Natural History / Or, Uncle Philip's Conversations with the Children about Tools and Trades among Inferior Animals

by Francis L. Hawks

"But, Uncle Philip, how did the kite help him?"

"I will tell you. If you take a proper piece of glass, or sulphur, or sealing-wax, or rosin, and rub it for some time, and then hold it near to small bits of thread or paper, the thread or paper will fly towards the glass or sealing-wax, and stick to it for a short time. That which makes them fly to the glass and stick there, is called electricity. After this was found out, men went on slowly finding out more and more, until at last a man named Hawksbee made a large machine with a glass barrel, which could be turned around by a handle like that which you see to a grindstone; and with this machine (which I will show you at some other time) he managed to get a great deal of this electricity, and it would shoot off in sparks, which appeared like little lightning.

"And now, boys, what I am going to tell you will show you the use of a man's eyes. Dr. Franklin knew all about the electrical machine, and was very fond of drawing off the sparks from it, to see what he could find out about it. And when he saw it appeared so much like lightning, and could feel too a spark strike his hand a smart blow, he began to think that perhaps it was exactly the same thing with the lightning which came from the clouds; so he determined, if he could, to find out whether it was or not. He was a great deal troubled for some time to know how he should get down any of the lightning from the clouds; until at last, one day, he saw a boy flying a kite; and that showed him the way. So he took a large silk handkerchief, and stretching it upon sticks, soon made his kite; and not long afterward, when he saw a black thunder-cloud coming up, he took his kite and walked out of Philadelphia (where he then lived) into the fields, and sent his kite up. He had a string like yours, made of hemp, and to the end of this he tied an iron key, and then fastening it to the post of a shed by a silk cord, which he tied to the end of the hemp string, he got under the shed, and waited a long time. Now, boys, if he had been impatient, all his work would have been of no use. But he even waited, after a very heavy cloud had passed over his kite without giving it any of its lightning. At last, when he was almost ready to give it up and go home, he saw some loose threads on the hemp string rise and stand up straight, just as he knew the electrical machine would make them do. He directly put his knuckle to the iron key, and off came the spark, which he knew at once was exactly like the spark which he could get from the machine. And so, boys, he found out what he wished to know; and this was the way in which the kite helped the philosopher."

"Well, Uncle Philip, this is really a very pretty story about Dr. Franklin and his kite. Was anybody with him?"

"Nobody but his son; he took him out to help him raise the kite. But, boys, I see the other lads are walking on towards the bridge with our kite; let us follow them, and as we go, I will tell you of an electric animal."

"Oh, we shall be very glad to hear of him."

"Listen, then. There is a kind of eel, which when it is touched will give a very hard blow, just like an electric shock, to the person who touches it."

"Is there any spark, Uncle Philip?"

"No, boys; there is no spark,—but the blow is tremendous. I remember reading of one of these fish which was caught in a net, and a foolish sailor would take it up, though he was told it would hurt him. The fish shocked him so violently that he fell down in a fit, and it was a long time before he came to his senses; and his story was, that the moment he touched the fish, 'the cold ran swiftly up his arm into his body, and pierced him to the heart.' The fish has this power to defend itself, and to kill other fish for food."