203 



fronted with the same difficulty in another shape. The wells 

 having fulfilled his prophecy have been abolished and the 

 waters of the Wissahickon many years ago brought into ser- 

 vice have in turn come under suspicion. What an imperial 

 gift, if some millionaire, emulous of Franklin's example, with 

 far greater means, should see fit to dedicate his money to pro- 

 vide for the people a purer drinking water, when the unfitness 

 of the present source shall be duly recognized ! 



Having made eight voyages across the Atlantic at a time 

 when it took at least a month, he had opportunities for studying 

 the art of navigation. What he saw joined to what he learned 

 from experienced seamen and his own wide reading lead him 

 to inferences that have helped to master the difficulties and 

 perils of the sea. Although early Spanish navigators were 

 aware of the existence of the Gulf stream, so little detailed 

 knowledge was available that up to Franklin's time the cur- 

 rents of the Atlantic were looked- upon as hindrances rather 

 than helps to transatlantic commerce. Franklin noticed the 

 higher temperature marking out the Gulf stream, took many 

 thermometric observations, and made a chart of it with a view 

 to guide navigators in the route between England and America. 

 He first advised that systematic use be made of the trade- 

 winds and the ocean currents, and showed how it could be 

 done. From the Chinese he got an idea which he was the first 

 to urge upon the western ship-owners. He worked out the 

 crude hint to its best form that of dividing a ship into sepa- 

 rate chambers by water-tight partitions so that a leak in one 

 would not affect the others. It was not until quite recent 

 years that this device has been put in practice with the de- 

 sired results. A demonstration of its utility was seen lately 

 in the accident that happened to the steamer City of Paris. 

 Even when two of her compartments were flooded, she bore 



