Title: Jean-Antoine Nollet: Letters on Electricity, [January 1753?]
From: Nollet, Jean-Antoine
To:

It was inevitable that Franklin’s theories of electricity should meet with opponents and detractors. The most prominent of these was the Abbé Nollet, the principal electrician of France, whose theories Franklin’s controverted and whose authority Franklin’s Experiments and Observations threatened. Nollet defended his views and attacked Franklin’s in Lettres sur l’Electricité; and for some time thereafter electricians divided into Franklinists and anti-Franklinists.
Charles Dufay had demonstrated that there are two kinds of electricity, which he called vitreous (made by rubbing glass, rock crystal, wool, jewels, and animals’ hair and fur) and resinous (made by rubbing amber, silk, thread, and paper); and that each would attract the other, but repel the like kind. In 1746 Nollet, who had succeeded Dufay in reputation and influence, in his Essai sur l’Electricité des Corps named the two kinds of electricity effluent and affluent. By this he meant that electric fluid is constantly streaming out of an electrified body and as constantly streaming in through pores, which he imagined must exist in every object. The theory provoked controversy in Europe, and Nollet defended and amplified his views in Recherches sur les causes particulières des phénomènes électriques in 1749. This was the situation when Franklin’s hypothesis of positive and negative states of one electric fluid appeared in his Experiments and Observations, published in London in 1751.
At the suggestion of Buffon, keeper of the Jardin des Plantes, Franklin’s book was translated by Thomas-François Dalibard, a botanist and geologist who had become interested in electricity and taken Delor’s course in the latter’s house in the Place de l’Estrapade. To his translation Dalibard added an address to the reader and a short history of electricity, 90 pages in all, in which he did not even mention Nollet. This appeared early in 1752. On February 3 of that year Buffon, Delor, and Dalibard repeated Franklin’s experiments at the country place of the Duc d’Ayen at St. Germain-en-Laye, with such success that they determined to test his hypothesis of the identity of lightning and electricity. This was done in the famous experiment at Marly-la-Ville, May 10; and three days later Dalibard reported it to the Académie des Sciences in Paris (see above, p. 302). He presented a supplementary report on July 5, concluding that lightning and electricity are indisputably identical. Though Delor and Dalibard failed in their attempt to repeat the experiment on June 7, a successful repetition was performed by Le Monnier at St. Germain-en-Laye shortly afterwards.
“L’abbé meurt de chagrin de tout cela,” Buffon wrote a little maliciously to a friend. Nollet might well do so. After all, his work had been totally ignored in Dalibard’s history of electricity, he was receiving no credit for his earlier suggestion that lightning and electricity might be the same, and the experiment to prove the point had been conducted without his knowledge, advice, or presence. On May 17 in a representation against Dalibard’s report he asked the Academy to postpone publication until further confirmation could be obtained, and demanded that his own priority be recognized in any publication approved by the Academy. On July 1 the Academy decided to postpone publication of both Dalibard’s memoir and Nollet’s representation. Meanwhile a commission of the Academy examined Nollet’s journal and reported unanimously on August 23 that they had witnessed the experiments recorded in it and that the results appeared to be as reported there. On September 6 the Academy ordered that Dalibard’s second memoir should also be postponed.
Meanwhile Nollet prepared a defense of his theories and questioned Franklin’s in a series of nine essays in the form of letters, six of them addressed to Franklin. The book was published about January in 1753. Nollet raised some important questions, but in general refused to recognize the possibility that Franklin was correct. He gave the American little credit for originality, and his tone was almost everywhere offensively condescending. The main points of these letters are summarized below. Nollet’s book is not reprinted in full since the papers are letters in form only and Franklin did not reply to them.
Letter I. To Maria Angelo Ardinghelli. “Contenant l’Histoire des Découvertes qui se sont faites, sur l’Electricité dans le courant de l’Année 1752,” pp. 1–23. Most of the experiments reported in Franklin’s Experiments and Observations have already been published in Europe; but Nollet does not charge Franklin with plagiarism: it was only likely that a man of the New World, engaged in business, might not know what was happening in Europe or receive European books. Franklin had proposed the lightning rod, but had not erected one: was this because there were no thunder storms in Philadelphia or because he was sufficiently aware of the reasons why the experiment would fail and so did not take the trouble to make it? Dalibard had performed it, drawing sparks from clouds, at Marly-la-Ville on May 10; and Delor did likewise in Paris a few hours later. But Nollet insists that Franklin’s proposal to draw the destructive power of lightning from clouds by rods is erroneously founded. Only five or six months before, the identity of lightning and electricity was a conjecture; thanks to Franklin and others who shared his views it now appeared to be an incontestable truth.
Letter II. To Benjamin Franklin, July 1, 1752. “Qui doit servir d’introduction à celles qui suivent,” pp. 24–38. As no mention was made of him by Franklin in the Experiments and Observations or by Dalibard in his “Histoire abrégée” prefixed to the French translation, Nollet identifies himself as an electrical experimenter who began his work after M. Dufay and before the Germans, and cites his Essai sur l’Electricité, 1746, and Recherches sur les causes particulières des phénomènes électriques, 1749, of which he is sending copies to Franklin. All Nollet’s explanations of electrical phenomena are based on the principles of simultaneous effluence and affluence. Effluent matter flows out of every part of an electric body; affluent matter, which is similar, comes into the electric body by all means from the atmosphere and nearby bodies; and these two currents flow at the same time, though in opposite directions. This theory is supported by other physicists; Nollet invites Franklin to repeat his (Nollet’s) experiments, and he wants further information from Franklin before accepting the latter’s theory. Some of Franklin’s experiments, hailed by his English and French publishers as new discoveries, had already been performed in Europe; perhaps because of his remoteness from Europe, Franklin was unacquainted with them.
Letter III. To Benjamin Franklin. “Sur la nature de la matière électrique,” pp. 39–59. On the subject of the analogy between electricity and common fire, Nollet thinks Franklin must be displeased that his editors have said of him that he “exhibits to our considerations, an invisible, subtle matter, disseminated through all nature … which has escaped our observations”; for this had in fact been recognized and has long been recognized as a powerful force which kills animals and pierces both hard and fragile bodies. Franklin’s first three letters led Nollet to think he was in perfect agreement with other physicists on the nature of electrical matter; but when in the fourth Franklin distinguished electric fire from common fire (see above, III, 374–5), he took a different line from them. That there was such a difference Franklin has not proved. Nollet also rejects Franklin’s theory of cold fusion (see above, III, 375–6) and his assertion that glass is impermeable to electricity (see above, p. 25). In short, the notion that there are two kinds of fire is unsupported by experiment or by logical or plausible arguments; it is only a hypothesis.
Letter IV. To Benjamin Franklin. “Dans laquelle on prouve que le verre n’est point imperméable au fluide électrique,” pp. 60–82. Nollet describes several experiments which in his opinion prove that glass is permeable by electricity. He offers an explanation of Franklin’s “magical picture” experiment (see above, III, 358–9).
Letter V. To Benjamin Franklin. “Sur différents faits concernants l’expérience de Leyde,” pp. 83–128. Nollet asserts that Franklin’s conclusions about the Leyden jar differ from his and those of other European electricians. Specifically challenging Franklin’s reasoning and methods, he rejects Franklin’s conclusions that: 1. the power of giving an electric shock rests solely in the glass of the jar and not in the water (see above, III, 356); 2. the Leyden jar loses as much electrical fire from one of its surfaces as it receives from the other (see above, III, 354); 3. when one surface of a charged jar loses its electrical fluid, the bottle cannot regain equilibrium except by an exterior communication (see above, III, 356); 4. a Leyden jar is discharged through the same outlet by which it was charged (see above, III, 353). Nollet asserts that many of the phenomena for which Franklin’s explanations are inadequate can be explained by the doctrine of effluence and affluence, “which is not a system, but a well proved fact.” Nollet invites Franklin to repeat his own experiments and to examine Nollet’s.
Letter VI. To Benjamin Franklin. “Sur le pouvoir des Pointes,” pp. 129–53. Nollet believes Franklin has overstated the case for the power of points. He asks: 1. how, if the electrical atmosphere is regarded as a tranquil fluid resting everywhere on the surface of the electrical body and taking a shape like the body, Franklin explains electrical wind; 2. how, if these atmospheres surround electrised bodies by the attraction the latter exert, they can be five or six feet in extent, as Franklin recognizes; and he questions the assertion that points have the property of both attracting and repelling electrical fluid. Nollet is still sure that what is called the power of points does not belong precisely and only to points; the effects they produce may also be owing to the surfaces between the pointed ends of a body.
Letter VII. To Benjamin Franklin. “Sur l’analogie du Tonnerre avec l’Electricité,” pp. 154–97. Dalibard and Delor have performed the experiment which Franklin conceived. The notion that lightning and electricity are identical has often been proposed before, by Nollet and others; but the Marly experiment proves that they are two effects of the same principle. Can Franklin really believe that lightning is now in men’s control? What evidence is there that a lightning-charged cloud large enough to cover a city, will be emptied in a few minutes by means of a rod or metal wire no larger than a finger? Anyone who would credit such an idea would propose preventing floods by inserting small tubes into the banks of streams. If points were enough, would not clock towers serve? Nollet proposed an apparatus to test the character of lightning and ring bells by its power. He regards as mere invention and ingenuity Franklin’s concept about clouds of the sea and of the land, electrised and nonelectrised; and examines §§ 11–23 of Franklin’s fourth letter (see above, III, 367–9). In conclusion he invites Franklin to correspond with him.
Letter VIII. To M. Jallabert, pp. 198–223. Nollet sends a copy of the French translation of Franklin’s Experiments and Observations and a copy of the Abbé Maugin’s Histoire générale et particulière de l’électricité. Jallabert will be pleased with them, but should know that most of the experiments have been previously performed elsewhere.
Letter IX. To M. Boze. “Dans laquelle on expose les raisons qui ont pû retarder les nouvelles découvertes dont il a été question dans les Lettres précédentes,” pp. 224–40. Replies to Boze’s letter of July 20; advises him to read Franklin’s Experiments in the original English.
“Expériences faites en presence de Messieurs Bouguer, de Montigny, de Courtivron, d’Alembert and le Roi, Commissaires nommés par l’Académie,” pp. 241–62. A record of experiments made by Nollet, June 14–August 29, 1752.
Nollet’s defense could not be ignored. William Watson gave an account of its contents to the Royal Society, May 13, 1753, without discussion or criticism, so that he seemed to receive Nollet’s views favorably, though he had formerly claimed he anticipated Franklin’s theories. In Philadelphia Franklin repeated the Abbé’s experiments and discovered that some results were quite different from what Nollet had reported and that all could be explained completely by his own principles. He began to prepare “a civil Letter” in reply, but decided against it when others came to his defense. One of these was Father Beccaria of Italy; another was the son of his old friend Cadwallader Colden. But Nollet’s conduct and tone rankled, and Franklin referred to the incident from time to time, even thirty years afterwards, as an example of what pride and stubbornness can lead a scientist into. When he visited Paris in 1767 the two men did not meet.


