Kind Present of your Votes which are very Entertaining to observe the progress of your Settlement.
I perceive your Example has Stir’d up your Neighbours of New York to Imitate It. The Authors Scheme is right to keep the Money and apply the Interest for Immediate use. I Shall Send it to your proprietors for his Objections are answer’d for have[ing?] the Seat of Learning at the Capital.
Your Laudable Publick Spirit is ever Exerting it Self for the good of the Community. I heartyly Wish you Success in your Expedition to the Benefit of Trade for there is no hopes of a North west passage if I may Credit a Mapp lately published by the French in which they have laid down all the Coast from California to above the Artic Circle. They make indeed a River from about Hudsons bay Derived from a Great Inland lake full of Islands and another river falling from that lake into the Eastern Ocean above California. As soone as this Mapp is publishd Here which is soone Expected I will send one. There is a Sett of Opulent Merchants have been projecting a Scheme for Carrying on a Trade to the Labrador Coast and have laid It before the Board of Trade who approve their Scheme and as it will be attended with a great Expence they Desire a Charter for 20 or 30 years. The Maryland Parson has Sett all this project on foot. He is Volatile Blade and Great Poet. But this Affair for the present is at a Stand. Your Petition no doubt, but will have its Effect—for all Trade ought to be open and Free to all Our kings Subjects.
Your proprietor Desired to see Douglas. He takes it amiss he must be beholden to Others to Send Him Such Tracts that treat of his Colony. He will be Glad to hear he is Dead for He resented Something he had Said before. I think the No. I sent Him are 18: 19: 20: 21 and perhaps 22. As they are out of my Hands cannot be Certain.
Doctor Mitchell has the Mapp &c. and He has the French Mapp and is to make his report of it to the Royal Society to whome it was presented.
I expect Mr. Jackson every Evening to Call on Mee and then I will give Him your Presents.
Pray Send another Account of your births and Deaths for by an Accedent I was deprived of It.
I am glad Greenwood and M[oses?] Bartram gott Safe. If I have not time to write to J. Bartram give my love and thanks for his book and tell Him the Ship is Safe arrived with the box of Seeds and plants. I am much yours
P Collinson

I have had Just now brought Mee from Barbary a Barly of a Particular species I never saw before. Pray give to J. Bartram 2 or 3 Ears, keep some your self and send some to our Friend Eliot. Capt. Child has it.
This barly I intend to send per Mesnard in some package.
The Paduasoye is putt up with Capt. Childs Goods in his Trunk IC No. 5. and a Little parcell with the barly.

£
  s.
  d.

16 yd Rich broad Paduasoye at 12s.
  9:
  12:
  -

 Addressed: To  Benn: Franklin Esqr  in Philadelphia  per Cap Mesnard


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from James Alexander, 29 January 1753
From: Alexander, James
To: Franklin, Benjamin

The rare transits of Venus across the sun’s surface were among the most important astronomical occurrences in the eighteenth century because they offered astronomers opportunities to calculate the solar parallax—the angle subtended at the sun by the earth’s radius—and thus not only provided a basis for computing the actual distance from the earth and other planets to the sun but completed the Newtonian system by establishing scalar distances. The last transits had occurred in 1631 and 1639, but the first was at night and the second was imperfectly observed. Late in the century Edmund Halley had devised a method to determine the parallax by using observations made at different points on the earth of the times of Venus’ transit. His method was modified and improved in the second quarter of the eighteenth century by Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, professor of mathematics in the Collège Royal de Paris. Astronomers looked forward to applying them to the transits which would occur in 1761 and 1769.
Meanwhile in 1753 there was to be a transit of Mercury, and though observations of it would not yield the solar parallax, they would provide a check on astronomical calculations and a means of checking longitude. Moreover, as American philosophers realized, the observations would provide experience to use in the greater events of the next decade.
Franklin printed a calculation of the forthcoming transit in his almanac for 1753. Then in February 1753 he received from James Alexander translations of Delisle’s instructions to a Jesuit astronomer for making observations at Quebec. He printed fifty copies in a four-page leaflet, and distributed them among philosophical friends in other colonies, sending six, for example, to his nephew Benjamin Mecom, printer of the Antigua Gazette, just as Delisle was sending notices to European astronomers. Excerpts from the leaflet were printed in the Boston Weekly News-Letter, March 29; and the Pennsylvania Gazette, April 5, reinforced the notice by printing an appeal of the Royal Society to observe the transit and forward the results to London.
Accordingly preparations were made. In Philadelphia Franklin proposed to use the telescope belonging to the Library Company. The New Yorkers thought themselves particularly well equipped, for they had three telescopes, Alexander’s watch with a second hand, “and the proprietors Quadrant will do to rectifie the Clock.” Professor John Winthrop was asked to be ready in Boston. As it fell out, however, the day was cloudy in New York and probably elsewhere on the coast, and no observations were made in North America. Only in Antigua, in the British American colonies, could the transit be observed: the results were sent to Franklin, who duly forwarded them to the Royal Society.

