JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 63 
ited before Louis XV. at Versailles, and a chain of 200 people, 
having joined hands, received at once the mysterious blow. But to 
Franklin of Philadelphia electricity owed the most wonderful of 
all its achievements in the 18th century. He showed how iron 
points attracted electricity, and at length he declared that lightning 
and thunder were produced by the same agent that was enclosed in 
the mysterious layden jar, and he urged the English philosophers to 
draw down the electricity of the skies by placing iron points upon 
towers or poles, and thus test the accuracy of his theories. His 
suggestions were received by the Royal Society of London with 
shouts of laughter, and they refused to print his papers in their 
Transactions. His theories remained untested by experiment, and 
the philosopher prepared with doubt and dismay to attempt their 
verification. He felt that his fame must rest upon the success. If 
he could draw down the lightning from the skies by presenting his 
iron point to the thunder cloud, he must attain a renown that would 
live forever. If he failed he would seem to merit the scorn which 
European philosophers were prepared to pour upon him. His 
inventive mind suggested a simple expedient. He formed a com- 
mon kite from a silk handkerchief stretched upon two cross sticks ; 
upon the upper part was placed the iron point. The string was of 
hemp, terminating in a short silken cord, and at the end hung 
an iron key. Such was the simple apparatus with which the philos- 
opher set forth from his home on a cloudy June day to draw the 
lightning from the clouds. He raised his kite. A cloud passed by, 
but no trace of electricity appeared ; the heart of the philosopher 
sank with dismay. But suddenly the falling rain made the cord a 
good conductor, and Franklin saw that his fibres began to be stirred 
by some unusual impulse. He applied his hands to the key, and 
at once drew sparks from the skies. ‘Thus the 18th century elevated 
electricity into a science. Franklin often sighed at its uselessness, 
but he would have been amply repaid if he could have forseen how 
powerful an agent his favorite science was destined to become. 
GALVANISM. 
The next great step in electrical progress was discovered by 
Prof. Galvani in 1790, by a very accidental circumstance. Madame 
Galvani was slightly ill, and a diet of frogs’ broth had been recom- 
mended to her. Several of the animals chanced to be on the table 