Title: William Dampier: Accounts of Water Spouts, 1753
From: Dampier, William
To:

I
A Spout is a small ragged piece or part of a Cloud hanging down about a Yard, seemingly from the blackest part thereof. Commonly it hangs down sloping from thence, or sometimes appearing with a small bending, or elbow in the middle. I never saw any hang perpendicularly down. It is small at the lower-end, seeming no bigger than one’s Arm, but still fuller towards the Cloud, from whence it proceeds.
When the Surface of the Sea begins to work, you shall see the Water, for about 100 Paces in Circumference, foam and move gently round till the whirling Motion increases: And then it flies upward in a Pillar, about 100 Paces in Compass at the bottom, but lessening gradually upwards to the smallness of the Spout it self, there where it reacheth the lower-end of the Spout, through which the rising Sea-water seems to be conveyed into the Clouds. This visibly appears by the Clouds increasing in bulk and blackness. Then you shall presently see the Cloud drive along, although before it seemed to be without any Motion: The Spout also keeping the same Course with the Cloud, and still sucking up the Water as it goes along, and they make a Wind as they go. Thus it continues for the space of half an Hour, more or less, until the sucking is spent, and then breaking off, all the Water which was below the Spout, or pendulous piece of Cloud, falls down again into the Sea, making a great Noise with its fall and clashing Motion in the Sea.
It is very dangerous for a Ship to be under a Spout when it breaks, therefore we always endeavour to shun it, by keeping at a distance, if possibly we can. But for want of Wind to carry us away, we are often in great fear and danger, for it is usually calm when Spouts are at work; except only just where they are. Therefore Men at Sea, when they see a Spout coming, and know not how to avoid it, do sometimes fire Shot out of their great Guns into it, to give it air or vent, that so it may break; but I did never hear that it proved to be of any Benefit.

And now being on this Subject, I think it not amiss to give you an account of an Accident that happened to a Ship once on the Coast of Guinea, sometime in or about the Year 1674. One Captain Records of London, bound for the Coast of Guinea, in a Ship of 300 Tuns, and 16 Guns, called the Blessing; when he came into the Lat. 7 or 8 degrees North, he saw several Spouts, one of which came directly towards the Ship, and he having no Wind to get out of the way of the Spout, made ready to receive it by furling his Sails. It came on very swift and broke a little before it reached the Ship; making a great Noise, and raising the Sea round it, as if a great House or some such Thing, had been cast into the Sea. The Fury of the Wind still lasted, and took the Ship on the Starboard-bow with such Violence, that it snapt off the Boltsprit and Fore-mast both at once, and blew the Ship all along, ready to over-set it, but the Ship did presently right again, and the Wind whirling round, took the Ship a second time with the like Fury as before, but on the contrary side, and was again like to over-set her the other way. The Mizen-mast felt the Fury of this second Blast, and was snapt short off, as the Fore-mast and Boltsprit had been before. The Main-mast, and Main-top-mast, received no Damage, for the Fury of the Wind (which was presently over) did not reach them. Three Men were in the Fore-top when the Fore-mast broke, and one on the Boltsprit, and fell with them into the Sea, but all of them were saved. I had this Relation from M. John Canby, who was then Quarter-master, and Steward of her; one Abraham Wise was Chief Mate, and Leonard Jefferies second Mate.
We are usually very much afraid of them: Yet this was the only Damage that ever I heard done by them. They seem terrible enough, the rather because they come upon you while you lie becalmed, like a Log in the Sea, and cannot get out of their way: But though I have seen, and been beset by them often, yet the Fright was always the greatest of the Harm.

II
 … We had fair clear Weather, and a fine moderate Gale from South-East to East by North: But at Day-break, the Clouds began to fly, and it lightned very much in the East, South-East and North-East. At Sun-rising, the Sky look’d very red in the East near the Horizon; and there were many black Clouds both to the South and North of it. About a Quarter of an Hour after the Sun was up, there was a Squall to the Windward of us; when on a sudden one of our Men on the Fore-castle called out that he saw something astern, but could not tell what: I look’d out for it, and immediately saw a Spout beginning to work within a Quarter of a Mile of us, exactly in the Wind. We presently put right before it. It came very swiftly, whirling the Water up in a Pillar about 6 or 7 Yards high. As yet I could not see any pendulous Cloud, from whence it might come; and was in Hopes it would soon lose its Force. In 4 or 5 Minutes Time, it came within a Cable’s Length of us, and past away to Leeward; and then I saw a long pale Stream, coming down to the whirling Water. This Stream was about the Bigness of a Rainbow: The upper End seem’d vastly high, not descending from any dark Cloud, and therefore the more strange to me; I never having seen the like before. It past about a Mile to Leeward of us, and then broke. This was but a small Spout, not strong nor lasting; yet I perceived much Wind in it, as it past by us.

III
We saw the day before, betwixt 2 and 3, a Spout but a small distance from us. It fell down out of a black Cloud, that yielded great store of Rain, Thunder and Lightning: This Cloud hovered to the Southward of us for the space of three Hours, and then drew to the Westward a great pace; at which time it was that we saw the Spout, which hung fast to the Cloud till it broke; and then the Cloud whirl’d about to the South-East, then to East-North-East; where meeting with an Island, it spent it self and so dispersed; and immediately we had a little of the Tail of it, having had none before.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to James Bowdoin, 28 February 1753
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Bowdoin, James

Dear Sir,
Philada. Feb. 28. 1753
The enclos’d is a Copy of a Letter and some Papers I received lately from a Friend, of which I have struck off Fifty Copies by the Press, to distribute among my ingenious Acquaintance in No. America, hoping some of them will make the Observations proposed. The Improvement of Geography and Astronomy is the common Concern of all polite Nations, and I trust our Country will not miss the Opportunity of Sharing in the Honour to be got on this Occasion. The French Originals are dispatch’d by Express over Land to Quebeck: I doubt not but you will do what may lie in your Power, to promote the Making these Observations in New England, and that we may not be excell’d by the American French, either in Diligence or Accuracy. We have here a 3 foot reflecting Telescope, and other proper Instruments; and intend to observe at our Academy, if the Weather permit. You will see by our Almanack, we have had this Transit under Consideration before the Arrival of these French Letters.
Dr. Colden’s Book was printed in England last Summer, but not to be publish’d till the Meeting of Parliament. I have one Copy, however, which I purpose shortly to send you.
With great Esteem and Respect, I am, Sir, Your most humble Servant
B Franklin
Mr. Bowdoin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Cadwallader Colden, 28 February 1753
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Colden, Cadwallader

Dear Sir
Philada. Feb. 28. 1753
I return you herewith Professor Kanster’s Remarks. As far as I am able to judge, the Translation is just, and your Answer a good one. I am pleas’d with the Omission of that part of a Paragraph relating to the German and Pensilvanian Electricians, and have corrected the Copy as you direct. I have but one other Alteration to propose, which is, to omit some Part of the last Paragraph, and read the rest thus;—”After all, Mr. Colden must think himself obliged to the Professor, for exposing the Difficulties his Treatise lies under in the Opinion of others, as thereby an Opportunity is given of explaining his Doctrine more fully to their Satisfaction.” For it seems to me not so proper to make Acknowledgement for his Translating your Piece, as if it were a Favour, when he tells the World he did it by Command: And I apprehend it unnecessary, and that it may look like too great a Fondness for Complement, to draw one from him by Consequence; viz. That he did not think it a trifling Performance, or he would not have taken the Trouble, &c. since he himself freely says, that the many new, good and just Thoughts contain’d in it, made him willingly undertake the Task enjoin’d him. Besides that it is not clear he could have refus’d to obey the Command he received, whatever might have been his private Sentiments. The Ship I intended to forward these Papers by to Mr. Collinson, has stay’d much longer than I expected, and now I am told will not sail before the End of next Month, so that I may possibly receive your Directions concerning this propos’d Alteration before she sails.
I find I was not wrong in my Apprehensions that your Book would be incorrectly printed. I hope however, that the Errata will be in England time enough to be published with the Work; and I thank you for sending them to me. I have corrected the Book accordingly, and given it one Reading; but it is not a Piece to make sudden Remarks on, as one might of a Poem or other Performance on common Subjects. I must read and consider it yet more attentively; at present I can only tell you, that some Things in it please me exceedingly; some I do not yet clearly understand; and one or two Positions I think wrong; of all which you shall hear more fully in my next. On the whole it gives me great Satisfaction, when I consider it as a Work that will not only improve Philosophy, but do Honour to America.
I am sorry I have not, as you expect, anything new to communicate to you on the Subject of Electricity. My Time and Thoughts have of late been much engag’d in other Matters: And ever since I heard of your being furnish’d with an Apparatus, I have hoped rather to receive Information of new Discoveries from you, than expected to send you any. If your other philosophical Pursuits do not prevent your Application to the Experiments you propos’d to make on various Salts, &c. I shall still hope it. Your Skill and Expertness in Mathematical Computations, will afford you an Advantage in these Disquisitions, that I lament the want of, who am like a Man searching for something in a dark Room, where I can only grope and guess; while you proceed with a Candle in your Hand.
We are preparing here to make accurate Observations on the approaching Transit of Mercury over the Sun. You will oblige us much by sending the Account you have received from Lord Macclesfield of his great mural Quadrant. I congratulate you on your Discovery of a new Motion in the Earth’s Axis: You will, I see, render your Name immortal.
I believe I have not before told you, that I have procur’d a Subscription here of £1500 to fit out a Vessel in Search of a NWest Passage: she sails in a few Days, and is called the Argo, commanded by Mr. Swaine, who was in the last Expedition in the California, Author of a Journal of that Voyage in two Volumes. We think the Attempt laudable, whatever may be the Success: if he fails, Magnis tamen excidit ausis.
With great Esteem, I am, Dear Sir, Your most humble Servant
B Franklin
 Addressed: To  The honble. Cadwalader Colden Esqr  Coldengham  Free  B Franklin


Title: Jonathan Todd to Jared Eliot, 6 March 1753
From: Todd, Jonathan
To: Eliot, Jared

Revd and Dear Sir,
East Guilford, March. 6. Anno Domi 1753

I number it among the fortunate Occurrences of my Life that I have been indulged an Interest in your Friendship. I wish I could better deserve it. Amongst many other agreable Pleasures this Way deriv’d, I esteem it a considerable One, to enjoy the Benefit of Seeing now and then Some entertaining Pieces communicated to your Self by Some of your ingenious Correspondents. Amongst all of which I have not been better pleased with any, than those ingenious Pieces of Mr. Franklin you have favour’d me with the Reading of.
I have Sometimes almost come to a Determination to endeavour by your Assistance to get into an Acquaintance with that Gentleman, a chief one in the Republick of Letters, whose Parts, Industry and Learning are known in both Englands; and devoted to the Welfare of Mankind.
But considering the Barreness of my Genius, cramp’d by my low Circumstances and many other Disadvantages, I have been discourag’d from pursuing the Same. It is doubtless fit that I be contented with the Privilege of enjoying in Some Measure the Benefit of the Correspondence between Him and yourself. I remember the Satyrical Lines of Persius:

Respue quod non es, tollat sua munera cerdo:
Tecum habita, et noris quam sit tibi curta Supellex.

