whether you had the first before. If you had, you will please to give
this to the French ambassador, requesting his conveyance of it to the
good Duke de la Rochefoucauld. My best wishes attend you, being ever,
with sincere and great esteem, my dear friend, yours most
affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
"_B. Vaughan._
"Philadelphia, June 3, 1789.
"MY DEAREST FRIEND,
"I received your kind letter of March 4, and wish I may be able to
complete what you so earnestly desire, the Memoirs of my Life. But of
late I am so interrupted by extreme pain, which obliges me to have
recourse to opium, that between the effects of both I have but little
time in which I can write anything. My grandson, however, is copying
what is done, which will be sent to you for your opinion, by the next
vessel; and not merely for your opinion, but for your advice; for I find
it a difficult task to speak decently and properly of one's own conduct;
and I feel the want of a judicious friend to encourage me in scratching
out.
"I have condoled sincerely with the bishop of St. Asaph's family. He was
an excellent man. Losing our friends thus one by one is the tax we pay
for long living; and it is indeed a heavy one!
"I have not seen the King of Prussia's posthumous works; what you
mention makes me desirous to have them. Please to mention it to your
brother William, and that I request he would add them to the books I
have desired him to buy for me.
"Our new government is now in train, and seems to promise well. But
events are in the hand of God! I am ever, my dear friend, yours most
affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
"_Dr. Rush._
"Philadelphia.
[Without date, but supposed to be in 1789.]
"MY DEAR FRIEND,
"During our long acquaintance you have shown many instances of your
regard for me, yet I must now desire you to add one more to the number,
which is that if you publish your ingenious discourse on the _moral
sense_, you will totally omit and suppress that extravagant encomium on
your friend Franklin, which hurt me exceedingly in the unexpected
hearing, and will mortify me beyond conception if it should appear from
the press.
"Confiding in your compliance with this earnest request, I am ever, my
dear friend, yours most affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
_To Miss Catharine Louisa Shipley._
"Philadelphia, April 27, 1789.
"It is only a few days since the kind letter of my dear young friend,
dated December 24, came to my hands. I had before, in the public papers,
met with the afflicting news that letter contained. That excellent man
has then left us! his departure is a loss, not to his family and friends
only, but to his nation and to the world: for he was intent on doing
good, had wisdom to devise the means, and talents to promote them. His
sermon before the Society for Propagating the Gospel, and "_his speech
intended to be spoken_," are proofs of his ability as well as his
humanity. Had his counsels in those pieces been attended to by the
ministers, how much bloodshed might have been prevented, and how much
expense and disgrace to the nation avoided!
"Your reflections on the constant calmness and composure attending his
death are very sensible. Such instances seem to show that the good
sometimes enjoy, in dying, a foretaste of the happy state they are
about to enter.
"According to the course of years, I should have quitted this world long
before him: I shall, however, not be long in following. I am now in my
eighty-fourth year, and the last year has considerably enfeebled me, so
that I hardly expect to remain another. You will then, my dear friend,
consider this as probably the last line to be received from me, and as a
taking leave.
"Present my best and most sincere respects to your good mother, and love
to the rest of the family, to whom I wish all happiness; and believe me
to be, while I _do_ live, yours most affectionately,
"B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
_To_ * * *.
(Withoute date.)
