403 
E L ECT 
thofe bodies which are naturally the leaf! electric, have 
the greateft degree of electricity communicated to them 
by the approach of the excited tube. He tranfmitted the 
eleCtric virtue through a diftance of 1256 feet; and fir It 
obferved the electric (park from a living body, fufpended 
on filken lines, and noted feveral circumftances attending 
it. M.du Faye alfo eltablifhed a principle, fir ft fuggelted 
by Otto Guericke, that eleCtric bodies attract all thofe 
that are not fo, and repel them as foon as they are become 
electric, by the vicinity or contaCt of the eleCtric body. 
He likewife fuppofed, from other experiments, that there 
were two kinds of eleilricity, one of which he called the 
vitreous, belonging to glafs, rock cryltal, &c. and the 
other rejinous , as that of amber, gumlac, &c. diftinguifhed 
by their repelling thofe of the fame kind, and attracting 
each other. He farther obferved, that communicated 
electricity had the fame property as the excited ; and 
that electrical fubltances attraCt the dew more than con¬ 
ductors. 
Mr. Grey, refuming his experiments in 1734, fufpend¬ 
ed feveral pieces of metal on lilkjn lines, and found that 
by electrifying them they gave fparks; which was the 
origin of metallic conductors: and on this occalion he 
difeovered a cone or pencil of eleCtric light, fuch as is 
now known to i(Tue from an eleCtrified point. From other 
experiments he concluded, that the eleCtric power was of 
the (ante nature with that of thunder and lightning. 
Dr. Defaguliers fucceeded Mr. Grey in the profecution 
of this fcience. "The account of his ftrft experiments is 
dated in 1739. To him we owe thofe technical terms of 
condvBors or non-electrics and electrics per Je ; and he firlt 
ranked pure air among the eleCtrics per fe, and fuppofed 
its electricity to be of the vitreous kind. After the year 
1742, in which Dr. Defaguliers concluded his experi¬ 
ments, the fubjeCt was taken up and purfued in Germany: 
the globe was fubftituted for the tube, which had been 
ufed ever lince the time of Hawkfbee, and a cu fit ion was 
foon after ufed as a.rubber, inftead of the hand. About 
this time too, fome ufed cylinders inftead of the globes ; 
and fume of the German eleCtricians made ufe of more 
globes than one at the fame time. By thus increafing 
the elcCtrical power, they were the firft who fucceeded 
in fetting fire to inflammable fubltances : this was firlt 
done by Dr. Ltidolf, in 1744; who, with fparks excited 
by the friCtion of a glafs tube, kindled the ethereal fpirit 
of Frobenius. Winkler did the fame by a fpark from 
Jiis own finger, by which he kindled French brandy, and 
other fpirits, after previoully heating them. Mr. Gralath 
fired the fmoke of a candle jult blown 0ttt, and fo lighted 
it again; and Mr. Boze fired gunpowder, by means of its 
inflammable gas. About this time Ludolf the younger 
demonftfated, that the luminous barometer was made 
perfectly eleCtrical by the motion of the quicklilver. The 
eleCtrical ftar and eleCtrical bells were alfo of German 
invention. 
In England, Dr. Watfon made a diftinguifhed figure 
from this period in the fcience of electricity : he fired a 
variety of fubltances by the eleCtrical fpark, and firft dif- 
eovered that they are capable of being fired by the re- 
pullive power of eleCtricity. In 1745, the accumulation 
of the eleCtrical power in glafs, by means of the Leyden 
phial, was firft difeovered. Dr. Watfon obferved that 
'glafs tubes and globes do not contain the eleCtric matter 
in themfelves, but only ferve as firjl-movers or determiners, 
as he exprefies it, of that power; which was alfo con¬ 
firmed towards the end of 1746, by Mr. Benjamin Wil- 
fon, who made the fame difeovery, that the eleCtric fluid 
does not come from the globe, but from the earth, and 
other non-elcCtric bodies about the apparatus. Dr. Wat¬ 
fon alfo difeovered what Dr. Franklin obferved about the 
fame time in America, called the plus and minus in elec¬ 
tricity. He likewife lhewed that the eleCtric matter 
palled through the fubltance of the metal of communica¬ 
tion, and not merely over the furface. The notion of 
medical electricity commenced in 1747. We mult not 
Pi 1 C I T Y. 
omit to notice other experiments and concutfions drawR- 
from them, by Mr. Wilfon, Mr. Smeaton, and Dr. Miles, 
in England, and by the abbe Nollet, with regard to the- 
effeCt of eleCtricity on the evaporation of fluids, on folids, 
and on animal and other organized bodies, in France. 