However, Dear Sir, I venture to trouble you with two or three Thoughts that came into my Mind, in reading that curious Manuscript, which you last favour’d me with the Sight of, intitl’d, Physical and Meteorological Conjectures &c. which, if you please you may communicate to that learned Gentleman, not so much as real Objections to his Conjectures and Suppositions, but, as imaginary Ones to be entirely removed by Him, when he revises the Same.
“Air and Water mutually attract each other,” saith that Gentleman: “Hence Water will dissolve in Air, as Salt in Water.” I think, that he hath demonstrated, that the Supporting of Salt in Water, is not owing to its Superficies being increas’d, because the Specifick Gravity of Salt is not alter’d by dividing of it, any more than that of Lead; Sixteen Bullets of which, of an ounce each, weigh as much in Water as One, of a Pound. But yet, when this came to be applied to the Supporting of Water in Air, I found an Objection rising in my Mind.
In the first Place, I have always been loth to Seek for any new Hypothesis, or particular Law of Nature to account for any Thing that may be accounted for, from the known general and universal Laws of Nature: It being an Argument of the infinite Wisdom of the Author of the World to effect so many Things by one general Law. Now I had thought that the rising and Support of Water in Air might be accounted for from the general Law of Gravitation, by only Supposing the Spaces occupied by the Same Quantity of Water increas’d.
And with Respect to the Lead, I queried thus in my own Mind, whether if the Superficies of a Bullet of Lead should be increas’d four or five fold by an internal Vacuity, it would weigh the Same in Water as before. I mean if a Pound of Lead Should be formed into a hollow Globe empty within, whose Superficies Should be four or five Times as big as that of the Same Lead, when a Solid Lump, it would weigh as much in Water as before. I suppos’d it would not. If this Concavity was filled with Water, perhaps it might: If with Air, it would weigh, at lest, as much less as the Difference between the Weight of the included Air and that of Water.
Now altho’ this would do nothing to account for the Dissolution of Salt in Water, the Smallest Lumps of Salt being no more hollow Spheres, or anything of the like Nature than the greatest, yet perhaps it may account for Water’s rising and being Supported in Air. For we know that Such hollow Globles or Bubbles abound upon the Surface of the Waters; which even by the Breath of our Mouths we can cause to quit the Water, and rise in the Air.
These Bubbles, I us’d to suppose to be Coats of Water containing within them Air rarified and expanded with Fire; and that therefore the more Friction and Dashing there is upon the Surface of the Waters, and the more Heat and Fire, the more they abound.
And I us’d to think that altho’ Water be specifically heavier than Air, yet such a Bubble filled only with Fire and very rarify’d Air may be lighter than a Quantity of common Air of the Same cubical Dimensions; and therefore ascend. For the rarifi’d Air inclosd may more fall short of the Same Bulk of common Air in Weight, than the watery Coat exceeds a like Bulk of common Air in Gravity.
This was the Objection in my Mind, tho’, I must confess I know not how to account for the watry Coat’s encompassing the Air as above mention’d; without allowing the Attraction between Air and Water, which the Gentleman Supposes. So that I don’t know but that this Objection examin’d by that Sagacious Genius will be an additional Confirmation of the Hypothesis.
The Gentleman observes, that “A certain Quantity of Moisture should be every Moment discharg’d and taken away from the Lungs,” and hence accounts for the Suffocating Nature of Snuffs of Candles, as impregnating the Air with Grease, between which and Water there is a natural Repellency, and of Air that hath been frequently breathed in, which is overloaded with Water; and for that Reason can take no more Air. Perhaps the same Observation will account for the Suffocating Nature of Damps in Wells.
But then, if the Air can Support and take off but Such a Proportion of Water, and it is necessary that Water be so taken off from the Lungs, I queried with myself, how it is we can breath in an Air full of Vapours, so full as that they continually precipitate. Dont we see the Air overloaded, and casting forth Water plentifully, when there is no Suffocation?
The Gentleman again observes, that “The Air under the Equator and between the Tropicks being constantly heated and rarified by the Sun, rises; it’s Place is Supplied by Air from Northern and Southern Latitudes, which coming from Parts where the Air and Earth had less Motion, and not Suddenly acquiring the quicker Motion of the Equatorial Earth, appears an East Wind blowing westward. The Earth moving from West to East and Slipping under the Air.”
In reading this two Objections occur’d to my mind.
First, that it is Said the Trade Wind doth not blow in the Forenoon but only in the Afternoon.
Secondly, that either the Motion of the Northern and Southern Air towards the Equator is so Slow as to acquire almost the same Motion as the Equatorial Air, when it arrives there, So that there will be no Sensible Difference, or else the Motion of the Northern and Southern Air towards the Equator is quicker and must be Sensible, and then the Trade Wind must appear either as a South East or Northeast Wind: South of the Equator a South East Wind; North of the Equator, a Northeast. For the apparent Wind must be compounded of the Motion from North to South or Vice versa, and of the Difference between it’s Motion from West to East, and that of the Equatorial Air.
Sir. Notwithstanding these Objections I am greatly pleas’d with that Manuscript: It is the most Satisfying Solution of many Pheenomena of Nature I have seen. And ’tis not because I am not charmed with the Piece, that I desire you to present these Objections to that ingenious Gentleman; tis only to give him an Opportunity to remove them. If you think it will be too much Trouble to the Gentleman, to be so lengthy in them as I have been, you may represent them as Short as you please. I am &c.
Jonathan Todd


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Peter Collinson, 7 March 1753
From: Collinson, Peter
To: Franklin, Benjamin

My Dear Friend
Lond. March 7: 1753
I hope Mine by First Ships with some Books for L:C: [Library Company] as per account on other side and for thyself was Abbe Nolet Letters—are come safe to hand.
As Lord Bolingbroke in his Letters that I sent last [autu]mn has insinuated very severe reflections on the authenticity of the Old and New Testament, I have collected the several Replies and Vindications per the most Eminent Hands and had them bound together which I hope will prove of Service to Convince those that have too precipitately fell in with his Way of thinking.
Our Friend Cave has so many Irons in the Fire Some will burn and that is the Case thy aditional papers are not yett publishd. I have Just received Letters per Stockham in which I am acquainted that an Electrical Machine is Erected on purpose by the Kings Orders and a Physitian constantly attends to Make Experiments on Rhumatick Distempers with great Success and Wonderfull Cures have been performed.
Please to tell J: Bartram all my Letters for him are putt in his Box of Seeds Directed for Him and there is Two paper parcells for the Lib. Company under thy Address—all to the Care of Messrs. Neat & Neave.
Your proprietor has lost his Son and Heir a fine Boye to the Great Greife of the Family. It is very Variously Reported Here, but pray tell Mee what is the general Estimation of the Income of your Province to the proprietary Family and whence doth it arise.
Wee have at last received the Tenn pound bill but after much trouble and being Noted He thought fitt to pay it. I hope the [parcel] Paduasoye is come safe in Capt. Childs Trunk Mark’d IC No 8 shiped by John Samuell and gives content.
I have received none since thine of Novb 19: which I answerd per Mesnard &c. I am much Obliged for the Votes. Mr. Jackson has them to Peruse. I deliverd to him Johnsons Noticia [Noetica] which he took kindly.
Pray send Mee the Account of your births and Burials. I am my Dear friend Much yours
P Collinson

The Inclosed Letter is for our friend Elliot[?] per Mr. [unfinished].
The Duke of Argyle Desires Mee to procure for Him Doc. Douglas Works to the Time of his Death, the price I will place to your Credit account. Pray oblige us so farr as to send it per first opportunity.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Jehu Curtis, 15 March 1753
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Curtis, Jehu

Sir,
Philada. March 15. 1753
We send herewith all the Bills in a Trunk, containing as follows

1s.
1s. 6d.
2s.
2s. 6d.
5s.
10s.

1st Sort
40
Quire, containing
4000
4000
4000
4000
—
—

2d Sort
11
Quire containing
1100
—
—
1100
1100
1100

3d Sort
9
Quire containing
900
900
—
900
900
—

4th Sort
4
Quire of half Sheets
    —
    200
    —
    200
    400
    —

6000
5100
4000
6200
2400
1100

In the above, it is to be observed, that there are 100 of the 1s. 6d. Bills, more than there should be, which must be cut off, and put among the Overplus.
The Overplus is as follows

1st Sort
38
Sheets, which is one Short of our Memorandum

  2d Sort
  13
Sheets which is one over

  3d Sort
  13
Sheets which is three over

  4th Sort
7
half Sheets, which is right.

So that I either made some small Mistake in our first Counting, or in this, I cannot tell which, for the Boat is just going, and we have not time to count again.
We send also, 49 Law Books.
I am glad to hear you are getting the better of your Fit of the Gout. I have at this Instant a violent Pain in my Head, that half distracts me. I wish it were in my Foot, I think I could bear it better. Our Compliments to Mrs. Curtis, I am, Sir, Your obliged humble Servant
B Franklin
You will receive the Key of the Trunk per Post.
[For a letter from Aaron Burr, March 20, 1753, see below, p. 514.]


