326 Biographical Account of Dr, Wilsm, [Nov. 



Upon launching these kites according to the method which 

 had been projected, and affording them abundance of proper 

 line, the uppermost one ascended to an amazing height, disap- 

 pearing at times among the white summer-clouds, whilst all the 

 rest, in a series, formed with it, in the air below, such a lofty 

 scale, and that, too, affected by such regular and conspiring 

 motions, as at once changed a boyish pastime into a spectacle 

 which greatly interested every beholder. The pressure of the 

 breeze upon so many surfaces communicating with one another, 

 was found too powerful for a single person to withstand, when 

 contending with the undermost strong line, and it became, 

 therefore, necessary to keep the mastery over the kites by other 

 means. 



This species of aerial machinery answering so well, Mr. Wil- 

 son and Mr. Melvill employed it several times during that and 

 the following summer, in pursuing those atmospherical experi- 

 ments for which the kites had been originally intended. To 

 obtain the information they wanted, they contrived that thermo- 

 meters, properly secured, and having bushy tassels of paper tied 

 to them, should be let fall at stated periods from some of the 

 higher kites ; which was accomplished by the gradual singeing 

 of a match-line. 



When engaged in these experiments, though now and then 

 they communicated immediately with the clouds, yet, as this 

 happened always in fine dry weather, no symptoms whatever of 

 an electrical nature came under their observation. The sublime 

 analysis of the thunder-bolt, and of the electricity of the atmo- 

 sphere, lay yet entirely undiscovered, and was reserved two 

 years longer for the sagacity of the celebrated Dr. Franklin. In 

 a letter from Mr. Melvill to Mr. Wilson, dated at Geneva, 21st 

 April, 1753, we find, among several other particulars, his curio- 

 sity highly excited by the fame of the Philadelphian experi- 

 ment; and a great ardour expressed for prosecuting such 

 researches by the advantage of their combined kites. But, in 

 the December following, this beloved companion of Mr. Wilson 

 was removed by death, — to the vast loss of science, and to the 

 unspeakable regret of all who knew him. 



In the year 1752, Mr. Wilson, who had married Jean Sharp, 

 daughter of William Sharp, a reputable merchant at St. 

 Andrew's, brought his family to Glasgow. About five years 

 afterwards he invented the Hydrostatical Glass-bubbles, for 

 determining the strength of spirituous liquors of all kinds, which 

 long experience, especially among the distillers and merchants 

 in the West Indies, has now shown to be more accurate and 

 more commodious than the instruments formerly used. From 

 the minutes of a Philosophical and Literary Society, composed 

 of the Professors and some of their friends, whose meetings 

 were held weekly within the College, it appears that these 



