Letter To Thomas Ronayne 20 April 1766 On The Electricity Of Fogs From Memoirs Of The Life And Writings Of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin explains his theory of positively and negatively charged clouds, and describes an experiment designed to investigate the same.

Benjamin Franklin comments on the results of an electricity experiment conducted by Ingenhausz.

Benjamin Franklin comments on past experiments with electricity. As his final advice, he writes, "I see you are endowed with a genius for the study of nature, and I would recommend it to you to employ your time rather in making experiments than in making hypothesis and forming imaginary systems, which we are all to apt to please ourselves with till some experiments comes, and unluckily destroys them."

Benjamin Franklin touches upon a number of subjects in this response to Ingenhausz. He includes an anecdote about himself receiving an electric shock; describes and advocates use of electric shock therapy on "epileptic and other poor patients" as well as "on mad people"; mentions a clock he had designed; explains an experiment investigating the effect of gravity; and mentions an idea about tides. Franklin refers a number of times to how busy he is at age 80 and concludes with the thought that "celebrity may for a while flatter one's vanity, but its effects are troublesome."

Benjamin Franklin, writing from Paris, gives his brief reactions to reported experiments by Volta that, Franklin says, appear to replicate the Leyden jars. He questions whether the electric charge can, indeed, be preserved for years, as claimed.

Benjamin Franklin describes the physiological effects of an accidental electric shock he received when he was "about to kill a turkey by the shock from two large glass jars." Writing two nights later he says that "nothing remains now of this shock but a soreness in my breast-bone, which feels as if it had been bruised."

Benjamin Franklin spells out his ideas about the nature of fire. He explains that he had "long been of the opinion that it exists everywhere in the state of a subtile fluid."