shoulders, as when we stand on the ground, the immersion will, by the
weight of that part of the head that is out of water, reach above the
mouth and nostrils, perhaps a little above the eyes, so that a man
cannot long remain suspended in water with his head in that position.
6. The body continuing suspended as before, and upright, if the head be
leaned quite back, so that the face look upward, all the back part of
the head being then under water, and its weight, consequently, in a
great measure supported by it, the face will remain above water quite
free for breathing, will rise an inch higher every inspiration, and sink
as much every expiration, but never so low that the water may come over
the mouth.
7. If, therefore, a person unacquainted with swimming, and falling
accidentally into the water, could have presence of mind sufficient to
avoid struggling and plunging, and to let the body take this natural
position, he might continue long safe from drowning till perhaps help
would come. For as to the clothes, their additional weight, while
immersed, is very inconsiderable, the water supporting it, though, when
he comes out of the water, he would find them very heavy indeed.
But, as I said before, I would not advise you or any one to depend on
having this presence of mind on such an occasion, but learn fairly to
swim, as I wish all men were taught to do in their youth; they would, on
many occurrences, be the safer for having that skill, and on many more
the happier, as freer from painful apprehensions of danger, to say
nothing of the enjoyment in so delightful and wholesome an exercise.
Soldiers particularly should, methinks, all be taught to swim; it might
be of frequent use either in surprising an enemy or saving themselves.
And if I had now boys to educate, I should prefer those schools (other
things being equal) where an opportunity was afforded for acquiring so
advantageous an art, which, once learned, is never forgotten.
B. FRANKLIN.
* * * * *
_To Miss Stephenson._
METHOD OF CONTRACTING CHIMNEYS.--MODESTY IN DISPUTATION.
Craven-street, Saturday evening, past 10.
The question you ask me is a very sensible one, and I shall be glad if I
can give you a satisfactory answer. There are two ways of contracting a
chimney; one by contracting the opening _before_ the fire, the other by
contracting the funnel _above_ the fire. If the funnel above the fire is
left open in its full dimensions, and the opening before the fire is
contracted, then the coals, I imagine, will burn faster, because more
air is directed through the fire, and in a stronger stream; that air
which before passed over it and on each side of it, now passing
_through_ it. This is seen in narrow stove chimneys, when a
_sacheverell_ or blower is used, which still more contracts the narrow
opening. But if the funnel only _above_ the fire is contracted, then, as
a less stream of air is passing up the chimney, less must pass through
the fire, and, consequently, it should seem that the consuming of the
coals would rather be checked than augmented by such contraction. And
this will also be the case when both the opening _before_ the fire and
the funnel _above_ the fire are contracted, provided the funnel above
the fire is more contracted in proportion than the opening before the
fire. So, you see, I think you had the best of the argument; and as you,
notwithstanding, gave it up in complaisance to the company, I think you
had also the best of the dispute. There are few, though convinced, that
know how to give up even an error they have been once engaged in
maintaining; there is, therefore, the more merit in dropping a contest
where one thinks one's self right; it is at least respectful to those we
converse with. And, indeed, all our knowledge is so imperfect, and we
are, from a thousand causes, so perpetually subject to mistake and
error, that positiveness can scarce ever become even the most knowing;
and modesty in advancing any opinion, however plain and true we may
suppose it, is always decent, and generally more likely to procure
assent. Pope's rule,
To speak, though sure, with seeming diffidence,
is therefore a good one; and if I had ever seen in your conversation the
least deviation from it, I should earnestly recommend it to your
observation. I am, &c.,
B. FRANKLIN.
* * * * *
_To M. Dubourg._
OBSERVATIONS ON THE PREVAILING DOCTRINES OF LIFE AND DEATH.
* * Your observations on the causes of death, and the experiments which
you propose for recalling to life those who appear to be killed by
lightning, demonstrate equally your sagacity and your humanity. It
appears that the doctrines of life and death, in general, are yet but
little understood.
