CH. xxix. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 253 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



SCIENCE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED). 



Benjamin Franklin, bom 1706 His Early Life Du Faye discovers 

 two kinds of Electricity Franklin proves that Electricity exists in 

 all bodies, and is only developed by Friction Positive and Nega- 

 tive Electricity Franklin draws down Electricity from the Sky 

 Invents Lightning-conductors Discovery of Animal Electricity 

 by Galvant Controversy between Galvani and Volta Volta 

 proves that Electricity can be produced by the Contact of two 

 Metals Electrical Batteries The Crown of Cups The Voltaic 

 Pile. 



Benjamin Franklin, born 1706. He Investigates the 



Nature of Electricity, 1746. Benjamin Franklin, the printer 



and man of science, was born at Boston, in America, in the 



year 1706. He was the son of a tallow-chandler, and had 



so many hard struggles in his early life that he does not seem 



to have turned his thoughts to science till he was nearly 



forty years of age. His father intended him for the Church, 



but there was not enough money to pay for his education, so 



he was apprenticed to his brother, who was a printer. Here 



he worked very hard, yet he used to snatch every spare 



moment to read any books which came within his reach ; 



but his brother being unkind and harsh to him. a quarrel 



sprang up between them, and Benjamin at last ran away to 



New York, and from there to Philadelphia. In this last 



place he got a little work, but hoping to do better in 



England he came to London, where he learnt many of the 