"DEAR SIR,
"I have read your manuscript with some attention. By the argument it
contains against a particular Providence, though you allow a general
Providence, you strike at the foundations of all religion. For without
the belief of a Providence that takes cognizance of, guards and guides,
and may favour particular persons, there is no motive to worship a
Deity, to fear its displeasure, or to pray for its protection. I will
not enter into any discussion of your principles, though you seem to
desire it. At present I shall only give you my opinion, that though your
reasonings are subtle, and may prevail with some readers, you will not
succeed so as to change the general sentiments of mankind on that
subject, and the consequence of printing this piece will be, a great
deal of odium drawn upon yourself, mischief to you, and no benefit to
others. He that spits against the wind, spits in his own face. But were
you to succeed, do you imagine any good would be done by it? You
yourself may find it easy to live a virtuous life without the assistance
afforded by religion; you having a clear perception of the advantages of
virtue and the disadvantages of vice, and possessing a strength of
resolution sufficient to enable you to resist common temptations. But
think how great a portion of mankind consists of weak and ignorant men
and women, and of inexperienced, inconsiderate youth of both sexes, who
have need of the motives of religion to restrain them from vice, to
support their virtue, and retain them in the practice of it till it
becomes _habitual_, which is the great point of its security. And
perhaps you are indebted to her originally, that is, to your religious
education, for the habits of virtue upon which you now justly value
yourself. You might easily display your excellent talents of reasoning
upon a less hazardous subject, and thereby obtain a rank with our most
distinguished authors. For among us it is not necessary, as among the
Hottentots, that a youth to be raised into the company of men should
prove his manhood by beating his mother. I would advise you, therefore,
not to attempt unchaining the tiger, but to burn this piece before it is
seen by any other person, whereby you will save yourself a great deal of
mortification from the enemies it may raise against you, and, perhaps, a
great deal of regret and repentance. If men are so wicked _with
religion_, what would they be if _without it_? I intend this letter
itself as a _proof_ of my friendship, and, therefore, add no
_professions_ to it; but subscribe simply yours,
B. FRANKLIN."
* * * * *
_Copy of the last Letter written by Dr. Franklin._
"Philadelphia, April 8, 1790.
"SIR,
"I received your letter of the 31st of last past relating to
encroachments made on the eastern limits of the United States by
settlers under the British government, pretending that it is the
_western_, and not the _eastern_ river of the Bay of Passamaquoddy which
was designated by the name of St. Croix, in the treaty of peace with
that nation; and requesting of me to communicate any facts which my
memory or papers may enable me to recollect, and which may indicate the
true river which the commissioners on both sides had in their view to
establish as the boundary between the two nations.
"Your letter found me under a severe fit of my malady, which prevented
my answering it sooner, or attending, indeed, to any kind of business. I
now can assure you that I am perfectly clear in the remembrance that the
map we used in tracing the boundary was brought to the treaty by the
commissioners from England, and that it was the same that was published
by _Mitchell_ above twenty years before. Having a copy of that map by me
in loose sheets, I send you that sheet which contains the Bay of
Passamaquoddy, where you will see that part of the boundary traced. I
remember, too, that in that part of the boundary we relied much on the
opinion of Mr. Adams, who had been concerned in some former disputes
concerning those territories. I think, therefore, that you may obtain
still farther light from him.
"That the map we used was Mitchell's map, Congress were acquainted at
the time, by letter to their secretary for foreign affairs, which I
suppose may be found upon their files.
"I have the honour to be, with the greatest esteem and respect, sir,
your most obedient and most humble servant,
"B. FRANKLIN.
"To Thomas Jefferson, }
"Secretary of State of the United States."}
PHILOSOPHICAL SUBJECTS.
_To the Abbé Soulavie._[35]
[35] Occasioned by his sending me some notes he had taken of what I
had said to him in conversation on the Theory of the Earth. I wrote
it to set him right in some points wherein he had mistaken my
meaning.--B. F.
_Theory of the Earth._--Read in the American Philosophical Society,
November 22, 1782.
Passy, September 22, 1782.
I return the papers with some corrections. I did not find coal mines
under the calcareous rocks in Derbyshire. I only remarked, that at the
lowest part of that rocky mountain which was in sight, there were oyster
shells mixed in the stone; and part of the high county of Derby being
probably as much above the level of the sea as the coal mines of
Whitehaven were below it, seemed a proof that there had been a great
_boulversement_ in the surface of that island, some part of it having
been depressed under the sea, and other parts, which had been under it,
being raised above it. Such changes in the superficial parts of the
globe seemed to me unlikely to happen if the earth were solid to the
centre. I therefore imagined that the internal parts might be a fluid
more dense, and of greater specific gravity than any of the solids we
are acquainted with, which therefore might swim in or upon that fluid.
