EULOGY ON ALEXANDER VOLTA. 121 



aud terminating in a point, would give out sparks similar to those pro- 

 ceeding from the conductor of an ordinary electrical macliine. 



Without wishing to detract from Franklin's glory, I must remark that 

 the projected experiment was quite unnecessary.* The soldiers of the 

 Fifth Eomau Legion had j)reviously made it, during the African war — 

 the day when, as related by Ctesar, the iron heads of their lances seemed 

 on fire during a storm. The same was also noticed by numerous navi- 

 gators, to whom Castor aud Pollux appeared, either at the metallic 

 points of the mast-head and yard-arms or other prominent parts of their 

 vessels. Finally, in certain countries, in Frioul, for instance, at the 

 Chateau de Duino, the sentry was strictly carrying out what Franklin 

 would have desired, when, in conformity with his duty and to decide 

 when it would be necessary, by ringing a bell, to warn the peasants of 

 the approach of a storm, he examined with his halbertthe iron head of a 

 spear planted vertically on the rampart, to ascertain whether sparks had 

 been given out. Besides, whether some of these circumstances were ig- 

 nored, or whether they were not considered sufficiently demonstrative, 

 direct experiments seemed requisite, aud it is to Dalibard, our fellow- 

 countryman, that science is indebted for this. On the 10th of May, 1752, 

 during a storm, a long, pointed metallic rod, placed by him in a garden of 

 Marly-la-Yille, gave out small sparks, like the conductor of an ordinary 

 electrical machine in contact with a metallic wire. It was not until a 

 month later that Franklin, in the United States, by means of a kite, 

 realized the same experiment. Lightning-rods were the immediate 

 result of this, aud the distinguished American physicist hastened to 

 announce it to the world. 



That portion of the public which, in matters of science, is reduced to 

 judge from hearsay, rarely decides by halves. It admits or rejects, if I 

 may be allowed the term, impetuously. Lightning-rods, for example, 

 became the object of a genuine enthusiasm, whose flights it would be 

 curious to follow in the writings of the day. Here you fiud travelers 

 who, in the open fields, suppose themselves able, sword in hand pointed 

 toward the clouds, to exorcise the lightning, in the posture of Ajax 

 threatening the gods; there, churchmen, whose garb forbids the sword, 

 bitterly deploring being denied this talisman of safety; some, seri- 

 ously proposing, as an infallible preservative, to place themselves 

 under a rain-spout at the beginning of the storm, considering wet 

 clothing good conductors of electricity; others invented certain head- 

 gear, from which were suspended long metallic chains, which with great 

 care must be kept constantly trailing on the damp earth. Some physic- 

 ists, it must be acknowledged, did not share this infatuation. They 



"Wo do not agree with Arago in this remark. The phenomena he mentions were 

 the spontaneous productions of nature, and were not referred to atmospheric electri- 

 city. To fully establisli the identity of electricity aud lightning required such an 

 experiment as that of Franklin's, in which electricity was actually drawn from the 

 cloud in accordance with previouslv-established principles. 



J. n. 