Title: Supplemental Experiments and Observations on Electricity, Part II, [March 1753]
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

Franklin continued to send Peter Collinson reports of his electrical experiments through 1750–52, and Collinson gave them to Edward Cave to publish. On March 7, 1753, Collinson apologized for the printer’s slowness (see above, p. 455), but the pamphlet finally appeared later that month. It sold for sixpence and contained only twenty-four pages—a title page with verso blank and twenty-two pages of text numbered consecutively with those of the Experiments and Observations   of 1751. The contents, which have appeared in the present volume under their proper dates, are recapitulated here:
Letter V. Franklin to Collinson, July 27, 1750. pp. 89–92.
  [Above, pp. 7–8]
Letter VI. Franklin to Colden, [October 31] 1751. pp. 93–4.
  [Above, pp. 201–2]
Queries and Answers, referr’d to in the foregoing Letter. pp. 95–8.
  [Above, pp. 202–5]
An Experiment towards discovering more of the Qualities of the Electric Fluid. p. 98.
  [Above, p. 377]
Letter VII. Kinnersley to Franklin, Feb. 3, 1752. pp. 99–101.
  [Above, pp. 263–5]
Letter VIII. Franklin to Kinnersley, March 2, 1752. p. 102.
  [Above, p. 269]
Letter IX. Franklin to Kinnersley, March 16, 1752. pp. 103–6.
  [Above, pp. 275–6]
Letter X. Franklin [to the Public], Oct. 19, 1752. pp. 106–8.
  [Above, pp. 366–7]
Letter XI. Franklin [to Collinson], [October 1752]. pp. 108–9.
  [Above, pp. 376–7]
Additional Errata in Part I. to the printed Electrical Papers.
  p. [110.]


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from James Bowdoin, [March 1753?]
From: Bowdoin, James
To: Franklin, Benjamin

[March? 1753]
  By the post I received your favor, enclosing several printed letters relating to the transit of Mercury over the sun. A gentleman here, who is provided with the proper instruments, and well skilled in astronomy, intends to make the necessary observations; to whom, as well as to several others, I shall communicate said letters. The  rarity of the appearance, and the improvement in geography and astronomy to be expected from it, will induce them, I hope, to make their observations with such accuracy as shall answer the end proposed.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to James Bowdoin, 12 April 1753
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Bowdoin, James

Sir
Philada. April 12. 1753
   I have shipt 18 Glass Jarrs in Casks well pack’d, on board Capt. Branscombe for Boston. 6 of them are for you, the rest I understand are for the College. Leaf Tin, such as they use in silvering Looking Glasses, is best to coat them with; they should be coated to within about 4 or 5 Inches of the Brim. Cut the Tin into Pieces of the Form in the Margin, and they will comply better with the Bellying of the Glass, one Piece only should be round to cover the Bottom; the same Shapes will serve the Inside. I had not Conveniency to coat them for you, and feared to trust any body else, Mr. Kinnersly being abroad in the W Indies. To make the Pieces comply the better they may be cut in two where the cross Lines are. They reach from the Top, to the Edge of the round Piece which covers the Bottom. I place them in loose Rims of Scabboard something like a small Sieve, in which they stand very well. If you charge more than one or two together, pray take care how you expose your Head to an accidental Stroke; for I can assure you from Experience, one is sufficient to knock a stout Man down; and I believe a Stroke from two or three in the Head, would kill him.
Has Dr. Colden’s new Book reach’d you in Boston. If not, I’ll send it to you.
With great Respect, I am, Sir Your most humble Servant
B Franklin

The Glassmaker being from home, I cannot now get the Account.
The Tin is laid on with common Paste made of Flour and Water boil’d together and the Pieces may lap over each other a little.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Cadwallader Colden, 12 April 1753
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Colden, Cadwallader

Dear Sir
Philada. April 12.1753
I received your Favour of March 20. and a subsequent one without Date, containing the Description of Lord Macclesfield’s Mural Quadrant. No Vessel has sail’d hence for England these three Months, but one goes next Week by which I shall send your Answer to the German Professor, corrected as you direct.
I see it is not without Reluctance that the Europeans will allow that they can possibly receive any Instruction from us Americans. Kanster opposes your Principles, and Nollet mine. He has lately wrote and published 6 Long Letters, directed to me, on the Subjects of my Pamphlet, in which he imagines he has taken me all to pieces. I have read and consider’d them, and remain of the same Sentiments. In one or two Places, he seems to apply to the superstitious Prejudices of the Populace, which I think unworthy of a Philosopher: He speaks as if he thought it Presumption in Man, to propose guarding himself against the Thunders of Heaven! Surely the Thunder of Heaven is no more supernatural than the Rain, Hail or Sunshine of Heaven, against the Inconveniencies of which we guard by Roofs and Shades without Scruple.
But I can now ease the Gentleman of this Apprehension; for by some late Experiments I find, that it is not Lightning from the Clouds that strikes the Earth, but Lightning from the Earth that Strikes the Clouds. They are electrified negatively and the Earth positively. This will seem a surprizing Position to you and to all Mankind; It will, when demonstrated, make a great Alteration in our Theory: But as to the Methods propos’d for Practice, to guard against the Mischiefs of Lightning, they remain the same. You are the first I communicate this to, not only as a Mark of my Respect, but that you may consider if it has any Relation to your Principles. I only request that you would not divulge it at present.
It is expected that I should answer Mons. Nollet. You see, this must at present engage the little Leisure my other Affairs afford me, and oblige me to defer explaining my self at large on the Objections I have to your Book. I must own too, that I am under some Apprehensions of sinking in your Esteem by it, unless I could well support those Objections; and I am diffident of my self, knowing my Deficiency in Mathematical Knowledge and in such Reasoning as must in some Degree depend upon it. I will confide however in your Candor, and tell you, that I cannot, after long considering the Point, persuade my self that there is in Matter any such Principle as is imagined under the Term Vis Inertia. I even conceit that the contrary may be demonstrated, i.e. that Matter gives no Resistance to Motion. But in this, all the World is against me, and with you; so that I have reason to be diffident, and slow. If I do not admit the Principle, I must think all you have said to explain it, wrong. After this Acknowledgement, I think you will be in no pain about my Objections, if you were before. But if you will send me another Copy of your Book, (for I cannot spare this) I will communicate it to a Person of Worth and Candour, and of a very philosophic Genius, to whom these abstract Researches are more familiar and more engaging than to me; and who will be, I think, such a Correspondent as you desire. He lives near Boston, and therefore to save Postage to you both, let me be the Medium of your litterary Commerce. I may then with your Permission have an Opportunity of seeing what passes between you, and perhaps assisting now and then with occasional Remarks. I think it behoves us all to join Hands for the Honour of the American Philosophy. The Gentleman is Mr. James Bowdoin, who with a great Fortune has a most amiable Character.
I thank you for the Transcript of Lord Macclesfield’s Letter, and for the Hints concerning our Observation of the Transit. I wish we may have fair Weather, for I think nothing else will now be wanting.
I send you some Ears of Barley from Barbary, which our common Friend Mr. Collinson sent me. It is said to be of an extraordinary Kind for Goodness; perhaps it may suit our Climate if the Seed can be sav’d, to which End Mr. Collinson advises sowing it in a Garden at first, where Care may be taken of [it].
I sent you last Post, a Catalogue of [torn] about your Place with a Letter from Linneus [which] I hope got safe to hand. The late Magazines ([both?] London and Gentleman’s) for several Months, have Extracts from, or Summaries of particular Parts of your Book, and promise a Continuance; by which I see it will make a great Noise. You will scarce allow me to congratulate you on these Occasions, reserving to yourself an exclusive Privilege of complimenting your Friends, in which I think you are a little arbitrary.
With sincere Esteem and Respect, I am, Dear Sir, Your obliged humble Servant
B Franklin
 Addressed: To  The honble Cadwalader Colden Esqr  Coldengham  Free  BF.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Jared Eliot, 12 April 1753
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Eliot, Jared

Dear Sir
Philada. April 12. 1753
I received your Favour of March 26. and thank you for communicating to me, the very ingenious Letter from your Friend Mr. Todd, with whom, if it may be agreable to him, I would gladly entertain a Correspondence. I shall consider his Objections till next Post.
I thank you also for the Hint concerning the Word Adhesion, which should be defin’d. When I speak of Particules of Water adhering to Particles of Air, I mean not a firm Adhesion but a loose one, like that of a Drop of Water to the End of an Icicle before freezing. The firm Adhesion is after it is frozen.
I conceive that the original constituent Particles of Water are perfectly hard, round and smooth. If so, there must be Interstices, and yet the Mass incompressible. A Box fill’d with small Shot, has many Interstices, and the Shot may be compress’d because they are not perfectly hard. If they were, the Interstices would remain the same, notwithstanding the greatest Pressure, and would admit Sand, &c. as Water admits Salt.
Our Vessel, named the Argo, is gone for the N.W. Passage; and the Capt. has borrowed my Journals of the last Voyage, except one Vol. of a broken Set, which I send you. I enclose a Letter from our Friend Mr. Collinson: and am promis’d some Speltz which I shall send per next Post.
The Tatler tells us of a Girl who was observ’d to grow suddenly proud, and none could guess the Reason, till it came to be known that she had got on a pair of new Silk Garters. Lest you should be puzzel’d to guess the Cause when you observe any thing of the kind in me, I think I will not hide my new Garters under my Petticoats, but take the Freedom to show them to you, in a Paragraph of our Friend Collinson’s last Letter viz.—But I ought to mortify, and not indulge, this Vanity; I will not transcribe the Paragraph.—Yet I cannot forbear. “If any of thy Friends (says Peter) should take Notice that thy Head is held a little higher up than formerly, let them know; when the Grand Monarch of France strictly commands the Abbé Mazeas to write a Letter in the politest Terms to the Royal Society, to return the Kings Thanks and Compliments in an express Manner to Mr. Franklin of Pennsilvania, for the useful Discoveries in Electricity, and Application of the pointed Rods to prevent the terrible Effects of Thunderstorms. I say, after all this, is not some Allowance to be made if the Crest is a little elevated. There are four Letters containing very curious Experiments on thy Doctrine of Points and its Verification, which will be printed in the New Transactions. I think now I have stuck a Feather on thy Cap, I may be allowed to conclude in wishing thee long to wear it. Thine, P. Collinson.” On reconsidering this Paragraph, I fear I have not so much Reason to be proud as the Girl had; for a Feather in the Cap is not so useful a Thing, or so serviceable to the Wearer, as a Pair of good Silk Garters. The Pride of Man is very differently gratify’d, and had his Majesty sent me a Marshal’s Staff, I think I should scarce have been so proud of it as I am of your Esteem, and of subscribing my self with Sincerity Dear Sir, Your affectionate Friend and humble Servant
B Franklin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Smith, 19 April 1753
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Smith, William