Thus the surface of the globe would be a shell, capable of being broken
or disordered by the violent movements of the fluid on which it rested.
And as air has been compressed by art so as to be twice as dense as
water, in which case, if such air and water could be contained in a
strong glass vessel, the air would be seen to take the lowest place, and
the water to float above and upon it; and as we know not yet the degree
of density to which air may be compressed, and M. Amontons calculated
that its density increasing as it approached the centre in the same
proportion as above the surface, it would, at the depth of---- leagues,
be heavier than gold; possibly the dense fluid occupying the internal
parts of the globe might be air compressed. And as the force of
expansion in dense air, when heated, is in proportion to its density,
this central air might afford another agent to move the surface, as well
as be of use in keeping alive the subterraneous fires; though, as you
observe, the sudden rarefaction of water coming into contact without
those fires, may also be an agent sufficiently strong for that purpose,
when acting between the incumbent earth and the fluid on which it rests.
If one might indulge imagination in supposing how such a globe was
formed, I should conceive, that all the elements in separate particles
being originally mixed in confusion, and occupying a great space, they
would (as soon as the almighty fiat ordained gravity, or the mutual
attraction of certain parts and the mutual repulsion of others, to
exist) all move to their common centre: that the air, being a fluid
whose parts repel each other, though drawn to the common centre by their
gravity, would be densest towards the centre, and rarer as more remote;
consequently, all matters lighter than the central parts of that air and
immersed in it, would recede from the centre, and rise till they arrived
at that region of the air which was of the same specific gravity with
themselves, where they would rest; while other matter, mixed with the
lighter air, would descend, and the two, meeting, would form the shell
of the first earth, leaving the upper atmosphere nearly clear. The
original movement of the parts towards their common centre would
naturally form a whirl there, which would continue upon the turning of
the new-formed globe upon its axis, and the greatest diameter of the
shell would be in its equator. If by any accident afterward the axis
should be changed, the dense internal fluid, by altering its form, must
burst the shell and throw all its substance into the confusion in which
we find it. I will not trouble you at present with my fancies concerning
the manner of forming the rest of our system. Superior beings smile at
our theories, and at our presumption in making them. I will just
mention, that your observations on the ferruginous nature of the lava
which is thrown out from the depths of our volcanoes, gave me great
pleasure. It has long been a supposition of mine, that the iron
contained in the surface of the globe has made it capable of becoming,
as it is, a great magnet; that the fluid of magnetism perhaps exists in
all space; so that there is a magnetical north and south of the
universe, as well as of this globe, and that, if it were possible for a
man to fly from star to star, he might govern his course by the compass;
that it was by the power of this general magnetism this globe became a
particular magnet. In soft or hot iron the fluid of magnetism is
naturally diffused equally; when within the influence of the magnet it
is drawn to one end of the iron, made denser there and rarer at the
other. While the iron continues soft and hot, it is only a temporary
magnet; if it cools or grows hard in that situation, it becomes a
permanent one, the magnetic fluid not easily resuming its equilibrium.
Perhaps it may be owing to the permanent magnetism of this globe, which
it had not at first, that its axis is at present kept parallel to
itself, and not liable to the changes it formerly suffered, which
occasioned the rupture of its shell, the submersions and emersions of
its lands, and the confusion of its seasons. The present polar and
equatorial diameters differing from each other near ten leagues, it is
easy to conceive, in case some power should shift the axis gradually,
and place it in the present equator, and make the new equator pass
through the present poles, what a sinking of the waters would happen in
the equatorial regions, and what a rising in the present polar regions;
