no Nichols: Franklin's 



Such was the introduction of our illustrious country- 

 man to the science of electricity. Franklin was at this 

 time forty years of age, a prosperous citizen of Phila- 

 delphia, self-educated and self-made. Like many of 

 his contemporaries similarly situated in Europe, he took 

 up the subject as an amusement or hobby. Unlike them, 

 however, he labored under the disadvantage of residence 

 in a remote colonial community. He was of necessity 

 imperfectly acquainted with previous work in electricity 

 and was compelled to rediscover for himself many of 

 the things which had already been observed in Europe. 



That under these circumstances Franklin should have 

 become the foremost electrician of his time, and that the 

 series of letters in which he communicated his observa- 

 tions and theories should have been received with accla- 

 mation on the other side of the water and should have 

 been translated into all the principal languages of Eu- 

 rope is the more remarkable. The extraordinary suc- 

 cess of his book with the greater public in Europe is 

 doubtless due in great part to its admirable literary qual- 

 ities. The epigrammatic terseness, the clearness and sim- 

 plicity of style, the naive frankness and inimitable humor 

 which have earned for Franklin an imperishable place 

 in literature characterize these pages and give them 

 life. Even now, after a century and a half, although 

 he can tell us little about electricity that is not familiar, 

 we read his pages with pleasure and derive from them 



