FRANKLIN IDENTIFIES LIGHTNING 

 WITH ELECTRICITY 



[From Franklin's Works, edited in ten volumes by John 

 Bigelow, Vol. I, pages 276-281, copyright by G. P. Putnam's 

 Sons, New York.fl 



DR. STUBER, the author of the first continua- 

 tion of Franklin's life, gives this account of the 

 electrical experiments of Franklin: 



"His observations he communicated, in a 

 series of letters, to his friend Collinson, the first 

 of which is dated March 28, 1747. In these he 

 shows the power of points in drawing and throw- 

 ing off the electrical matter, which had hitherto 

 escaped the notice of electricians. He also 

 made the grand discovery of a plus and minus, 

 or of a positive and negative state of electricity. 

 We give him the honour of this without hesita- 

 tion; although the English have claimed it for 

 their countryman, Dr. Watson. Watson's paper 

 is dated January 21, 1748; Franklin's July n, 

 1747, several months prior. Shortly after 

 Franklin, from his principles of the plus and 

 minus state, explained in a satisfactory manner 

 the phenomena of the Ley den phial, first ob- 

 served by Mr. Cuneus, or by Professor Muschen- 

 broeck, of Ley den, which had much perplexed 

 philosophers. He showed clearly that when 

 charged the bottle contained no more electricity 

 3 



