FRANKLIN'S ELECTRICAL BATTERY. 559 



Fourth. He placed the glass between two plates of 

 lead less in area than the pane, and electrified the glass 

 between them by electrifying the uppermost lead. Then 

 he took the glass from between the lead plates and found 

 that, on touching it here and there with the finger, he ob- 

 tained "very small pricking sparks," but a great number 

 of them might be taken from different places. There was 

 no sign of electricity in the lead. The moment he put the 

 glass back between the plates and connected the latter 

 through his body, a violent shock ensued. 



And so he concludes that u the whole force of the bottle, 

 and power of giving a shock, is in the glass itself: the non- 

 electrics in contact with the two surfaces serving only to 

 give and receive to and from the several parts of the glass: 

 that is, to give on one side and take away from the other," 

 and he compares the metal coatings to the "armature of a 

 lodestone to unite the force of the several parts." 



The road was now clear to the construction of the 

 battery. It was made of eleven large plates of sash glass 

 armed with thin leaden plates, with the giving side of one 

 pane connected to the receiving side of the other, but pro- 

 vided with a contrivance u to bring the giving sides after 

 charging into contact with one long w 7 ire and the receivers 

 with another, which two long wires would give the force 

 of all the plates of glass at once through the body of any 

 animal forming the circle between them." As Franklin- 

 supposed that the greatest effects would be gained with 

 the plates in parallel, he placed them in series for charg- 

 ing, and so encountered a resistance which he says 

 "repels the fire back again on the globe;" and thus, in 

 the beginning, the battery did not prove as efficient as he 

 expected. Afterwards, however, he wrote "there are no 

 bounds (but what expense and labor give) to the force man 

 may raise and use in the electrical way: for bottle may be 

 added to bottle, and all united and discharged together as 

 one, the force and effect proportioned to their number and 

 size. The greatest known effects of common lightning 