A toad buried in sand will live, it is said, till the sand becomes
petrified: and then, being enclosed in the stone, it may still live for
we know not how many ages. The facts which are cited in support of this
opinion are too numerous and too circumstantial not to deserve a certain
degree of credit. As we are accustomed to see all the animals with which
we are acquainted eat and drink, it appears to us difficult to conceive
how a toad can be supported in such a dungeon: but if we reflect that
the necessity of nourishment, which animals experience in their ordinary
state, proceeds from the continual waste of their substance by
perspiration, it will appear less incredible that some animals, in a
torpid state, perspiring less because they use no exercise, should have
less need of aliment; and that others, which are covered with scales or
shells which stop perspiration, such as land and sea turtles, serpents,
and some species of fish, should be able to subsist a considerable time
without any nourishment whatever. A plant, with its flowers, fades and
dies immediately if exposed to the air without having its root immersed
in a humid soil, from which it may draw a sufficient quantity of
moisture to supply that which exhales from its substance and is carried
off continually by the air. Perhaps, however, if it were buried in
quicksilver, it might preserve, for a considerable space of time, its
vegetable life, its smell, and colour. If this be the case, it might
prove a commodious method of transporting from distant countries those
delicate plants which are unable to sustain the inclemency of the
weather at sea, and which require particular care and attention. I have
seen an instance of common flies preserved in a manner somewhat similar.
They had been drowned in Madeira wine, apparently about the time when it
was bottled in Virginia to be sent hither (to London). At the opening of
one of the bottles, at the house of a friend where I then was, three
drowned flies fell into the first glass that was filled. Having heard it
remarked that drowned flies were capable of being revived by the rays of
the sun, I proposed making the experiment upon these: they were
therefore exposed to the sun upon a sieve, which had been employed to
strain them out of the wine. In less than three hours, two of them began
by degrees to recover life. They commenced by some convulsive motions of
the thighs, and at length they raised themselves upon their legs, wiped
their eyes with their fore-feet, beat and brushed their wings with their
hind-feet, and soon after began to fly, finding themselves in Old
England, without knowing how they came thither. The third continued
lifeless till sunset, when, losing all hopes of him, he was thrown away.
I wish it were possible, from this instance, to invent a method of
embalming drowned persons, in such a manner that they may be recalled to
life at any period, however distant; for, having a very ardent desire to
see and observe the state of America a hundred years hence, I should
prefer to any ordinary death the being immersed in a cask of Madeira
wine, with a few friends, till that time, to be then recalled to life by
the solar warmth of my dear country! But since, in all probability, we
live in an age too early and too near the infancy of science to hope to
see such an art brought in our time to its perfection, I must, for the
present, content myself with the treat which you are so kind as to
promise me, of the resuscitation of a fowl or a turkey-cock.
B. FRANKLIN.
* * * * *
LORD BROUGHAM'S PORTRAIT OF DR. FRANKLIN.
The following admirable sketch of the character of Franklin is from a
new work by Lord Brougham, recently published in London, entitled
"Statesmen in the time of George III." It has not been published in this
country:
"One of the most remarkable men, certainly, of our times as a
politician, or of any age as a philosopher, was Franklin, who also
stands alone in combining together these two characters, the greatest
that man can sustain, and in this, that having borne the first part in
enlarging science by one of the greatest discoveries ever made, he bore
the second part in founding one of the greatest empires.
"In this truly great man everything seemed to concur that goes towards
the constitution of exalted merit. First, he was the architect of his
own fortune. Born in the humblest station, he raised himself, by his
talents and his industry, first, to the place in society which may be
attained with the help only of ordinary abilities, great application,
and good luck; but next, to the loftier heights which a daring and happy
genius alone can scale; and the poor printer's boy, who at one period of
his life had no covering to shelter his head from the dews of night,
rent in twain the proud dominion of England, and lived to be the
ambassador of a commonwealth which he had formed, at the court of the
haughty monarchs of France who had been his allies.
"Then he had been tried by prosperity as well as adverse fortune, and
had passed unhurt through the perils of both. No ordinary apprentice, no
commonplace journeyman, ever laid the foundation of his independence in
habits of industry and temperance more deep than he did, whose genius
was afterward to rank him with the Galileos and the Newtons of the Old
World. No patrician born to shine in courts, or assist at the councils
of monarchs, ever bore his honours in a lofty station more easily, or
was less spoiled by the enjoyment of them, than this common workman did
when negotiating with royal representatives, or caressed by all the
beauty and fashion of the most brilliant court in Europe.
