Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/118

108 kite, does not belong to Franklin. Some late Engliſh paragraphs have attributed it to ſome Frenchman, whoſe name they do not mention; and the Abbé Bertholon gives it to M. De Romas, aſſeſſor to the preſideal of Nerac; the Engliſh paragraphs probably refer to the ſame perſon. But a very ſlight attention will convince us of the injuſtice of this procedure: Dr. Franklin's experiment was made in June 1752; and his letter, giving an account of it, is dated October 19, 1752. M. De Romas made his firſt attempt on the 14th of May 1753, but was not ſucceſsful until the 7th of June; a year after Franklin had completed the diſcovery, and when it was known to all the philoſophers in Europe.

Betides theſe great principles, Franklin's letters on electricity contain a number of facts and hints, which have contributed greatly towards reducing this branch of knowledge to a ſcience. His friend, Mr Kinnerſley, communicated to him a diſcovery of the different kinds of electricity excited by rubbing glaſs and ſulphur. This, we have laid, was firſt obſerved by M. Du Faye; but it was for many years neglected. The philoſophers were diſpoſed to account for the phenomena, rather from a difference in the quantity of electricity collected; and even Du Faye himſelf ſeems at laſt to have adopted this' doctrine. Franklin at firſt entertained the ſame idea; but upon repeating the experiments, he perceived that Mr. Kinnerſley was right; and that the vitreous and reſinous electricity of Du Faye were nothing more than the poſitive and negative ſtates which "he had before obſerved; that the glaſs globe charged poſitively, or increaſed the quantity of electricity on the prime conductor, whilſt the globe of ſulphur diminiſhed its natural quantity, or charged negatively. Theſe experiments and