Sir
Philada. April 19. 1753
I received your Favour of the 11th Instant, with your new Piece on Education, which I shall carefully peruse; and give you my Sentiments of it as you desire, per next Post.
I believe the young Gentlemen, your Pupils, may be entertain’d and instructed here in Mathematics and Philosophy to Satisfaction. Mr. Allison (who was educated at Edinburgh, or Glasgow) has been long accustomed to teach the latter, and Mr. Grew the former, and I think their Pupils make great Progress. Mr. Allison has the Care of the Latin and Greek School, but as he has now three good Assistants in that School, he can very well afford some Hours every Day for the Instruction of those who are engag’d in higher Studies. The Mathematical School is pretty well furnished with Instruments. The English Library is a good one, and we have belonging to it a midling Apparatus for Experimental Philosophy, and purpose speedily to compleat it. The Loganian Library, one of the best Collections in America, will shortly be opened; so that neither Books nor Instruments will be wanting; and as we are determin’d always to give good Salaries, we have reason to believe we may have always an Opportunity of choosing good Masters, upon which, indeed, the Success of the whole depends. We are oblig’d to you for your kind Offers in that Respect, and when you are settled in England, we may occasionally make use of your Friendship and Judgment.
Your former Piece I read with great Approbation and Pleasure, and could never conceive what it was that could provoke the Treatment you met with on that Occasion.
If it suits your Conveniency to visit Philadelphia, before your Return to Europe, I shall be extreamly glad to see and converse with you here, as well as to correspond with you after your Settlement in England. For an Acquaintance and Communication with Men of Learning, Virtue and Publick Spirit, is one of my greatest Enjoyments.
I do not know whether you ever happen’d to see the first Proposals I made for the Erecting this Academy. I send them enclos’d. They had (however imperfect) the desired Success, being follow’d by a Subscription of £4000 towards carrying them into Execution. And as we are fond of receiving Advice, and are daily improving by Experience, I am in hopes we shall in a few Years see a perfect Institution.
I am very respectfully, Sir, Your most humble Servant
B Franklin
Mr. Smith


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas Ringgold, 2 [May?] 1753
From: Ringgold, Thomas
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir
Chestr-Town May [?] 2d 1753
One Patrick Caron with us is the Man that took up Kelly one of the Murderers of Davis and This same Man has been taken up with us on Suspicion of being a Confederate in that affair but from all the Testimony that cou’d be procured to two severel Grand Jurys at our November and March Courts nothing is found against him and he is discharged, so that, no Imputation can be against him further. But be that as it will in such Cases Faith must be kept with those Person’s or no Discoverys wou’d be made, were he guilty. But the Matter as I said appears otherwise. He has applied to me to get the Money due as the Reward published to be given to the Person that shou’d take any one of those Men. I shall be much obliged if you’l do me the Favor to inform by the Return of the Post what step is necessary for him to take to get the Money. He has a Certificate from the Justice of the Peace before whom Kelly was carried, whether an Order with that will not be sufficient and on whom it must be drawn.

I am Sir your Humble Servant in Haste the post waiting
Th Ringgold
 Addressed: To  Benjn. Franklin Esqre  Philada.
Endorsed: Mr Ringolds Letter concerng. Karon


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Jared Eliot, 3 May 1753
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Eliot, Jared

Dear Sir,
Philada. May 3. 1753.
I received your Essay last Post, and my Presses being at present engag’d in some publick Work that will not admit of Delay, I have engag’d Mr. Parker to print it out of hand at New York. You may expect to see it done in two or three Weeks. The Pacquet was not seal’d, and I observ’d that the Tables showing the Culture of sundry Fields were not with the rest of Mr. Jackson’s Papers. Perhaps you did not design them for the Press.
I wish the Barbary Barley may grow. I have some of it, and have sow’d it; but it seem’d to me to have been cut too green. I have formerly heard it reckon’d the finest Barley in the World, and that it makes a great Part of the Food of the Inhabitants.
I think I have never been more hurried in Business than at present; yet I will steal a few Minutes, to make an Observation or two on Mr. Todd’s Ingenious Letter to you.
1. The Supposing a mutual Attraction between the Particles of Water and Air, does not seem to me to be introducing a new Law of Nature; such Attractions taking Place in many other known Instances.

2. Water is specifically 850 Times heavier than Air. To render a Bubble of Water then specifically lighter than Air, it seems to me that it must take up more than 850 times the Space it did before it form’d the Bubble; and within the Bubble should be either a Vacuum or Air rarified more than 850 times. If a Vacuum, would not the Bubble be immediately crush’d by the Weight of the Atmosphere? And no Heat we know of will rarify the Air any thing near so much; much less the common Heat of the Sun, or that of Friction by the Dashing on the Surface of the Water. Besides, Water agitated ever so violently produces no Heat, as has been found by accurate Experiments.
3. A hollow Sphere of Lead, has a Firmness and Consistency in it, that a hollow Sphere of fluid unfrozen Water cannot be suppos’d to have. The Lead may support the Pressure of the Water ’tis immerg’d in, but the Bubble could not support the Pressure of the Air if empty within.
4. Was ever a visible Bubble seen to rise in Air? I have made many when a Boy with Soap Suds and a Tobacco Pipe; but they all descended when loose from the Pipe, tho’ slowly, the Air impeding their Motion. They may indeed be forc’d up by a Wind from below, but do not rise of themselves, tho’ filled with warm Breath.
5. The Objection relating to our Breathing moist Air, seems weighty, and must be farther consider’d. The Air that has been breath’d has doubtless acquir’d an Addition of the perspirable Matter, which Nature intends to free the Body from, and which would be pernicious if retain’d, or return’d into the Blood. Such Air then may become unfit for Respiration, as well for that Reason, as on Account of its Moisture. Yet I should be glad to learn by some accurate Experiment whether a Draft of Air two or three times inspired and exspired, (perhaps in a Bladder) has or has not acquired more Moisture than our common Air in the dampest Weather.
As to the Precipitation of Water in the Air we breathe, perhaps it is not always a Mark of that Air’s being overloaded. In the Region of the Clouds, indeed, the Air must be overloaded (its Coldness considered) if it lets fall its Water in Drops, which we call Rain; but those Drops may fall thro’ a dryer Air near the Earth; and accordingly we find, that the Hygroscope sometimes shows a less Degree of Moisture during a Shower, than at other times when it does not rain at all. The dewy Dampness that settles on the Insides of our Walls and on our Wainscots, seems more certainly to denote an Air overloaded with Moisture, and yet this is no sure Sign. For after a long-continu’d cold Season, if the Air grow suddenly warm, the Walls, &c. continuing their Coldness longer, will for some time condense the Moisture of such Air, ’till they grow equally warm; and then they condense no more, altho’ the Air is not become dryer. And on the other Hand after a warm Spell, if the Air grow cold, tho’ moister than before, the Dew is not so apt to gather on the warm Walls. A Tankard of cold Water, will, in a hot and dry Summer’s Day, collect a Dew on its Outside. Tankard of hot Water will collect none in the moistest Weather.
6. ’Tis, I think, a Mistake, that the Trade Winds blow only in the Afternoon. They blow all Day, and all Night; and all the Year round, except in some particular Places. The Southerly Sea Breezes on your Coast indeed blow chiefly in the Afternoon. In the very long Run from the West Side of America to Guam among the Philippine Islands, Ships seldom have occasion to hand their Sails, and yet they make it in about 60 Days, which could not be if the Wind blew only in the Afternoon.
7. That really is, which the Gentleman justly supposes ought to be on my Hypothesis. In Sailing southward, when you first enter the Trade Wind, you find it N.E. or thereabouts, and it gradually grows more East as you approach the Line. The same Observation is made of its changing from S. East to East gradually, as you come from the Southern Latitudes to the Equator.
I have not yet had Time to transcribe my Paper on the Increase of Mankind, but hope to do it shortly, and shall be glad of your and Mr. Todd’s Sentiments on it. My Respects to that Gentleman; and be assured that I am, very affectionately, Dear Sir, Your most humble Servant
B Franklin
Mr. Elliot


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson, 9 May 1753
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Collinson, Peter

Although this is one of Franklin’s most important letters, there has been difficulty about both its date and its recipient. Moreover, it has never been printed accurately, nor can it be here, for no Franklin autograph has been found. The two fullest surviving versions, and those nearest to Franklin’s style, are the copy among the Hardwicke Papers in the New York Public Library and that among the Shaftesbury Papers in the Public Record Office. They are by different copyists, each with his own ideas about punctuation, capitalization, and paragraphing. Very occasionally they differ also in phraseology, and neither conforms fully to Franklin’s normal usage in all these matters. The Hardwicke copy is printed here because it seems on the whole a little closer to what he probably wrote. The American Philosophical Society version, docketed in an unknown hand, was never Franklin’s; it is the work of a careless copyist who, though in a few instances his version followed Franklin probably more closely than either of the first two, omitted phrases, reversed word order, and spelled, capitalized, and punctuated as Franklin would not have done. By and for whom these copies were made is not known, but it may be mentioned that in 1753 Philip Yorke, first Baron Hardwicke (later raised to an earldom) was lord chancellor, and that the fourth Earl of Shaftesbury was a member of the Society for the Relief and Instruction of Poor Germans.
The fourth manuscript version, in the British Museum, has been the occasion of much speculation. It contains only that third of the letter which relates to the Germans; it is in Peter Collinson’s hand, headed “Benn Franklin Esqr. Observations of the present State of the Germans in the province of Pensilvania In a Letter to R: J: Esqr. Philadelphia May 5th. 1753”; and it is incorporated in an undated letter from Collinson to Rev. Caspar Wettstein. The discrepancy between Collinson’s date of May 5 and the date of May 9 in all other versions is probably only another example of the Quaker merchant’s careless penmanship; but the explicit statement that the letter was addressed to Richard Jackson presents a problem. The surviving Franklin-Jackson correspondence makes it clear, however, that Franklin addressed the letter to Collinson, and that Collinson immediately sent Jackson a copy. The endorsement on the Hardwicke copy also supports the conclusion that Collinson was the addressee. The most plausible explanation seems to be that, in sending the copy to Wettstein, Collinson did not wish, for some reason, to be known as the recipient—and sharer—of Franklin’s sentiments on the Germans.
There is still a fifth version: it omits a few sentences and breaks off near the end, but it is fuller than the Collinson copy. It was printed in the Gentleman’s Magazine in 1834, and was reprinted by Sparks, Smyth, and Van Doren, none of whom knew the copies in the New York Public Library, the Public Record Office, and the American Philosophical Society.
Franklin’s grasp of the problems created for the English by a large, unassimilated, German-speaking population in Pennsylvania impressed Collinson, who not only showed the letter to English friends, but wrote Cadwallader Colden about it. Colden asked at once for a copy, but Franklin declined to send one, saying it contained nothing new to an American. Meanwhile in London, urged on by friends of Pennsylvania, notably by young William Smith, who was there for ordination, a group of English philanthropists formed the Society for the Relief and Instruction of Poor Germans to establish English schools and win the Pennsylvania Germans to the British interest.

