240 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 



with A. Palmer, a famous London printer, followed by six 

 months with Watt. Here he made the acquaintance of many of 

 the celebrated authors and broadened markedly his knowledge 

 of the world. In 1726 he returned to America, where he ulti- 

 mately succeeded in establishing himself as editor of the Phila- 

 delphia Gazette. His original style soon built this into a most 

 valuable property. Here he organized with a select coterie of 

 friends the Junta Club that proved the forerunner of the American 

 Philosophical Society, founded in 1743. He was the originator 

 of the first subscription library in America, which grew into the 

 Philadelphia Public Library and in 1749 established an "academy 

 for youth," the mother of the University of Pennsylvania. He 

 organized the first fire company in Philadelphia remaining a 

 member for fifty years, and he instituted the night watch and 

 street lighting. He invented the open Franklin stove, but refused 

 the patents tendered, in order that all might benefit in its manu- 

 facture. In 1749 he published a paper which established the 

 identity of lightning and electricity, and the power of points to 

 draw off an electric charge. In 1752 his famous kite experiment 

 was performed. For this he received the Copley medal of the 

 Royal Society of London in 1753. In this same year Harvard 

 and Yale each conferred the A. M. Degree on him, while William 

 and Mary did the same in 1755. In 1759 the University of St. 

 Andrews gave him a J. V. D. and in 1762 Oxford made him a 

 D. C. L. He was elected a member of the Royal Societies of Lon- 

 don and Edinburgh, of the Royal Academy of Science in Paris, 

 of the Imperial Academy of Science, of St. Petersburg, of the 

 Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, and of the 

 Real Academy of History in Madrid. 



But this represented his success in one line only. His "Poor 

 Richard^s Almanack" published first in 1732, rose rapidly to a 

 circulation of 10,000 copies. In 1733 he took up the mastering 

 of French, Spanish and Italian, and ultimately acquired real 



