PROGRESS IN ELECTRICITY 



inch in diameter. As no thunder-clouds appeared for 

 several days, a guard was stationed, armed with an 

 insulated brass wire, who was directed to test the iron 

 rods with it in case a storm came on during D'Alibard's 

 absence. The storm did come on, and the guard, not 

 waiting for his employer's arrival, seized the wire and 

 touched the rod. Instantly there was a report. Sparks 

 flew and the guard received such a shock that he 

 thought his time had come. Believing from his out- 

 cry that he was mortally hurt, his friends rushed for a 

 spiritual adviser, who came running through rain and 

 hail to administer the last rites ; but when he found the 

 guard still alive and uninjured, he turned his visit to 

 account by testing the rod himself several times, and 

 later writing a report of his experiments to M. d'Ali- 

 bard. This scientist at once reported the affair to the 

 French Academy, remarking that " Franklin's idea 

 was no longer a conjecture, but a reality." 



Franklin Proves that Lightning is Electricity 



Europe, hitherto somewhat sceptical of Franklin's 

 views, was by this time convinced of the identity of 

 lightning and electricity. It was now Franklin's turn 

 to be sceptical. To him the fact that a rod, one hun- 

 dred feet high, became electrified during a storm did 

 not necessarily prove that the storm-clouds were elec- 

 trified. A rod of that length was not really projected 

 into the cloud, for even a very low thunder-cloud was 

 more than a hundred feet above the ground. Irre- 

 futable proof could only be had, as he saw it, by " ex- 

 tracting" the lightning with something actually sent 

 up into the storm-cloud; and to accomplish this 



VOL. II. - 20 