Sir
Philadelphia May 9th. 1753
I received your Favour of the 29th. August last and thank you for the kind and judicious remarks you have made on my little Piece. Whatever further occurs to you on the same subject, you will much oblige me in communicating it.
I have often observed with wonder, that Temper of the poor English Manufacturers and day Labourers which you mention, and acknowledge it to be pretty general. When any of them happen to come here, where Labour is much better paid than in England, their Industry seems to diminish in equal proportion. But it is not so with the German Labourers; They retain the habitual Industry and Frugality they bring with them, and now receiving higher Wages an accumulation arises that makes them all rich.
When I consider, that the English are the Offspring of Germans, that the Climate they live in is much of the same Temperature; when I can see nothing in Nature that should create this Difference, I am apt to suspect it must arise from Institution, and I have sometimes doubted, whether the Laws peculiar to England which compel the Rich to maintain the Poor, have not given the latter, a Dependance that very much lessens the care of providing against the wants of old Age.
I have heard it remarked that the Poor in Protestant Countries on the Continent of Europe, are generally more industrious than those of Popish Countries, may not the more numerous foundations in the latter for the relief of the poor have some effect towards rendering them less provident. To relieve the misfortunes of our fellow creatures is concurring with the Deity, ’tis Godlike, but if we provide encouragements for Laziness, and supports for Folly, may it not be found fighting against the order of God and Nature, which perhaps has appointed Want and Misery as the proper Punishments for, and Cautions against as well as necessary consequences of Idleness and Extravagancy.
Whenever we attempt to mend the scheme of Providence and to interfere in the Government of the World, we had need be very circumspect lest we do more harm than Good. In New England they once thought Black-birds useless and mischievous to their corn, they made [Laws] to destroy them, the consequence was, the Black-birds were diminished but a kind of Worms which devoured their Grass, and which the Black-birds had been used to feed on encreased prodigiously; Then finding their Loss in Grass much greater than their saving in corn they wished again for their Black-birds.
We had here some years since a Transylvanian Tartar, who had travelled much in the East, and came hither merely to see the West, intending to go home thro’ the spanish West Indies, China &c. He asked me one day what I thought might be the Reason that so many and such numerous nations, as the Tartars in Europe and Asia, the Indians in America, and the Negroes in Africa, continued a wandring careless Life, and refused to live in Cities, and to cultivate the arts they saw practiced by the civilized part of Mankind. While I was considering what answer to make him; I’ll tell you, says he in his broken English, God make man for Paradise, he make him for to live lazy; man make God angry, God turn him out of Paradise, and bid him work; man no love work; he want to go to Paradise again, he want to live lazy; so all mankind love lazy. Howe’er this may be it seems certain, that the hope of becoming at some time of Life free from the necessity of care and Labour, together with fear of penury, are the mainsprings of most peoples industry.
To those indeed who have been educated in elegant plenty, even the provision made for the poor may appear misery, but to those who have scarce ever been better provided for, such provision may seem quite good and sufficient, these latter have then nothing to fear worse than their present Conditions, and scarce hope for any thing better than a Parish maintainance; so that there is only the difficulty of getting that maintainance allowed while they are able to work, or a little shame they suppose attending it, that can induce them to work at all, and what they do will only be from hand to mouth.
The proneness of human Nature to a life of ease, of freedom from care and labour appears strongly in the little success that has hitherto attended every attempt to civilize our American Indians, in their present way of living, almost all their Wants are supplied by the spontaneous Productions of Nature, with the addition of very little labour, if hunting and fishing may indeed be called labour when Game is so plenty, they visit us frequently, and see the advantages that Arts, Sciences, and compact Society procure us, they are not deficient in natural understanding and yet they have never shewn any Inclination to change their manner of life for ours, or to learn any of our Arts; When an Indian Child has been brought up among us, taught our language and habituated to our Customs, yet if he goes to see his relations and make one Indian Ramble with them, there is no perswading him ever to return, and that this is not natural [to them] merely as Indians, but as men, is plain from this, that when white persons of either sex have been taken prisoners young by the Indians, and lived a while among them, tho’ ransomed by their Friends, and treated with all imaginable tenderness to prevail with them to stay among the English, yet in a Short time they become disgusted with our manner of life, and the care and pains that are necessary to support it, and take the first good Opportunity of escaping again into the Woods, from whence there is no reclaiming them. One instance I remember to have heard, where the person was brought home to possess a good Estate; but finding some care necessary to keep it together, he relinquished it to a younger Brother, reserving to himself nothing but a gun and a match-Coat, with which he took his way again to the Wilderness.
Though they have few but natural wants and those easily supplied. But with us are infinite Artificial wants, no less craving than those of Nature, and much more difficult to satisfy; so that I am apt to imagine that close Societies subsisting by Labour and Arts, arose first not from choice, but from necessity: When numbers being driven by war from their hunting grounds and prevented by seas or by other nations were crowded together into some narrow Territories, which without labour would not afford them Food. However as matters [now] stand with us, care and industry seem absolutely necessary to our well being; they should therefore have every Encouragement we can invent, and not one Motive to diligence be subtracted, and the support of the Poor should not be by maintaining them in Idleness, But by employing them in some kind of labour suited to their Abilities of body &c. as I am informed of late begins to be the practice in many parts of England, where work houses are erected for that purpose. If these were general I should think the Poor would be more careful and work voluntarily and lay up something for themselves against a rainy day, rather than run the risque of being obliged to work at the pleasure of others for a bare subsistence and that too under confinement. The little value Indians set on what we prize so highly under the name of Learning appears from a pleasant passage that happened some years since at a Treaty between one of our Colonies and the Six Nations; when every thing had been settled to the Satisfaction of both sides, and nothing remained but a mutual exchange of civilities, the English Commissioners told the Indians, they had in their Country a College for the instruction of Youth who were there taught various languages, Arts, and Sciences; that there was a particular foundation in favour of the Indians to defray the expense of the Education of any of their sons who should desire to take the Benefit of it. And now if the Indians would accept of the Offer, the English would take half a dozen of their brightest lads and bring them up in the Best manner; The Indians after consulting on the proposal replied that it was remembered some of their Youths had formerly been educated in that College, but it had been observed that for a long time after they returned to their Friends, they were absolutely good for nothing being neither acquainted with the true methods of killing deer, catching Beaver or surprizing an enemy. The Proposition however, they looked on as a mark of the kindness and good will of the English to the Indian Nations which merited a grateful return; and therefore if the English Gentlemen would send a dozen or two of their Children to Onondago the great Council would take care of their Education, bring them up in really what was the best manner and make men of them.
I am perfectly of your mind, that measures of great Temper are necessary with the Germans: and am not without Apprehensions, that thro’ their indiscretion or Ours, or both, great disorders and inconveniences may one day arise among us; Those who come hither are generally of the most ignorant Stupid Sort of their own Nation, and as Ignorance is often attended with Credulity when Knavery would mislead it, and with Suspicion when Honesty would set it right; and as few of the English understand the German Language, and so cannot address them either from the Press  or Pulpit, ’tis almost impossible to remove any prejudices they once entertain. Their own Clergy have very little influence over the people; who seem to take an uncommon pleasure in abusing and discharging the Minister on every trivial occasion. Not being used to Liberty, they know not how to make a modest use of it; and as Kolben says of the young Hottentots, that they are not esteemed men till they have shewn their manhood by beating their mothers, so these seem to think themselves not free, till they can feel their liberty in abusing and insulting their Teachers. Thus they are under no restraint of Ecclesiastical Government; They behave, however, submissively enough at present to the Civil Government which I wish they may continue to do: For I remember when they modestly declined intermeddling in our Elections, but now they come in droves, and carry all before them, except in one or two Counties; Few of their children in the Country learn English; they import many Books from Germany; and of the six printing houses in the Province, two are entirely German, two half German half English, and but two entirely English; They have one German News-paper, and one half German. Advertisments intended to be general are now printed in Dutch and English; the Signs in our Streets have inscriptions in both languages, and in some places only German: They begin of late to make all their Bonds and other legal Writings in their own Language, which (though I think it ought not to be) are allowed good in our Courts, where the German Business so encreases that there is continual need of Interpreters; and I suppose in a few years they will be also necessary in the Assembly, to tell one half of our Legislators what the other half say; In short unless the stream of their importation could be turned from this to other Colonies, as you very judiciously propose, they will soon so out number us, that all the advantages we have will not [in My Opinion] be able to preserve our language, and even our Government will become precarious. The French who watch all advantages, are now [themselves] making a German settlement back of us in the Ilinoes Country, and by means of those Germans they may in time come to an understanding with ours, and indeed in the last war our Germans shewed a general disposition that seems to bode us no good; for when the English who were not Quakers, alarmed by the danger arising from the defenceless state of our Country entered unanimously into an Association within this Government and the lower Countries [Counties] raised armed and Disciplined [near] 10,000 men, the Germans except a very few in proportion to their numbers refused to engage in it, giving out one among another, and even in print, that if they were quiet the French should they take the Country would not molest them; at the same time abusing the Philadelphians for fitting out Privateers against the Enemy; and representing the trouble hazard and Expence of defending the Province, as a greater inconvenience than any that might be expected from a change of Government. Yet I am not for refusing entirely to admit them into our Colonies: all that seems to be necessary is, to distribute them more equally, mix them with the English, establish English Schools where they are now too thick settled, and take some care to prevent the practice lately fallen into by some of the Ship Owners, of sweeping the German Goals to make up the number of their Passengers. I say I am not against the Admission of Germans in general, for they have their Virtues, their industry and frugality is exemplary; They are excellent husbandmen and contribute greatly to the improvement of a Country.
I pray God long to preserve to Great Britain the English Laws, Manners, Liberties and Religion notwithstanding the complaints so frequent in Your public papers, of the prevailing corruption and degeneracy of your People; I know you have a great deal of Virtue still subsisting among you, and I hope the Constitution is not so near a dissolution, as some seem to apprehend; I do not think you are generally become such Slaves to your Vices, as to draw down that Justice Milton speaks of when he says that

——sometimes Nations will descend so low
From reason, which is virtue, that no Wrong,
But Justice, and some fatal curse annex’d
Deprives them of their outward liberty,
Their inward lost. Parad: lost.

