170 THE STORY-BOOK OF SCIENCE 



thunderbolt can be brought from the clouds within 

 reach of the observer ; he had proved that electricity 

 is the cause of thunder. That, my children, was no 

 trivial result, fit only to satisfy our curiosity: the 

 nature of thunder being ascertained, it became possi- 

 ble to secure protection from its ravages, as I will 

 tell you in the story of the lightning-conductor. ' ' 



"De Eomas, who made these important experi- 

 ments at the peril of his life, must have been loaded 

 with honors and riches by his contemporaries, " said 

 Claire. 



"Alas! my dear child," replied her uncle, "things 

 do not commonly happen that way. Truth rarely 

 finds any free spot in which to plant itself ; it has to 

 fight against prejudice and ignorance. The battle is 

 sometimes so painful, that men of strong will suc- 

 cumb to the task. De Komas, wishing to repeat his 

 experiment at Bordeaux, was stoned by the mob, who 

 saw in him a dangerous man evoking thunder by his 

 witchcraft. He was obliged to flee in haste, aban- 

 doning his apparatus. 



"A short time before de Eomas, in the United 

 States of North America, Franklin made similar re- 

 searches on the nature of thunder. Benjamin Frank- 

 lin was the son of a poor soap-manufacturer. He 

 found at home merely the requisite means for learn- 

 ing to read, write, and cipher ; and yet he became by 

 his learning one of the most remarkable men of his 

 time. One stormy day in 1752 he went into the 

 country near Philadelphia, accompanied by his son, 

 who carried a kite made of silk tied at the four cor- 

 ners to two little glass rods. A metal tail termi- 