so that vast tracts would be discovered that now are under water, and
others covered that are now dry, the water rising and sinking in the
different extremes near five leagues. Such an operation as this possibly
occasioned much of Europe, and, among the rest, this mountain of Passy
on which I live, and which is composed of limestone, rock, and
seashells, to be abandoned by the sea, and to change its ancient
climate, which seems to have been a hot one. The globe being now become
a perfect magnet, we are, perhaps, safe from any change of its axis. But
we are still subject to the accidents on the surface, which are
occasioned by a wave in the internal ponderous fluid; and such a wave is
producible by the sudden violent explosion you mention, happening from
the junction of water and fire under the earth, which not only lifts the
incumbent earth that is over the explosion, but, impressing with the
same force the fluid under it, creates a wave that may run a thousand
leagues, lifting, and thereby shaking, successively, all the countries
under which it passes. I know not whether I have expressed myself so
clearly as not to get out of your sight in these reveries. If they
occasion any new inquiries, and produce a better hypothesis, they will
not be quite useless. You see I have given a loose to imagination; but I
approve much more your method of philosophizing, which proceeds upon
actual observation, makes a collection of facts, and concludes no
farther than those facts will warrant. In my present circumstances, that
mode of studying the nature of the globe is out of my power, and
therefore I have permitted myself to wander a little in the wilds of
fancy. With great esteem,
B. FRANKLIN.
P.S.--I have heard that chymists can by their art decompose stone and
wood, extracting a considerable quantity of water from the one and air
from the other. It seems natural to conclude from this, that water and
air were ingredients in their original composition; for men cannot make
new matter of any kind. In the same manner, may we not suppose, that
when we consume combustibles of all kinds, and produce heat or light, we
do not create that heat or light, but decompose a substance which
received it originally as a part of its composition? Heat may be thus
considered as originally in a fluid state; but, attracted by organized
bodies in their growth, becomes a part of the solid. Besides this, I can
conceive, that in the first assemblage of the particles of which the
earth is composed, each brought its portion of loose heat that had been
connected with it, and the whole, when pressed together, produced the
internal fire that still subsists.
* * * * *
_To Dr. John Pringle._
ON THE DIFFERENT STRATA OF THE EARTH.
Craven-street, Jan. 6, 1758.
I return you Mr. Mitchell's paper on the strata of the earth[36] with
thanks. The reading of it, and the perusal of the draught that
accompanies it, have reconciled me to those convulsions which all
naturalists agree this globe has suffered. Had the different strata of
clay, gravel, marble, coals, limestone, sand, minerals, &c., continued
to lie level, one under the other, as they may be supposed to have done
before those convulsions, we should have had the use only of a few of
the uppermost of the strata, the others lying too deep and too difficult
to be come at; but the shell of the earth being broke, and the fragments
thrown into this oblique position, the disjointed ends of a great number
of strata of different kinds are brought up to day, and a great variety
of useful materials put into our power, which would otherwise have
remained eternally concealed from us. So that what has been usually
looked upon as a _ruin_ suffered by this part of the universe, was, in
reality, only a preparation, or means of rendering the earth more fit
for use, more capable of being to mankind a convenient and comfortable
habitation.
[36] The paper of Mr. Mitchell, here referred to, was published
afterward in the Philosophical Transactions of London.
B. FRANKLIN.
* * * * *
_To Mr. Bowdoin._
_Queries and Conjectures relating to Magnetism
and the Theory of the Earth._--Read in the American Philosophical
Society January 15, 1790.
I received your favours by Messrs. Gore, Hilliard, and Lee, with whose
conversation I was much pleased, and wished for more of it; but their
stay with us was too short. Whenever you recommend any of your friends
to me, you oblige me.
I want to know whether your Philosophical Society received the second
volume of our Transactions. I sent it, but never heard of its arriving.
If it miscarried, I will send another. Has your Society among its books
the French work _Sur les Arts et les Metiers_? It is voluminous, well
executed, and may be useful in our country. I have bequeathed it them in
my will; but if they have it already, I will substitute something else.
Our ancient correspondence used to have something philosophical in it.
As you are now free from public cares, and I expect to be so in a few
months, why may we not resume that kind of correspondence? Our much
regretted friend Winthrop once made me the compliment, that I was good
at starting game for philosophers, let me try if I can start a little
for you.
Has the question, how came the earth by its magnetism, ever been
considered?
Is it likely that _iron ore_ immediately existed when this globe was at
first formed; or may it not rather be supposed a gradual production of
time?
