[88] Twelve were proposed on and near the magazines at Purfleet.
[89] It may be fit to mention here, that the immediate occasion of the dispute concerning the preference between pointed and blunt conductors of lightning, arose as follows:—A powder-mill having blown up at Brescia, in consequence of its being struck with lightning, the English board of ordnance applied to their painter, Mr. Wilson, then of some note as an electrician, for a method to prevent the like accident to their magazines at Purfleet. Mr. Wilson having advised a blunt conductor, and it being understood that Dr. Franklin's opinion, formed upon the spot, was for a pointed one; the matter was referred in 1772, to the Royal Society, and by them as usual, to a committee, who, after consultation, prescribed a method conformable to Dr. Franklin's theory. But a harmless stroke of lightning, having under particular circumstances, fallen upon one of the buildings and its apparatus in May 1777; the subject came again into violent agitation, and was again referred to the society, and by the society again referred to a new committee, which committee confirmed the decision of the first committee.
B. V.[90]
[90] Wherever this signature occurs, the note is taken from a volume of Dr. Franklin's writings, entitled Political, Miscellaneous, and Philosophical Pieces, printed for Johnson, 1779. The editor of that volume, though a young man at the time, had already evinced extraordinary talents, and was the friend and correspondent of our author. As he has chosen to withhold his name, we conceive ourselves not entitled to disclose it: but we shall take the freedom of an acquaintance to use the notes occasionally, deeming them in many instances valuable historical records. Editor.
TO PROFESSOR LANDRIANI, OF ITALY.
[On the Utility of Electrical Conductors.]
Philadelphia, Oct. 14, 1787.
Sir,
I have received the excellent work, Upon the Utility of electrical Conductors, which you had the goodness to send me. I read it with great pleasure, and beg you to accept my sincere thanks for it.