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up for four days and a half, bringing her ship's company of 

 more than a thousand souls safely into port. 



The recorded experiences of ships during the last few years 

 have fully established the efficacy of another notion of 

 Franklin's. Thanks to his emphatic endorsement the previ- 

 ously known power of oil to still troubled waters is now gene- 

 rally employed to smooth the breaking waves when they 

 threaten the safety of a vessel. 



The occurrence of a north-east storm of unusual violence 

 provoked those inquiries which led to his discovery of the 

 backward course of storms and to a theory which had a 

 marked influence on the development of meteorology. His 

 explanation of the Aurora Borealis as a phenomenon of atmos- 

 pheric electricity was at once accepted as adequate, though in 

 its details it has since been modified to meet the demands of 

 advancing knowledge. 



In one of his charming letters to a lady correspondent he 

 first made note of the remarkable variation in the absorptive 

 power for the sun's heat shown by cloths of different colors. 

 According to his suggestions, the principle has been applied to 

 agriculture and to the clothing; of armies. Under the foster- 

 ing hand of the national government during this century there 

 has been developed from his initial inquiry in navigation the 

 admirable work of the hydrographic office. Its pilot charts 

 are the lineal descendants of the one Franklin drew. It is not 

 claiming too much to say that his observations on the north- 

 east storm were the first noteworthy contribution to the science 

 upon which is based the predictions of the weather bureau. 



The present time has been called " the Age of Electricity." 

 To estimate fairly the significance of Franklin's electrical 

 researches in this day of the telephone, the dynamo-engines, 

 the electric light, and the electric railway, it must be remem- 



