ELECTRICITY. 119 



the despatch of his letter, an interval not exceeding a few months ; and the 

 probability is, therefore, that these views occurred simultaneously to the Amer- 

 ican and the French philosopher. 



From the moment that Franklin first engnged in electrical inquiries, nis 

 views were constantly bent on the discovery of some useful purpose to which 

 the science could be applied. Cut lono? was a question never-absent from 

 his thoughts.* This craving after utility was the great characteristic of his 

 mind, and might be regarded as being carried almost to a fault. To bring the 

 properties of matter and the phenomena of nature into subjection to the uses 

 of civilized life, is undoubtedly one. of the great incentives to the investigation 

 of the laws of the material world ; but it is assuredly a great error to regard it as 

 either the only or the principal motive to such inquiries. There is in the per- 

 ception of truth itself in the contemplation of connected propositions, leading 

 by the mere operation of the intellectual faculties, exercised on individual 

 physical facts, to the development of those great general laws by which the 

 universe is maintained an exalted pleasure, compared with which the mere 

 attainment of convenience and utility in the economy of life is poor and mean. 

 There is a nobleness in the power which the natural philosopher derives from 

 the discovery of these laws, of raising the curtain of futurity, and displaying 

 the decrees of nature, so far as they affect the physical universe for count- 

 less ages to come, which is independent of all utility. There is a lofty and 

 disinterested pleasure in the mere contemplation of the harmony and order of 

 nature, which is above and beyond mere utility. While, however, we thus 

 claim for truth and knowledge all the consideration to which, on their own ac- 

 count, they are entitled, let us not be misunderstood as disparaging the great 

 benefactors of the human race, who have drawn from them those benefits 

 which so much tend to the wellbeing of man. When we express the enjoy- 

 ment which arises from the beauty and fragrance of the flower, we do not the 

 less prize the honey which is extracted from it, or the medicinal virtues it 

 yields. That Franklin was accessible to such feelings, the enthusiasm with 

 which he expresses himself throughout his writings in regard to natural phe- 

 nomena abundantly proves. Nevertheless, rtstful application was, undoubtedly, 

 ever uppermost in his thoughts ; and he probably never witnessed any physical 

 fact, or considered for a moment any law of nature, without inwardly proposing 

 to himself the question, " In what way can this be made beneficial in the 

 economy of life ?" 



The analogy and probable identity of lightning and electricity were first sug- 

 gested and demonstrated by Franklin in a letter addressed to Collinson, which 

 appears without a date, and which has by some been referred to the date (1750) 

 of that which immediately follows it in the published collection of letters. It 

 appears, however, by a subsequent letter,! addressed to the same gentleman in 

 1753, that he was occupied in the investigation of this question from 1747 to 



* After he had succeeded in making the discoveries which have been already explained, and 

 beside* inventing- a little moving power, which he called an electrical jack, he expressed to Mr. 

 Collin=on. in his nsunl playful manner, his disappointment at being unable to find any application of 

 the science beneficial to mankind. " Chagrined a little that we ha\je hitherto been able to produce 

 nothing 1 in this wav of nse to mankind, and the hot weather coming on when electrical experiments 

 are nrt an agreeable, it is proposed to put an end to them for this season, somewhat humorously, in a 

 partv of pleasure on the banks of the Schnvlkill. Spirits, at the same time, are to be fired by a 

 spark sent from side to side throueh the river without any other conductor than the water; an exper- 

 iment which we some time since performed to the amazement of many. A turkey is to be killed for 

 dinner bv tho electrical shock, and roasted by the electrical jack, before a fire kindled by the electri- 

 fied bof/Ic, when the healths of all the famo'us electricians of England, Holland, France, and Ger- 

 many, nre to bo drunk in electrified bumpers, under the discharge of guns from the electrical battery." 

 l.r''erx. p. 210. 



t " In my former paper on this subject, written first in 1747, enlarged and sent to England in 1749, 

 I considered the sea as the great source of lightning," dec. Letters, p. 300. 