Whilft the philofophers of Europe were thus bufily 
employed in eleCtrical experiments and purfuits, thofe of 
America, and Dr. Franklin in particular, were equally 
induftrious, and no lefs fuccefsful. His difeoveries and 
obfervations in eleCtricity were communicated in a Series 
of Letters to a Friend ; the firft: of which is dated in 1747, 
and the ) a ft in 1754. The fimilarity between eleCtricity 
and lightning had been fuggefted by feveral writers: but 
Dr. Franklin firft propofed a method of bringing the mat¬ 
ter to the teft of experiment, by railing an -electrical kite ; 
and he fucceeded in collecting the eleCtric fluid by this 
means from the clouds, in 1732, one month after the'very 
fame theory had been verified in France, and without 
knowing what had been done there : and to him we owe 
the practical application of this difeovery, in fecuring. 
buildings from the damage of lightning,, by the erection 
of metallic conductors. 
In the fubfequent period of the hiftory of this fcience, 
Mr. Canton in England, and (ignior Beccaria in Italy, ac¬ 
quired diltinguilhed reputation. They both difeovered, 
independently of each other, that air is capable of re¬ 
ceiving eleCtricity by communication, and of retaining it 
when received. Mr. Canton alfo, towards the end of the 
year 1753, purfued a feries of experiments, which prove 
that the appearances of politive and negative eleCtricity, 
which had hitherto been deemed effential and unchange¬ 
able properties of different fubltances, as ot glafs and 
fealing-wax for inftance, depend upon the furface of the 
eleCtrics, and that of the rubber. This hypothelis, ve¬ 
rified by numerous experiments, occafioned a controverfy 
between Mr. Canton and Mr. Delaval, who (till main¬ 
tained that thel'e different powers depended entirely c;i 
the fubltances themfelves. About this time too, fome 
curious experiments were performed by four of the prin¬ 
cipal eleCtricians of that period, viz. Dr. Franklin, and 
Meliks. Canton, Wilcke, and iEpinus, with a view to afi. 
certain the nature of eleCtric atmofpheres. 
Tiie theory of two eleCtric fluids, always co-exiftent 
and counteracting each other, though not abfolutely in¬ 
dependent, was maintained by acourle of experiments on 
filk (lockings of different colours, communicated to the 
royal fociety of London by Mr. Symmer, in 1759, which 
was farther purfued by Mr. Cigna of Turin, who pub- 
lilhed his account in the Memoirs of the Academy of 
Turin for the year 1765. 
Many inftances occur in the hiftory of the fcience about 
this period, of the aftonilhing force of the eleCtric (hock, 
in melting wires, and producing other limilar efteCts: but 
the moft remarkable is an experiment of S. Beccaria, in 
which he thus revivified metals. Several experiments 
were alfo made by Dr. Watfon, Mr. Smeaton, Mr. Canton, 
and others, on the paflage of the eleCtric fluid through a 
vacuum, and its luminous appearance, and on the power 
poffeli'ed by certain fubltances of retaining the light com¬ 
municated to them by an eleCtric explofion. Mr. Canton, 
S. Beccaria, and others, made many ex; eriments to iden¬ 
tify eleCtricity and lightning, to afeertain the (Irate of the 
atmofphere at different times, and to explain the various 
phenomena of the aurora borealis, water-fpouts, &c. on 
the principles of this fcience. 
Thofe who are defirous of farther information with re- 
fpeCt to the hiftory of eleflncal experiments and difeove¬ 
ries, may confult Dr. Prieltley’s Hiftory and Prefent State 
of EleCtricity. This author, however, is not merely an 
hiltorian: his work contains many original experiments 
and difeoveries made by himfelf. He ascertained the con¬ 
ducting power of charcoal, and of hot glafs; the eleCtri¬ 
city of fixed and inflammable air, and of oil ; the diffe¬ 
rence between new and old glafs, with refpeCt to the dif- 
fufion of electricity over its furface j the lateral explofioa 
in. 
