38 
and Lancashire,” by the Rev. Joseph Wilkinson, rector of East and 
West Wretham, in the county of Norfolk, and chaplain to the 
Marquis of Huntley.” This is now a rare work, but there are 
two copies in this neighbourhood which I have seen—one in the 
possession of Mrs. Stanger of Fieldside, and the other of Mr. Smith 
of Skiddaw Lodge. It was published by Ackerman, London. 
But to return to Dr. Brownrigg’s work. In the year 1771, the 
appearance of the plague in some of the most distant parts of 
Europe had produced a general apprehension lest it should, as 
was formerly experienced, very widely extend its fatal ravages. 
The expediency of amending the laws, as a barrier against this 
destructive malady, was announced by His Majesty and the whole 
British legislature. Upon which occasion, Dr. Brownrigg observing 
their defects, and actuated by principles of duty and humanity, 
was prompted to offer to the public a treatise entitled “ Consider- 
ations on the Means of Preventing the Communication of Pesti- 
lential Contagion and of Eradicating it in Infected Places.” As 
the apprehension of danger was soon, happily, removed, this 
treatise and its advice did not receive from the legislature that 
attention which has since been given to provide more effectual 
security against the introduction and communication of pestilential 
contagion. 
In the year 1772, Dr. Brownrigg was visited at Ormathwaite by 
Dr. Franklin, the great American statesman and philosopher, then 
about sixty-six years of age. 
Dr. Brownrigg, in the presence of Dr. Franklin and Sir John 
Pringle (who was also on a visit at his house) performed an 
experiment of a very curious nature upon Derwent Lake. On 
pouring a small quantity of oil into the lake during a great com- 
motion of the water, the surface in a short time became perfectly 
smooth. This extraordinary effect having been originally noticed 
by Dr. Franklin, was suggested by him to Dr. Brownrigg. Soon 
after his departure from Ormathwaite, Dr. Franklin transmitted to 
Dr. Brownrigg a letter, dated London, November 7, 1773, in 
which he gave a full and circumstantial relation, not only of every 
experiment which he had made at different periods for ascertaining 
