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From the experiment at Marly-la-ville, and thofe 
which have been made Since, have been drawn two 
confequences j one, that the matter of thunder, and 
that of electricity, are one and the fame : the other, 
that, by the means of pointed iron rods, one might, 
without its doing any harm, draw off all the fulmi- 
nating matter from a ftormy cloud. But our author 
has Shewn, that bodies being pointed are not abfo- 
lutely necefiary ; and is defirous, we Should not too 
haftily believe, that mifchiefs ariling from thunder 
may be averted by the apparatus propofed. He 
thinks the means vaSlly too fmall for the greatnefs 
of the caufe. 
Our author’s firft letter to Mr. Franklin is an in- 
troduction to the five fubfequent ones. 
The fecond letter treats of the nature of the elec- 
tric matter. In this its analogy with fire is confi- 
dered and proved ; and our author takes notice, that 
Mr. Franklin, he imagines, who has certainly made 
fome important difcoveries into the properties of 
electricity, cannot but be difiatisfied with the editors 
of his work, for publishing, “ that he exhibited to 
tc our consideration an invifible fubtil matter, diSTe- 
“ minated throughout all nature, &c. which had hi- 
<c therto efcaped our obfervations.” The latter part 
of which afiertion is not Strictly true; as the consider- 
ing the matter of fire, and that of electricity, to be 
one and the fame, is a fundamental principle of 
what both the Abbe Nollet and myfelf formerly pub- 
lished upon this fubject. 
The third letter to Mr. Franklin contains feveral 
proofs, that glafs is not impermeable to the electric 
matter. 
