"WHEN THE RAIN HAS WET THE KITE AND TWINE, SO THAT IT CAN CONDUCT THE ELECTRIC FIRE FREELY, YOU WILL FIND IT STREAM OUT PLENTIFULLY FROM THE KEY": COLLECTION OF 11 PAPERS RELATED TO ELECTRICITY, BY AND ADDRESSED TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, AMONG OTHER PROMINENT 18TH-CENTURY NATURAL PHILOSOPHERS, EXTRACTED FROM PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS, 1751-73
(FRANKLIN, Benjamin). [Collection of 11 Articles Extracted from the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]. [London: The Royal Society, 1751-73]. 54 octavo leaves and two folding plates, loose, housed in plastic sleeves and binder, and a chemise and custom clamshell box.
Collection of 11 scientific papers extracted from the pages of the Royal Society's venerable journal, Philosophical Transactions, many authored by or addressed to Benjamin Franklin, on the subject of electricity—including Franklin's account of his famous "Philadelphia experiment" with kite and key. A fascinating archive of primary sources.
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge began publishing Philosphical Transactions, the world's oldest and longest-running journal devoted exclusively to science, in 1665. It helped pioneer the peer-review process so important for modern scientific research. Benjamin Franklin published 19 papers in its pages, most notably "A Letter of Benjamin Franklin, Esq; to Mr. Peter Collinson, F.R.S. concerning an electrical Kite"—Franklin's own account of his most famous experiment, which led to his invention of the lightning rod: "In June 1752, as dark clouds came up… Franklin ran the string from the kite to a Leyden jar, insulating himself by holding a silk ribbon to the string. When he observed the fibers on the hemp string stand out, he realized the experiment [to conduct electricity] had succeeded. It must have been one of the most satisfying moments of his life… Franklin became the most famous natural philosopher since Isaac Newton… In 1756 Immanuel Kant dubbed Franklin the 'Prometheus of modern time'" (ANB).
The present collection contains the following pieces by or about Franklin (presented in the order in which they were originally read before the Society), all extracted and disbound from Philosophical Transactions:
1. "A Letter from Mr. Franklin to Mr. Peter Collinson, F.R.S. concerning the Effects of Lightning" - Volume 47 (1751-52), pages 289-91 (leaves 2O1-2O2) – Franklin discusses lightning's various properties, including its influence on magnetic compasses. Botanist Peter Collinson " was acquainted with a wide range of natural historians," including such leading thinkers as Franklin and Carl Linnaeus (DNB).
2. "An Account of Mr. Benjamin Franklin's Treatise, lately published, intituled, Experiments and Observations on Electricity, made at Philadelphia in America, by Wm. Watson, F.R.S." – Volume 47 (1751-52), pages 202-11 (leaves 2C1-2D2) – An accomplished botanist, apothecary and electrical experimenter in his own right, Watson here summarizes "a few of the most singular" of Franklin's electrical experiments (including Franklin's electrocution of a ten-pound turkey: "He conceited, as himself says, that the birds kill'd in this manner eat uncommonly tender").
3. "A Letter of Benjamin Franklin, Esq; to Mr. Peter Collinson, F.R.S. concerning an electrical Kite" and "A Letter of Mr. W. Watson, F.R.S. to the Royal Society, concerning the electrical Experiments in England upon Thunder-Clouds" - Volume 47 (1751-52), pages 565-70 (leaves [4B3-4C1) – Franklin recounts his famous kite experiment, and Watson describes attempts in England to verify Franklin's hypothesis.
4. "Electrical Experiments, made in pursuance of those by Mr. Canton, dated Decem. 3, 1753; with Explanations by Mr. Benjamin Franklin, Communicated Mr. Peter Collinson, F.R.S." and "Extract of a Letter concerning Electricity, from Mr. B. Franklin to Mons. Delibard, inclosed in a Letter to Mr. Peter Collinson, F.R.S." – Volume 49 (1755-56), pages 300-09 (leaves 2Q2-[2R3]) – Franklin outlines three experiments in electric conductivity, and discusses a lightning strike on a church spire in Newbury ("The spire was split all to pieces by the lightning, and the parts flung in all directions over the square…").
5. "An Account of the Effects of Electricity in paralytic Cases. In a Letter to John Pringle, M.D. F.R.S. from Benjamin Franklin, Esq; F.R.S." – Volume 50 (1757-58), pages 481-83 (leaves 3Q1-3Q2) – Franklin details the apparent but temporary benefits of electrical shocks administered to people suffering from paralysis ("A man, for instance, who could not the first day lift the lame hand from off his knee, would the next day raise it four or five inches…").