In history we find that Piety, Public Spirit and military Prowess have their Flows, as well as their ebbs, in every nation, and that the Tide is never so low but it may rise again; But should this dreaded fatal change happen in my time, how should I even in the midst of the Affliction rejoice, if we have been able to preserve those invaluable treasures, and can invite the good among you to come and partake of them! O let not Britain seek to oppress us, but like an affectionate parent endeavour to secure freedom to her children; they may be able one day to assist her in defending her own—Whereas a Mortification begun in the Foot may spread upwards to the destruction of the nobler parts of the Body.
I fear I have [already] extended this rambling letter beyond your patience, and therefore conclude with requesting your acceptance of the inclosed Pamphlet from Sir Your most humble servant
B: Franklin
 Endorsed: Franklin’s letter to Collison from Philadelphia date 9th May 1753


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 9 May 1753
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Strahan, William

Dear Sir
Philad. May 9. 1753
I have your Favour of Jany. 30 and thank you for the Civility shown on my Recommendation to Mr. Harris. What you mention concerning the Books, was not at all amiss.
Neither the 2d Vol. of Bower’s History of the Popes, nor Delaresse’s Art of Painting, nor Crito, are to be found in Mr. Hall’s Trunks.
I have settled a Nephew of mine in Antigua, in the Place of Mr. Smith, deceas’d. I take him to be a very honest industrious Lad, and hope he will do well there, and in time be of some Use to you as a Correspondent. Please to send him a little Cargo of Books and Stationary, agreable to the Invoice over Leaf. I will send you a Bill on this Account perhaps by next Ship.
Please to tender my Compliments to Mrs. Strahan and Master Billy. I am, Dear Sir, Your obliged and most humble Servant
B Franklin

What is become of A. Drummond’s Travels? Will they be printed?
3 Ream best Propatria Paper, cut
2 Ditto Pot
1 Ditto fine Post 500 best Quills
3 Doz Inkpowder, British
2 lb Wafers, some large
1 Doz common Bibles

1 Doz Testaments
1 Doz Psalters
2 Doz Primmers.
And a few of your newest and most saleable Books, amounting in the whole to about £25 Sterling.

 Addressed: To  Mr Wm Strahan  Printer in New Street  near Fleetstreet  London  Per Capt. Reeves


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from John Perkins, 14 May 1753
From: Perkins, John
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir,
Boston, May 14, 1753
I received your letter of April last, and thank you for it. Several things in it make me at a loss which side the truth lies on, and determine me to wait for farther evidence.
As to shooting stars, as they are called, I know very little, and hardly know what to say. I imagine them to be passes of electric fire from place to place in the atmosphere, perhaps occasioned by accidental pressures of a non-electric circumambient fluid, and so by propulsion, or allicited by the circumstance of a distant quantity minus electrified, which it shoots to supply, and becomes apparent by its contracted passage through a non-electric medium. Electric fire in our globe is always in action, sometimes ascending, descending, or passing from region to region. I suppose it avoids too dry air, and therefore we never see these shoots ascend. It always has freedom enough to pass down unobserved, but, I imagine, not always so, to pass to distant climes and meridians less stored with it.
The shoots are sometimes all one way, which, in the last case, they should be.
Possibly there may be collections of particles in our atmosphere, which gradually form, by attraction, either similar ones per se, or dissimilar particles, by the intervention of others. But then, whether they shoot or explode of themselves, or by the approach of some suitable foreign collection, accidentally brought near by the usual commotions and interchanges of our atmosphere, especially when the higher and lower regions intermix, before change of winds and weather, I leave.
I believe I have now said enough of what I know nothing about. If it should serve for your amusement, or any way oblige you, it is all I aim at, and shall, at your desire, be always ready to say what I think, as I am sure of your candour. I am, &c.


Title: John Perkins: Causes of Water Spouts, 1753
From: Perkins, John
To:

[1753?]
Spouts have been generally believ’d Ascents of water from below, to the Region of the Clouds, And Whirlwinds the Means of Conveyance. The World has been very well satisfied with these Opinions, and prejudiced with Respect to any Observations about them. Men of Learning and Capacity have had many Opportunitys in passing those Regions where these phenomena were most frequent, but seem industriously to have declin’d any Notice of them, unless to escape Danger, as a Matter of mere Impertinence in a Case so clear and certain as their Nature and Manner of Operation are taken to be. Hence it has been difficult to get any tolerable Accounts of them. None but those they fell near can inform us any thing to be depended on; three or four such Instances follow, where the Vessels were so near, that their Crews could not avoid knowing something remarkable with Respect to the Matters in Question.
Capt. Jno. Wakefield, Junr., passing the Streights of Gybralter, had one fall by the Side of his Ship; it came down of a sudden, as they think, and all agree that the Descent was certain.

Capt. Langstaff, on a Voyage to West-Indias, had one come across the Stern of his Vessel, and pass’d away from him. The Water came down in such Quantity that the present Capt. Melling, who was then a common Sailor at Helm, says it almost drown’d him, running into Mouth, Nose, Ears, &c. and ads, that it tasted perfectly fresh.
One pass’d by the Side of Capt. Howland’s Ship, so near that it appear’d pretty plain that the Water descended from first to last.
Mr. Robert Spring was so near one in the Streights of Mallacca, that he could perceive it to be a small very thick Rain.
All these assure me, that there was no Wind drawing towards them, nor have [I] found any others that have observ’d such a Wind.
It seems plain, by these few Instances, that Whirlwinds do not always attend Spouts; and that the Water really descends in some of them. But the following Considerations, in Confirmation of this Opinion, may, perhaps, render it probable that all Spouts are Descents.
It seems unlikely that there should be two Sorts of Spouts, One ascending and the other descending.
It has not yet been prov’d that any one Spout ever ascended. A specious Appearance is all that can be produced in favour of this; And those who have been most positive about it, were at more than a League’s Distance when they Observ’d, as Stuart and others, if I am not mistaken. However, I believe it impossible to be certain whether Water ascends or descends at half the Distance.
It may not be amiss to consider the Places where they happen most. These are such as are lyable to Calms from departing Winds on both Sides, As on the Borders of the Æquinoctial Trade, Calms on the Coast of Guinea, In the Streights of Mallacca, &c. Places where the under Region of the Atmosphear, is drawn off Horozontally. I think they dont come where the Calms are without departing Winds; And I take the Reason to be, that such Places, and Places where Winds blow towards one-another, are lyable to Whirlwinds, or other Ascents of the lower Region, which I suppose contrary to Spouts. But the former are lyable to descents, which I take to be necessary to their Production. Agreable to this, it seems reasonable to believe, that any Mediterranean Seas should be more subject to Spouts than others. The Sea usually so call’d is so. The Streights of Mallacca is. Some large Gulphs may probably be so, in Sutable Latitudes; So the Red Sea, &c. and all for this Reason, that the heated Lands on each Side, draw off the under Region of Air, and make the upper descend, whence sudden and wonderfull Condensations may take place, and make these Descents.
It seems to me, that the Manner of their Appearance and Procedure, favour the Notion of a Descent.
More or less of a Cloud, as I am inform’d, always appears over the place first; then a Spattering on the Surface of the Water below; and when this is advanced to a considerable Degree, the Spout emerges from the Cloud, and descends, and that, if the Causes are sufficient, down to the Place of the Spattering, with a Roaring in Proportion to the Quantity of the Discharge; then it abates, or stops, sometimes more gradually, sometimes more suddenly.
I must observe a few Things on these Particulars, to show how I think they agree with my Hypothesis.
The preceeding Cloud over the Place shows Condensation, and, consequently, tendencie downwards, which therefore must naturally prevent any Ascent. Besides that, so far as I can learn, a Whirlwind never comes under a Cloud, but in a clear Sky.
The Spattering may be easily conceiv’d to be caus’d by a Stream of Drops, falling with great Force on the Place, imagining the Spout to begin so, when a sudden and great Condensation happens in a contracted Space, as the Ox Eye on the Coast of Guinea.
The Spout appearing to descend from the Cloud seems to be, by the Stream of nearly contiguous Drops bringing the Air into Consent, so as to carry down a Quantity of the Vapour of the Cloud; and the pointed Appearance it makes may be from the descending Course being swiftest in the Middle, or Center of the Spout. This naturally drawing the outer parts inward, and the Center to a Point; And that will appear formost that moves swiftest. The Phenomenon of Retiring and Advancing, I think may be accounted for, by supposing the progressive Motion to exceed or not equal the Consumption of the Vapour by Condensation. Or more plainly thus: The descending Vapour which forms the apparent Spout, if it be slow in its progress downwards, is condens’d as fast as it advances, and so appears at a Stand; When it is condens’d faster than it advances, it appears to retire; and vice versa.
It’s Duration and Manner of Ending, are as the Causes, and may vary by several Accidents.
The Cloud it self may be so circumstanc’d as to Stop it; as when, extending Wide, it weighs down at a Distance round about, while a small Circle at the Spout being exonerated by the Discharge, ascends and shuts up the Passage. A new Determination of Wind may, perhaps, Stop it too. Places lyable to these Appearances are very lyable to frequent and sudden Alterations of it.
Such Accidents as a Clap of Thunder, Firing Cannon, &c. may Stop them, And the Reason may be, that any Shock of this Kind may occasion the Particles that are near coheering immediatly to do so; and then the whole, thus condens’d, falls at once (which is what I suppose is vulgarly called the breaking of the Spout) and in the Interval, between this Period and that of the next Set of Particles being ready to Unite, the Spout Shuts up. So that if this reasoning is just, these Phenomena agree with my Hypothesis.
The usual Temper of the Air, at the Time of their Appearance, if I have a right Information, is for me too; it being then pretty cool for the Season and Climate; and this is worth Remark, because cool Air is weighty, and will not ascend; besides, when the Air grows cool, it shows that the upper Region descends, and conveys this Temper down; and when the Tempers are equal, no Whirlwind can take Place. But Spouts have been known, when the lower Region has been really cold. Gordon’s Spout in the Downs is an Instance of this (vid. Phil. Trans.) where the Upper Region was probably not at all cooler, if so cold as the lower: It was a cold Day in the Month of March; Hail follow’d, but not Snow; And it is observable, that not so much as Hail follows or accompanys them in Moderate Seasons and Climes, when and where they are most frequent. However, it is not improbable, that just about the place of Descent may be cooler than the neighbouring Parts, and so favour the wonderfull Celerity of Condensation. But, after all, Should we allow the under Region to be ever-so-much the hottest, and a Whirlwind to take Place in it: Suppose then the Sea Water to ascend, it would certainly cool the Spout, and then, Querie, whether it would not very much, if not wholy, obstruct it’s Progress.