"Again, he was self-taught in all he knew. His hours of study were
stolen from those of sleep and of meals, or gained by some ingenious
contrivance for reading while the work of his daily calling went on.
Assisted by none of the helps which affluence tenders to the studies of
the rich, he had to supply the place of tutors by redoubled diligence,
and of commentaries by repeated perusal. Nay, the possession of books
was to be obtained by copying what the art he himself exercised
furnished easily to others.
"Next, the circumstances under which others succumb, he made to yield
and bend to his own purposes; a successful leader of a revolt that ended
in complete triumph, after appearing desperate for years; a great
discoverer in philosophy, without the ordinary helps to knowledge; a
writer famed for his chaste style, without a classical education; a
skilful negotiator, though never bred to politics; ending as a
favourite, nay, a pattern of fashion, when the guest of frivolous
courts, the life which he had begun in garrets and in workshops.
"Lastly, combinations of faculties, in others deemed impossible,
appeared easy and natural in him. The philosopher, delighting in
speculation, was also eminently a man of action. Ingenious reasoning,
refined and subtile consultation, were in him combined with prompt
resolution and inflexible firmness of purpose. To a lively fancy he
joined a learned, a deep reflection; his original and inventive genius
stooped to the convenient alliance of the most ordinary prudence in
every-day affairs; the mind that soared above the clouds, and was
conversant with the loftiest of human contemplations, disdained not to
make proverbs and feign parables for the guidance of apprenticed youths
and servile maidens; and the hands that sketched a free constitution for
a whole continent, or drew down the lightning from heaven, easily and
cheerfully lent themselves to simplify the apparatus by which truths
were to be illustrated or discoveries pursued.
"His discoveries were made with hardly any apparatus at all; and if, at
any time, he had been led to employ instruments of a somewhat less
ordinary description, he never seemed satisfied until he had, as it
were, afterward translated the process, by resolving the problem with
such simple machinery that you might say he had done it wholly unaided
by apparatus. The experiments by which the identity of lightning and
electricity was demonstrated, were made with a sheet of brown paper, a
bit of twine, a silk thread, and an iron key.
"Upon the integrity of this man, whether in public or in private life,
there rests no stain. Strictly honest and even scrupulously punctual in
all his dealings, he preserved in the highest fortune that regularity
which he had practised as well as inculcated in the lowest.
"In domestic life he was faultless, and in the intercourse of society
delightful. There was a constant good humour and a playful wit, easy and
of high relish, without any ambition to shine, the natural fruit of his
lively fancy, his solid, natural good sense, and his cheerful temper,
that gave his conversation an unspeakable charm, and alike suited every
circle from the humblest to the most elevated. With all his strong
opinions, so often solemnly declared, so imperishably recorded in his
deeds, he retained a tolerance for those who differed with him which
could not be surpassed in men whose principles hang so loosely about
them as to be taken up for a convenient cloak, and laid down when found
to impede their progress. In his family he was everything that worth,
warm affections, and sound prudence could contribute, to make a man both
useful and amiable, respected and beloved.
"In religion he would be reckoned by many a latitudinarian, yet it is
certain that his mind was imbued with a deep sense of the Divine
perfections, a constant impression of our accountable nature; and a
lively hope of future enjoyment. Accordingly, his deathbed, the test of
both faith and works, was easy and placid, resigned and devout, and
indicated at once an unflinching retrospect of the past, and a
comfortable assurance of the future.
"If we turn from the truly great man whom we have been contemplating to
his celebrated contemporary in the Old World (Frederic the Great), who
only affected the philosophy that Franklin possessed, and employed his
talents for civil and military affairs in extinguishing that
independence which Franklin's life was consecrated to establish, the
contrast is marvellous indeed between the monarch and the printer."
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
The transcriber made these changes to the text to correct obvious
errors:
1. p. 29 howsover --> howsoever
2. p. 98 impaartial --> impartial
3. p. 123 soilders --> soldiers
4. p. 129 Phladelphia -->Philadelphia
5. p. 146 virtuons --> virtuous
6. p. 179 sentment --> sentiment
7. p. 179 passons --> (left as published)
8. p. 183 vents --> events
9. p. 287 papar --> paper