If the earth is at present magnetical, in virtue of the masses of iron
ore contained in it, might not some ages pass before it had magnetic
polarity?
Since iron ore may exist without that polarity, and, by being placed in
certain circumstances, may obtain it from an external cause, is it not
possible that the earth received its magnetism from some such cause?
In short, may not a magnetic power exist throughout our system, perhaps
through all systems, so that if men could make a voyage in the starry
regions, a compass might be of use? And may not such universal
magnetism, with its uniform direction, be serviceable in keeping the
diurnal revolution of a planet more steady to the same axis?
Lastly, as the poles of magnets may be changed by the presence of
stronger magnets, might not, in ancient times, the near passing of some
large comet, of greater magnetic power than this globe of ours, have
been a means of changing its poles, and thereby wrecking and deranging
its surface, placing in different regions the effect of centrifugal
force, so as to raise the waters of the sea in some, while they were
depressed in others?
Let me add another question or two, not relating indeed to magnetism,
but, however, to the theory of the earth.
Is not the finding of great quantities of shells and bones of animals
(natural to hot climates) in the cold ones of our present world, some
proof that its poles have been changed? Is not the supposition that the
poles have been changed, the easiest way of accounting for the deluge,
by getting rid of the old difficulty how to dispose of its waters after
it was over! Since, if the poles were again to be changed, and placed in
the present equator, the sea would fall there about fifteen miles in
height, and rise as much in the present polar regions; and the effect
would be proportionable if the new poles were placed anywhere between
the present and the equator.
Does not the apparent wreck of the surface of this globe, thrown up into
long ridges of mountains, with strata in various positions, make it
probable that its internal mass is a fluid, but a fluid so dense as to
float the heaviest of our substances? Do we know the limit of
condensation air is capable of? Supposing it to grow denser _within_ the
surface in the same proportion nearly as it does _without_, at what
depth may it be equal in density with gold?
Can we easily conceive how the strata of the earth could have been so
deranged, if it had not been a mere shell supported by a heavier fluid?
Would not such a supposed internal fluid globe be immediately sensible
of a change in the situation of the earth's axis, alter its form, and
thereby burst the shell and throw up parts of it above the rest? As if
we would alter the position of the fluid contained in the shell of an
egg, and place its longest diameter where the shortest now is, the shell
must break; but would be much harder to break if the whole internal
substance were as solid and as hard as the shell.
Might not a wave, by any means raised in this supposed internal ocean of
extremely dense fluid, raise, in some degree as it passes, the present
shell of incumbent earth, and break it in some places, as in
earthquakes. And may not the progress of such wave, and the disorders it
occasions among the solids of the shell, account for the rumbling sound
being first heard at a distance, augmenting as it approaches, and
gradually dying away as it proceeds? A circumstance observed by the
inhabitants of South America, in their last great earthquake, that noise
coming from a place some degrees north of Lima, and being traced by
inquiry quite down to Buenos Ayres, proceeded regularly from north to
south at the rate of ____ leagues per minute, as I was informed by a
very ingenious Peruvian whom I met with at Paris.
B. FRANKLIN.
* * * * *
_To M. Dubourg._
ON THE NATURE OF SEACOAL.
I am persuaded, as well as you, that the seacoal has a vegetable origin,
and that it has been formed near the surface of the earth; but, as
preceding convulsions of nature had served to bring it very deep in many
places, and covered it with many different strata, we are indebted to
subsequent convulsions for having brought within our view the
extremities of its veins, so as to lead us to penetrate the earth in
search of it. I visited last summer a large coalmine at Whitehaven, in
Cumberland; and in following the vein, and descending by degrees towards
the sea, I penetrated below the ocean where the level of its surface was
more than eight hundred fathoms above my head, and the miners assured me
that their works extended some miles beyond the place where I then was,
continually and gradually descending under the sea. The slate, which
forms the roof of this coalmine, is impressed in many places with the
figures of leaves and branches of fern, which undoubtedly grew at the
surface when the slate was in the state of sand on the banks of the sea.
Thus it appears that this vein of coal has suffered a prodigious
settlement.