36 J^ISEN BY PERSE VERA NCR. 



interesting experiments ; and his inquisitive mind immediately 

 set itself to work to find out the reason of such strange effects, 

 which still astonished and perplexed the ablest philosophers of 

 Europe. Out of his speculations arose the ingenious and 

 beautiful theory of the action of the electric influence which is 

 known by his name, and which was at that time received by 

 the greater number of philosophers as the best, because the 

 simplest and most complete, demonstration of the phenomena 

 that had until then been given to the world. 



Dr. Franklin's earliest inquiries were directed to ascertain 

 the source of the electricity which friction had the effect of at 

 least rendering manifest in the glass cylinder, or other electric. 

 The question was whether this virtue was created by the friction 

 in the electric, or only thereby communicated to it from other 

 bodies. In order to determine this point, he resorted to the 

 very simple experiment of endeavouring to electrify himself; that 

 is to say, having insulated himself and excited the cylinder by 

 rubbing it with his hand, he then drew off its electricity from it 

 in the usual manner into his own body. But he found that he 

 was not thereby electrified at all, as he would have been by 

 doing the same thing had the friction been applied by another 

 person. No spark could be obtained from him, after the 

 operation, by the presentment of a conductor; nor did he 

 exhibit on such bodies as were brought near him any of the 

 other usual evidences of being charged with electricity. 



If the electricity had been created in the electric by the 

 friction, it was impossible to conceive why the person who drew 

 it off should not have been electrified in this case, just as he 

 would have been had another person acted as the rubber. The 

 result evidently indicated that the friction had effected a 

 change upon the person who had performed that operation, 