Sir
New York. January 29. 1753
About a week ago the papers whereof that herewith Mark’t A is a Translation were sent to Peruse, and on my returning them With a Translation I beged Leave to Communicate Coppies of them to You and Dr. Colden with Liberty if you thought proper to print them or any Part of them. In Answer To which I obtained the Leave coppied at the end of Them and Struck out La Gallissonieres name, for the reason in the Leave.
The Delay of that Leave put me upon Dipping into the Abridgment of the Philosophical Transactions to see what [was] there said of the matters in those papers, and from thence I made the Extracts in the paper Herewith Mark’t B. by which I find that that which had baffled all the Art of man hitherto To discover with any Tolerable Certainty (Vizt. the Suns Distance from the Earth) may with great Certainty be Discovered by the Transit of Venus over the sun the 26 of May 1761 Old Stile, if well Observed in the East Indies and here and these Observations Compared Together.
It Would be a great honour To our young Colledges in America if they forthwith prepared themselves with a proper apparatus for that Observation and made it. Which I Doubt not they would Severally Do if they were Severally put in mind of it and of the great Importance that that Observation would be To Astronomy and that the missing that One Observation cannot be retrieved for 250 years To come.
You have on so many Occasions Demonstrated Your Love To Literature and the good of Mankind in General that I thought no person so proper as your self to think of the ways and means of perswadeing these Colledges to prepare themselves for taking that Observation and in order to it you may make what use you please of the papers herewith, only not my name.
 Endorsed: Coppy Letter to Mr Franklin Janry 29 1753

[Enclosure]
Sir
[January 26, 1753]
What Put me upon giveing you the Trouble of this Was the Sight which a few Days agoe I had of some Letters from the Royall Academy of Sciences at Paris with directions for Observing in Canada the End of a Transit of Mercury over the sun Which is To happen on the 6. of may Next and by their Estimation about ¾ past five in the morning at Quebeck and that it Ends at or possibly before sun riseing at the Lac Superieur.
This made me Look into Lowthorpes Abridgment of the Transactions of the Royall Society at London page 431. and by that in the Longitude of 5° West of London, (Which I suppose is nearly the Longitude of Phileadelphia as New York by many Observations of the Eclipses of Jupiters first Satellite Was found in 4h. 56′ nearly) it would seem To me that the Transit would End three minutes after Five in the morning, but if it does, yet both Interior and Exterior Contacts at the end, may be seen at Phileadelphia and here the transition may be Seen some minutes before the Contacts, or yet Still Longer in Connecticut, Boston, Halifax, and Louisbourgh by reason of their greater Latitudes and Less Longitudes.
The Jesuits in China and the East Indies I doubt not will Observe it in Sundry places there as the Whole Continuance of Mercury on the sun will be there Visible and if well Observed there and the End well Observed in North America it will bid the fairest of anything hitherto had To give the Suns parrallax or distance from the Earth, for the Triangles made of the Observations in the East Indies With those here will have known Bases of above ¾ of The Diameter of the Earth; the Next Transit by page 432 is in 1756 but It will not be visible here.
But the Critical Time for Obtaining the suns Parrallax will Be the Transit of Venus over the sun (by page 436) the 26 of May 1761 Old Stile which in 5h. west Longitude I Esteem will end at 53′ after 4 in the Morning and be visible at Phileadelphia for ¼ of an hour after Sun rise and much Longer Northward and Eastward.
Jones’s Abridgment of the Transactions, Vol. 4 page 213 &ca. has a Discourse of Edmund Halley concerning that transit of Venus and a figure of it and by good Observations of that, he Says, the parrallax of the sun may be Ascertained to 1/500 whereas I doubt of it’s Being Certain now To ¼ for Halley there Supposes it May be 12½ Seconds Wheras Flamstead in Sundry places of the Transactions from his Observations of Mars when nearest the Earth Esteems it not To Exceed 10″.
By Transactions Vol: 1. 435 and 436 you’ll see that No Transit of Venus till the year 2004 Will be visible both here and in the East Indies at the Same time so that if this Opportunity be missed there Will be None so good for 250 Years To Come To Ascertain this Much Desired point of the Suns parrallax which being Known The parrallax of all the planets is of Course from thence found.
As there are Now Sundry Nurseries of Learning Springing Up in Pensilvania, Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Boston; all ways Should be thought of To Induce each of those To provide a proper apperatus for makeing such Observations, Long before the year 1761 that they May be Expert at Takeing Observations of that Kind before that Transit Happens; and in the mean time To be Ascertaining the Longitudes of these places by Observations of the Eclipses of Jupiters first Satellite and the Latitudes of the places by good Quadrants for these things should Be Known and Ascertained to Render the Observations of the Transit of use for Ascertaining The parrallax.

