"LONDON, APRIL 23, 1773.
"You will see by the annexed paper by Dr. Solander, that this herb, poke-weed, in which has been found a specific remedy for cancers, is the most common species of phytolacca. (Phytolacca decandra L.)"
Editor.
MR. E. KINNERSLEY, AT BOSTON, TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, ESQ. AT PHILADELPHIA.
[New Experiments.—Paradoxes inferred from them.—Difference in the Electricity of a Globe of Glass charged, and a Globe of Sulphur.—Difficulty of ascertaining which is positive and which negative.]
Feb. 3, 1752.
Sir,
I have the following experiments to communicate: I held in one hand a wire, which was fastened at the other end to the handle of a pump, in order to try whether the stroke from the prime conductor, through my arms, would be any greater than when conveyed only to the surface of the earth, but could discover no difference.
I placed the needle of a compass on the point of a long pin, and holding it in the atmosphere of the prime conductor, at the distance of about three inches, found it to whirl round like the flyers of a jack, with great rapidity.
I suspended with silk a cork ball, about the bigness of a pea, and presented to it rubbed amber, sealing-wax, and sulphur, by each of which it was strongly repelled; then I tried rubbed glass and china, and found that each of these would attract it, until it became electrified again, and then it would be repelled as at first; and while thus repelled by the rubbed glass or china, either of the others when rubbed would attract it. Then I electrified the ball, with the wire of a charged phial, and presented to it rubbed glass (the stopper of a decanter) and a china tea-cup, by which it was as strongly repelled as by the wire; but when I presented either of the other rubbed electrics, it would be strongly attracted, and when I electrified it by either of these, till it became repelled, it would be attracted by the wire of the phial, but be repelled by its coating.