THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY 125 



hundred lightning rods in use in Philadelphia alone, 

 though some conservative people regarded their em- 

 ployment as impious. Franklin's good-will, clearness 

 of conception, and common sense triumphed every- 

 where. 



One has only to recall that in 1753 he (along 

 with Hunter) was in charge of the postal service of 

 the colonies, that in 1754 as delegate to the Albany 

 Convention he drew up the first plan for colonial 

 union, and that in the following year he furnished 

 Braddock with transportation for the expedition 

 against Fort Duquesne, to realize the distractions 

 amid which he pursued science. In 1748 he had 

 sold his printing establishment with the purpose of 

 devoting himself to physical experiment, but the 

 conditions of the time saved him from specialization. 



In 1749 he drew up proposals relating to the 

 education of youth in Pennsylvania, which led, two 

 years later, to the establishment of the first Ameri- 

 can Academy. His plan was so advanced, so demo- 

 cratic, springing as it did from his own experience, 

 that no secondary school has yet taken full advan- 

 tage of its wisdom. The school, chartered in 1753, 

 grew ultimately into the University of Pennsylvania. 

 Moreover, it became the prototype of thousands of 

 schools, which departed from the Latin Grammar 

 Schools and the Colleges by the introduction of the 

 sciences and practical studies into the curriculum. 



Franklin deserves mention not only in connection 

 with economics, meteorology, practical ethics, elec- 

 tricity, and pedagogy ; his biographer enumerates 

 nineteen sciences to which he made original contri- 

 butions or which he advanced by intelligent criti- 



