CH. XXIX. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 253 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



SCIENCE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED). 



Benjamin Franklin, bom 1706 — His Early Life— Du Faye discovers 

 two kinds of Electricity — Franklin proves that Electricity exists in 

 all bodies, and is only developed by Friction — Positive and Nega- 

 tive Electricity— Franklin draws down Electricity from the Sky 

 — Invents Lightning-conductors — Discovery of Animal Electricity 

 by Galvani — Controversy between Galvani and Volta — Volta 

 proves that Electricity can be produced by the Contact of two 

 Metals — Electrical Batteries — The Crown of Cups— The Voltaic 

 Pile. 



Benjamin Franklin, bom 1706. — He Investigates the 

 Nature of Electricity, 1746. — Benjamin Franklin, the printer 

 and man of science, was bom at Boston, in America, in the 

 year 1706. He was the son of a tallow-chandler, and had 

 so many hard struggles in his early life that he does not seem 

 to have turned his thoughts to science till he was nearly 

 forty years of age. His father intended him for the Church, 

 but there was not enough money to pay for his education, so 

 he was apprenticed to his brother, who was a printer. Here 

 he worked very hard, yet he used to snatch every spare 

 moment to read any books which came within his reach ; 

 but his brother being unkind and harsh to him. a quarrel 

 sprang up between them, and Benjamin at last ran away to 

 New York, and from there to Philadelphia. In this last 

 place he got a little work, but hoping to do better in 

 England he came to London, where he learnt many of the 



