by the
ardor for discovery. Professor Richmann bade fair to add much to the
stock of knowledge on this subject, when an unfortunate flash from his
conductor put a period to his existence.

"By these experiments Franklin's theory was established in the most
convincing manner.

"Besides these great principles Franklin's letters on electricity
contain a number of facts and hints which have contributed greatly
toward 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 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 to have at last 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, and that the glass
globe charged positively, or increased, the quantity of electricity on
the prime conductor, while the globe of sulphur diminished its natural
quantity, or charged negatively. These experiments and observations
opened a new field for investigation, upon which electricians entered
with avidity; and their labors have added much to the stock of our
knowledge.

"Franklin's letters have been translated into most of the European
languages, and into Latin. In proportion as they have become known, his
principles have been adopted."

In speaking of the first publication of his papers on electricity,
Franklin himself says: "Obliged as we were to Mr. Collinson for the
present of the tube, etc., I thought it right he should be informed of
our success in using it, and wrote him several letters containing
accounts of our experiments. He got them read in the Royal Society,
where they were at first not thought worth so much notice as to be
printed in their _Transactions_. One paper, which I wrote to Mr.
Kinnersley, on the sameness of lightning with electricity, I sent to Mr.
Mitchel, an acquaintance of mine, and one of the members also of that
society, who wrote me word that it had been read, but was laughed at by
the connoisseurs. The papers, however, being shown to Dr. Fothergill, h