FRANKING 



331 7 



FRANKLIN 



Sir E. Frankland, 

 British chemist 



long employed in the East as an ex- 

 ternal application for tumours and 

 sores, and, in China, as an internal 

 remedy for leprosy and other 

 diseases. See Incense. 



Franking (Fr. franc, free). Free 

 use of the postal service. To the ex- 

 tent of sending ten letters a day 

 and receiving fifteen, it was a privi- 

 lege granted to both the House of 

 Lords and the House of Commons 

 in 1764. With the introduction of 

 penny postage in 1840 it was 

 abolished, but letters are still 

 franked by the public departments, 

 and, if so franked, can be sent 

 thereto free of charge. See Post 

 Office. 



Frankland, SIR EDWARD (1825- 

 99). British chemist. He was born 

 at Churchtown , Lancashire, Jan. 1 8, 

 1825, and edu- 

 cated at Lan- 

 caster gram- 

 mar school, 

 Royal School 

 of Mines, Lon- 

 don, and the 

 universities of 

 Marburg and 

 Giessen. In 

 1850 he dis- 

 covered the 

 zinc compounds of methyl and 

 ethyl, and next year was appointed 

 professor of chemistry at Owens 

 College, Manchester. 



He was professor of chemistry at 

 S. Bartholomew's hospital, London, 

 1857-63, and at the Royal Institu- 

 tion, 1863-67. His chief work was 

 done as a member of the royal 

 commission on the Pollution of 

 Rivers, in a laboratory provided by 

 the government. He died in Nor- 

 way, Aug. 9, 1899. 



Franklin (late Lat. francus, 

 free). A freeman. The word was 

 used in medieval England as a mark 

 of distinction, though without any 

 exact meaning. It seems to have 

 referred primarily to a class of 

 landholders between the noble and 

 the more or less unfree ; the coun- 

 try squires of a later day. Such 

 doubtless was the franklin in The 

 Canterbury Tales. 



Franklin, BATTLE OF. Fought 

 in the American Civil War (q.v.), 

 Nov. 30, 1864. General Schofield, 

 with 25,000 Federal troops, was 

 retreating to Nashville, Tennessee, 

 when, as he was crossing the Har- 

 peth river at Franklin, he was 

 attacked by a Confederate army 

 of 40,000 men under Hood. At 

 first thrown into confusion, the 

 Federals rallied, and, after a furious 

 resistance, Schofield succeeded in 

 withdrawing his men across the 

 river. In no battle of the Civil 

 War was greater determination or 

 resistance, shown on either side. 

 The losses were very heavy ; those 



of the Federals being 2,326 killed, 

 wounded, and missing, those of 

 the Confederates more than 6,000. 

 Franklin, BENJAMIN (1706-90). 

 American statesman and scientist. 

 The son of an English immigrant, 

 a tallow chandler, Benjamin Frank- 

 lin was born at Boston, Mass., 

 Jan. 17, 1706, and was appren- 

 ticed in 1719 to his eldest brother, 

 a printer. He moved to Phila- 

 delphia in 1723, and while working 

 there as a compositor attracted 

 the attention of the governor of 

 Pennsylvania, Sir William Keith 

 (1680-1749), who encouraged him 

 to go to England to buy printing 

 materials wherewith to set up in 

 business. Franklin accordingly 

 made his way to London in 1725, 

 but Keith's promises proved 

 illusorj' and he had to take em- 

 ployment as a compositor. After 

 a troubled eighteen months in 

 London, he returned to Philadel- 

 phia, again as a printer's assistant. 



After J. H. Duplegtit 



In 1729 he purchased a weekly 

 journal, The Pennsylvania Gazette. 

 Three years later he issued his 

 Poor Richard's Almanack, which 

 continued to appear for 25 years, 

 and was widely popular for its 

 wealth of prudent maxims on 

 industry and thrift. He became 

 postmaster of the city in 1737, 

 clerk to the General Assembly 

 from 1736-61, and a member from 

 1751-64, attracting notice by his 

 scheme for intercolonial union at 

 the Albany Convention, 1754. 



Meanwhile Franklin had added 

 scientific research to his many 

 activities. About 1746 he began to 

 investigate problems connected 

 with electricity, his work leading 



to the invention of the lightning 

 conductor in 1749. Earthquakes, 

 meteorology, stoves and chimneys, 

 ocean currents and navigation 

 were all among the many subjects 

 of his inquiries during these years ; 

 his experiments with the pouring 

 of oil on stormy water and with 

 agricultural fertilisers showed the 

 versatility of his mind. 



In 1757 he once again crossed 

 to England; this time as the 

 agent of Pennsylvania in the colo- 

 nial dispute with the Pennsylvanian 

 proprietors. Franklin was widely 

 welcomed, became known to many 

 distinguished figures in political 

 and literary life, and received 

 degrees from the universities of 

 Oxford, Edinburgh, and St. An- 

 drews. In 1762 he went back to 

 America, but 1764 found him again 

 in London in his former capacity. 

 In 1766 he gave evidence before 

 the House of Commons which was 

 largely instrumental in the repeal 

 of the notorious Stamp Act. The 

 unfortunate publication of certain 

 letters entrusted to him for private 

 circulation led to difficulties in 

 London, and he returned to Phila- 

 delphia in the spring of 1775. \ 



His old affection for the English 

 connexion, weakened perhaps by 

 this rebuff, turned into an active 

 sympathy with the separationist 

 policy. He was one of the five 

 members commissioned to draft 

 the Declaration of Independence 

 in 1776, and in that year he 

 went to Paris as commissioner 

 for the colonies. He negotiated 

 the alliance between America and 

 France, and was then appointed 

 plenipotentiary in Paris, where 

 he remained throughout the war, 

 negotiating the treaty of peace 

 finally signed in 1783. He returned 

 to America in 1785 and took some 

 part in framing the new constitu- 

 tion of the United States, retiring 

 from public life in 1788. He died 

 at Philadelphia, April 17, 1790. 



J. E. Miles 



Bibliography. Complete Works, 

 including his Correspondence and 

 unmutilated Autobiography, ed. J. 

 Bigelow, 10 vols., 1887-88; Writ- 

 ings, ed. with Life and Introd., A. 

 H. Smyth, 10 vols., 1905-7 ; Lives, 

 J. T. Morse, 1890 ; J. Parton, 1892 ; 

 Benjamin Franklin as an Economist, 

 W. A. Wetzel, 1895 ; Franklin and 

 his Press at Passy, L. S. Livingston, 

 1914 ; Benjamin Franklin, Printer, 

 J. C. Oswald, 1917 ; Benjamin 

 Franklin Self -revealed, W. C. 

 Bruce, 1917. 



Franklin, SIR JOHN (1786-1847). 

 British explorer. Born at Spilsby, 

 Lincolnshire, April 16, 1786, and 

 educated at Louth grammar 

 school, he entered the navy as a 

 midshipman in 1801, being present 

 at the battle of Copenhagen. He 

 distinguished himself in the service 