It commonly rains when Spouts disappear, if it did not before, which it frequently dos not, by the best accounts I have had; but the Clouds encreases much faster after they disappear, and it soon rains. The first shows the Spout to be a contracted Rain, instead of the diffus’d one that follows; And the Latter that the Cloud was not form’d by ascending Water, for then it would have ceas’d growing when the Spout vanish’d.
However, it seems that Spouts have sometimes appear’d after it began to rain; But this is one way a Proof of my Hypothesis, Vizt. as Whirlwinds dont come under a Cloud.
I forgot to mention, That the Increase of Cloud, while the Spout subsists, is no Argument of an Ascent of Water, by the Spout. Since Thunder Clouds sometimes encrease greatly while it rains very hard.
Diverse Effects of Spouts seem not so well accounted for any other way as by Descent.
The Bush round the Feet of them seems to be a great Spray of Water made by the Violence of Descent, like that in great Falls of Water from high Precipices.
The great Roar, like some vast inland Falls, is so different from the Roar of Whirlwind, by all Accounts, as to be no ways compatible.
The throwing Things from it with great Force, instead of carrying them up into the Air, &c.
There seems some probability that the Sailors traditionary Belief that Spouts may break in their Decks, and so destroy Vessels, might originate from some Facts of that Sort in former Times. This Danger is apparent on my Hypothesis, but it seems not so on the other: And my Reason for it is, that the whole Column of a Spout from the Sea to the Clouds, cannot, in a natural way, even upon the largest Suppositions, Support more than about three Feet Water, and from truly supposable Causes, not above One Foot, as may appear more plainly by and by. Supposing now the largest of these Quantitys to rise, it must be disseminated into Drops, from the Surface of the Sea to the Region of the Clouds, or higher; for this reason it is quite unlikely to be collected into Masses, or a Bodie, upon its Falling; but would descend in Progression according to the several Degrees of Altitude the different portions had arriv’d at when it receiv’d this new Determination.
Now that there cannot more rise upon the common Hypothesis than I have mention’d, may appear probable, if we attend to the only Efficient Cause in suppos’d ascending Spouts, vizt. Whirlwinds.
We know that the Rarifaction of the lower, and the Condensation of the upper Region of Air, are the only natural Causes of Whirlwinds. Let us then suppose the Former as hot as their greatest Summer Heat in England, and the Latter as cold as the Extent of their Winter. These Extreams have been found there to alter the Weight of the Air 1/10, which is equal to a little more than three Feet Water. Were this Case possible, and a Whirlwind take place in it, It might act with a Force equall to the mention’d Difference. But as this is the whole Strength, so much Water could not rise; therefore to allow it due Motion upwards, we must abate, at least, one 4th. part, perhaps more, to give it such a swift ascension as some think usual. But here several Difficulties occur, at least they are so to me. As, whether this Quantity would render the Spout Opaque? Since it is plain that in drops it could not do so. How, or by what Means it may be reduced small enough? Or, if the Water be not reduced into Vapour, what will suspend it in the Region of the Clouds when exonerated there? And, if vapouris’d while ascending, How it can be dangerous by what they call the breaking? For it is difficult to conceive how a condensative Power should instantaneously take Place of a rarifying and disseminating one.
The Sudden Fall of the Spout, or, rather, the Sudden Ceasing of it, I accounted for, in my Way, before. But it seems necessary to mention something I then forgot. Should it be said to do so, (i.e.) to fall, because all the lower rarified Air is ascended, whence the Whirlwind must cease, and its burden drop; I cannot agree to this, unless the Air be observ’d on a Sudden to have grown much colder, which I cant learn has been the Case. Or Should it be Suppos’d that the Spout was, on a Sudden, obstructed at the Top, and this the cause of the Fall, however plausible this might appear, yet no more Water would fall than what was at the same Time contain’d in the Column, which is often, by many and satisfactory Accounts to me, again far from being the Case.

We are, I think, sufficiently assur’d, that not only Tonns, but Scores or Hundreds of Tonns descend in one Spout. Scores of Times
But, after all, it dont appear that the above mention’d different Degrees of heat and Cold concurr in any Region where Spouts usually happen, nor, indeed, in any other.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from James Mitchell, 19 May 1753
From: Mitchell, James
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir
York May 19. 1753
I Received yours of April 28. Your order on me in favour of Mrs. Benger for one Hundred Dollars, shall be punctualy paid when presented, as was your order on me for fifty Pounds. I shall by Next post send an Account of the Stoves paid and those on hand. I am Your Obedient Servant
James Mitchell
The Inclosed is for my Son in Law, Expected your way from Fiall, if you heare of his Arrival at New York pray send it to him.
 Addressed: To  Mr. Benjamin Franklan  Philadelphia  Free J. Mitchell


Title: Pennsylvania Assembly: Message to the Governor on Paper Currency, 25 May 1753
From: Pennsylvania Assembly
To:

On consideration of the report of the committee on paper currency, trade, and population, submitted August 19, 1752 (see above, p. 344), the Assembly on January 18, 1753, sitting as a committee of the whole, unanimously approved three resolutions:
“That it is the Opinion of this Committee [i.e., of the whole], that it is necessary that the Paper-money of this Province should be re-emitted for a further Time.
“That it is the Opinion of this Committee, that there should be a Sum struck, to exchange the ragged and torn Bills, now by Law current within this Province.
“That it is the Opinion of this Committee, that there is a Necessity of a farther Addition to the Paper-money, at present current by Law within this Province.”
The House then appointed a committee to draft a bill agreeable to these resolves; it was composed of Edward Warner, Evan Morgan, Benjamin Franklin, Mahlon Kirkbride, Joseph Gibbons, James Wright, John Wright, John Armstrong, Moses Starr, and James Burnside. A money bill for £20,000 was brought in January 19; it passed the House January 24; but Governor Hamilton announced, January 26, he could not approve it, being “well assured the Dislike raised in Britain, of the Bills of Credit in the Plantations, by the late too general and undistinguishing Complaints, still so warmly subsists, as to make any Application to the Crown, about our Currency, at this Time very unseasonable.” The House deferred further consideration until the next sitting.
They resumed consideration on May 23 and the next day appointed Edward Warner, John Smith, Benjamin Franklin, Hugh Roberts, Mahlon Kirkbride, Joseph Gibbons, Arthur Patterson, John Wright, Joseph Armstrong, Moses Starr, and James Burnside to draft a message to the governor accompanying the bill, which they returned unchanged. This message, approved by the House May 25, is printed here. Governor Hamilton returned the bill on August 29 with several amendments. The House, however, adhered to its version; the governor insisted on his amendments; and on September 5 another message was sent to the governor.

May it please the Governor,
[May 25, 1753]
The Governor’s Apprehension, at our last Sitting, that the Dislike raised in Great-Britain of the Bills of Credit in the Plantations by the late too general and undistinguishing Complaints, so warmly subsisted, as to make any Application to the Crown about our Currency at that Time unseasonable, induced the House, notwithstanding their different Sentiments, to make a short Adjournment, to consider farther of the Weight of that Objection; and also of the Sums by that Bill proposed to be made, and continued current in this Province. And now, when we reflect, that tho’ the Complaints against a Paper Currency, arising from the Excesses of some Colonies therein, were indeed at first too general and undistinguishing, so as to occasion the Bringing into Parliament a Bill for restraining the same in all the Colonies; yet, as upon strict Enquiry (a State of our Currency then lying before them) the Parliament thought fit to alter the bill, and lay the Restraint only on those Colonies where that Currency had been abused, we cannot but look on this as distinguishing in our Favour; especially as we are assured, that no Complaints were ever made of our Currency by the British Merchants, trading hither, who only could be affected [by] it; but that on the contrary they have, whenever called upon for their Opinion by the Parliament or the Lords of Trade, appeared openly and warmly in its Favour, and declared (as they did in 1739, when our Act for Eighty Thousand Pounds, the present Sum, was under Consideration) “That it was not only a reasonable Sum, but absolutely necessary for carrying on the Commerce of the Country;” which appears by the Report of the said Lords, made on that Occasion to the Council. And as the Exports from Britain to this Province, of which we have authentic Accounts, had then, in the three preceding Years, amounted to no more than One Hundred Seventy-nine Thousand Six Hundred Fifty-four Pounds, Nine Shillings, and Two-pence, Sterling; and now in the Years 1749, 1750, and 1751, they amount to Six Hundred Forty-seven Thousand Three Hundred Seventeen Pounds, Eight Shillings, and Nine-pence, Sterling; and our Numbers of People, and Domestic Trade, and the Occasions for a Medium of Commerce, are equally increased, there cannot, we think, be any Doubt, but the British Merchants will now likewise be of Opinion, that the small Addition we at present propose is absolutely necessary, tho’ they may not think it so suitable to our Circumstances as a larger Sum; One Hundred Thousand Pounds of Paper Currency bearing by no Means the same Proportion to our Trade now, as Eighty Thousand Pounds did then. And it is certain, that as the Money circulating among us diminishes, so must our Trade and Usefulness to Great-Britain, and our Consumption of its Manufactures, diminish.
Upon the Whole, we intreat the Governor to consider the distressing Circumstances under which the Trade, and in Consequence the whole Province must languish, if, contrary to our Expectations, the Bill we now present him should not be enacted into a Law. And we are well assured, that as the Governor has been pleased to declare his Sentiments of the many Advantages we derive from the Use of Paper Money, his transmitting it Home, in a true Light, will make our Application to the Crown as effectual as it is seasonable.