Another Reason why preparation should be made in all these places for that Rare Event, is; that should it happen to be Cloudy in some of these places yet it may be Clear in Others and by means of them that have Clear weather the Great End may be Gained; that Event may Well be Called Rare as Horrox who says the Last Transit of Venus over the sun On November 24 1639 now 114 years ago is the Only one of the Posterity of Adam who has seen one of these Transits.
I have said before that the suns Parrallax is not Ascertained To ¼ part but it seems there is a much greater Difference in Opinion about it than that, for tho’ it be Generally Taken now to be 10″ yet the Book called Matho or the Cosmotheoria puerilis printed in 1740 Vol: 2 page 388 &ca. gives very plausible Reasons why it Cannot be Less than 20″ and he thinks 26″ a more Reasonable Number. For he shows that if the parrallax be Only 10″ then the point of Equall Attraction Between the Sun and Earth, is but 45 Semidiameters of the Earth Distant from the Earth but the moons Distance is about 60 and therefore 15 SemiDiameters in it’s Conjunction Nearer the Sun than the point of Equall Attraction and from thence he Concludes that as there the Attraction is greater To the sun than to the Earth it Could Never Adhere To the Earth but be Drawn from it Towards the sun and allowing the parrallax to be 20″ yet even in that Case the moon Would be sometimes Beyond the point of Equal attraction and 26″ Should be allowed To Keep it always within that Point, which Reasons prevailed with me to be of his Opinion Till I Saw Mr. Maclaurins Explanation of Sir Isaac Newtons philosophy which Demonstrates Clearly that tho’ the moon Goes Without the point of Equall Attraction as Matho says, Yet it Will Adhere To the Earth by Means of its projectile free in its Orbit Round the Sun.
To Point out what apparatus of Instruments should be procured I Know of Nothing Better than To referr to the Abridgments of the Philosophical Transactions where multitudes of Observations of the Heavenly Bodys appear and the Instruments they were Observed with and how, And as To the Observations of the Transit of Mercury in particular and Instruments the Observers made use of, You’ll see Largely in the Abridgment of Philosophick Transactions Vol: 8 page 194 To 208 and Vol: 4. 213 &ca. before mentioned.
Each of these places which have not a Set of the Abridgments of the Philosophick Transactions should in the first place Get them Being in 9 Vol: quarto which as they will be Cheaper so will they be Much Easier To Turn To, than the Transactions themselves by Means of their Tables.
I find by the preface To Halleys Tables page 3 that No. 386 of the Transactions Contains Halleys Corrections of his Numbers of Mercury. But that Volume 6 Containing that Number I have Lent To a Gentleman Living at 70 miles Distance from here.
I Find by Halleys Tables that Macao in China is in 7h. 35′ and Pekin in China in 7h. 45′ East Longitude yet by reason of their Northern Latitudes and the suns Northern Declination at the times of Both the preceeding Transits they may see the ends of them Before the Sun Setts in those places.
I have Computed what would be the Lengths of the Bases of triangles made of Observations at Phileadelphia and Observations in the following places in the East Indies, and found them as follows

Place
      Longitude
      Latitude
      Parts of the Earths Diameter Supposeing the whole to be 100,000

Longitudes and Latitudes Taken from Halleys Tables
}
  Pekin in China
  116° 20′ E.
  39° 54′ N.
  76,286

    Macao in China
    113° 46′ E.
    22° 13′ N.
    85,375

Longitudes and Latitudes Taken from a map of Asia by Bowain in 1714
}
Pondicheri
  79° 0′ E.
  12° 30′ N.
  87,551

  Batavia
  104° 20′ E.
  6° 20′ S.
  95,714

On the papers of Directions herewith Mark’t A I Would Observe that I think them very good and that I find all or most of them in the Transactions and that if the Observer is acquainted With makeing Observations of that Kind they Seem Rather Too particular. If he is not acquainted, then the Neglect of Mentioning the Smoaking the Eyeglass before he Looks at the Sun thro’ the Telescope and Quadrant (if they have not Smoak’t plain Glasses fitted without the Eyeglass) may run the Observer into the Danger of Looseing an Eye. If he is to Observe the figure of the Sun Cast on a paper thro’ the Telescope then the Darkning of the Room should have Been mentioned.
 Endorsed: Coppy of a Letter to Mr Franklin concerning transits of Mercury and Venus over the Sun to put the Colledges on observing them Janry 26 1753 B


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from John Franklin, [January 1753]
From: Franklin, John
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Dear Brother
[January 1753]
With Regard to our fathers Estate I can only so far Inform you that the houshold Stuf as sold at Vendue amounted to a Little more than [illegible] old Tenor. The house and Land was apprisd at £200.