444 ^^' ^^^ii on the Ph<!enomena, i^c, 



even the mofl remote of the weftern ifles, St, 

 Kilda, 



About fifteen years before the publication of 

 Dr. Franklin's Memoirs, the following para- 

 graph, perhaps copied from Tome London Newf- 

 paper, was inferted in the Annual Kegiftcr. " Ic 

 has been remarked, it is faid, that the oil fpilt 

 into the river to prevent the fpreading of the 

 late dreadful fire in Thames ftreet, vifibly 

 quieted the waves thereof. This efficacy of 

 oil, in fmoothing the furface of water, feems to 

 have been long kr^own. By an ancient law, 

 when goods were to be thrown overboard to 

 lighten the fhip in ftormy weather, if there hap- 

 pened to be any oil on board, and ic could be 

 come ar, it was to go firft ; and the Ragufians 

 at this day, when they go a fifh-fpearing, throw 

 oil upon the water with a fprinkiing brufh, and 

 thereby obtain a clear profpedl of the bottom. 

 The openings thus formed by the drops they 

 exprefsly call windowsJ" 



By all thefe obfervations, it will appear, that 

 Dr. tranklin cannot be called the difcoverer 

 of this faft : but (till the philofophical world 

 is greatly indebted to the ardour and zeal, with 

 which he profccuted his inquiry and experi- 

 ments, which enabled him to give fo ingenious 

 an illuftration of the phasnomenon. 



Facts 