6. "Experiments in Electricity: In a Letter from Father Beccaria, Professor of Experimental Philosophy at Turin, to Benjamin Franklin, L.L.D. F.R.S." with "Remarks on the preceding Paper, by Benjamin Franklin, L.L.D. F.R.S." – Volume 51 (1759-60), pages 514-26 (leaves [3W4]-3Y2 and one folding plate) – Description, in Latin, of 11 electrical experiments, followed by Franklin's brief explanatory remarks (in English).
7. "A Letter from Benjamin Franklin, LL.D. and F.R.S. to the Reverend Thomas Birch, D.D. and Secretary to the Royal Society" with "A Letter from John Canton, M.A. and F.R.S. to Benjamin Franklin, LL.D. and F.R.S. containing some Remarks on Mr. Delaval's Electrical Experiments" – Volume 52 (1761-2), pages 456-62 (leaves 3N1-[3N4]) - Discussions of the relationships between the temperatures of various materials (stone, glass, "common tobacco pipe") and their conductivity or non-conductivity.
8. "Description of an Electrometer invented by Mr. Lane; with an Account of some Experiments made by him with it: In a Letter to Benjamin Franklin, LL.D. F.R.S." – Volume 57 (1767), pages 451-60 (leaves 3M2-3N2), plus folding plate – Lane describes the construction and function of his electrometer, illustrated with an engraved folding plate, and four experiments he conducted with it. "The instrument, which became known as Lane's electrometer, combined with portable electrical machines, came to be widely used as an essential component of medico-electrical apparatus. It was also used by Benjamin Franklin to demonstrate the action of electricity in atmospherical phenomena" (DNB).
9. "A Report of the Committee appointed by the Royal Society, to consider of a Method for securing the Powder Magazines at Purfleet" – Volume 63 (1773), pages 42-47 (leaves G1-[G4]) – A report on affixing electrical conductors to five gunpowder magazines, a safeguard against "[t]he blowing up of a magazine… by lightning…" When the Purlfeet magazines were struck by lightning in 1777, the powder did not explode, and the buildings escaped serious damage (Weld, History of the Royal Society, 97).
10. "An Extract of a Letter from Dr. Nooth to Dr. Franklin, F.R.S. on some Improvements in the Electrical Machine" – Volume 63 (1773), pages 333-39 (leaves 2X2-2Y1) – John Nooth, the future superintendent-general of hospitals for the British forces in North America now best remembered for his apparatus for absorbing carbon dioxide ("fixed air") from water, here outlines his attempt "to find out the best method of increasing the excitation of a glass, and of taking from it that fire for electrical purposes which might be collected on its surface."
11. "Of the electric Property of the Torpedo. In a Letter from John Walsh, Esq; F.R.S. to Benjamin Franklin, Esq; LL.D., F.R.S., Ac. R. Par. Soc. Ext., &c." – Volume 63 (1773), pages 461-80 (leaves 3O2-[3Q4]), with folding plate – "Elected to the Royal Society in 1770, Walsh soon became absorbed in the subject for which he became briefly famous: the electric fish. The numbing shocks felt by anyone who touched the electric ray, Torpedo marmorata, which inhabited the Mediterranean and other shores of Europe, had been known since classical times. In 1769 Edward Banfield… proved that the [electric] eel emitted electric shocks, and Walsh set out to confirm that the ray had a similar power. In this he was encouraged by Benjamin Franklin, whose American colleagues were undertaking similar investigations. With his nephew Arthur Fowkes he spent the summer of 1772 at La Rochelle, where the ray was often captured. The fish could survive many hours out of water, and Walsh was able to conduct experiments ashore. He wired up the fish to a series of bowls of water, which were interlinked by people with a hand in each adjacent bowl. A shock was felt by all when the wire was led back to the fish and the circuit completed, proving that the ray's shocks were caused by electricity and could be transmitted through conducting substances. His letter to Franklin announcing these findings was published in the Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions" (DNB). Illustrated with engraved folding plate featuring figures of the male and female electric rays. Light pencil marks through non-Franklin or non-electricity-related material on several pages.
Scattered light foxing; light offsetting to Walsh's letter. An intriguing collection of material from the pages of Philosophical Transactions.