264 EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. pt. hi. 



acidulated water, so as to keep up a constant flow, which 

 would travel any distance so long as the circuit was not 

 broken. Here, you will see, was the first step towards the 

 electric telegraph. It was but a commencement, and for 

 nearly forty years no further advance was made ; but the 

 seed was sown, and when we reap the benefits we must 

 always remember the names of Franklin, Galvani, and 

 Volta, as the great pioneers in the science of electricity. 



Chief Works consulted. — Gardner's Cyclopedia, * Electricity, 

 Magnetism, and Meteorology ; ' * Encyclopaedias Britannica,' and 

 ' Metropolitana,' art. 'Electricity;' Franklin's • Experiments and Ob- 

 servations on Electricity,' 1749; I'liestley, * On Electricity,* 1785; 

 Thomson's 'Hist, of Royal vSociety,' 18 12; 'Life of Franklin,' by 

 himself, 1833; Bennett's 'Text-l'.ook of Physiology;' Fownes's 

 •Chemistry;' Wilkinson's 'Galvanism.' 



I 



