should be under no restrictions, ii. 415.
exchanges in, may be advantageous to each party, 418.
inland carriage no obstruction, to, iii. 116.
great rivers in America, favourable to, 118.
bills of credit, in lieu of money, the best medium of, 156.
will find and make its own rates, 219.
_Tradesman_, advice to a young one, iii. 463.
_Transportation_ of felons to America, highly disagreeable to the
inhabitants there, iii. 235.
_Treaty_ between America and Prussia, humane article of, ii. 449.
_Treasures_, hidden, search after, ridiculed, iii. 450.
_Trees_, dangerous to be under, in thunder-storms, i. 213.
the shivering of, by lightning, explained, 359.
why cool in the sun, ii. 87.
_Tubes_ of glass, electrical, manner of rubbing, i. 178.
lined with a non-electric, experiment with, 240.
exhausted, electric fire moves freely in, 241.
_Tunes_, ancient Scotch, why give general pleasure, ii. 338.
composed to the wire-harp, 341.
in parts, Rousseau's opinion of, 342.
modern, absurdities of, 344, _et seq._
_Turkey_ killed by electricity, i. 299.
_Turks_, ceremony observed by, in visiting, iii. 436.
V. U.
_Vacuum_, Torricellian, experiment with, i. 291.
electrical experiment in, 317.
_Vapour_, electrical experiment on, i. 343.
_Vapours_ from moist hay, &c. easily fired by lightning, i. 215.
cause of their rising considered, ii. 46, 49.
_Vanity_, observation on, i. 2.
_Varnish_, dry, burnt by electric sparks, i. 199.
_Vattel's_ Law of Nations, greatly consulted by the American congress,
iii. 360.
_Vegetable_ diet, observed by Franklin, i. 20.
abandoned by Franklin, why, 47.
_Vegetation_, effects of, on noxious air, ii. 129.
_Velocity_ of the electric fire, i. 319.
_Virtue_ in private life exemplified, iii. 427.
_Vernon_, Mr. reposes a trust in Franklin, which he violates, i. 44.
_Vis_ inertiæ of matter, observations on, ii. 110.
_Visits_, unseasonable and importunate, letter on, iii. 432.
_Unintelligibleness_, a fault of modern singing, ii. 345.
_Union_, Albany plan of. See _Albany_.
_Union_ of America with Britain, letter on, iii. 239.
_United_ states of America, nature of the congress of, iii. 550*.
_Voyage_, from Boston to New York, i. 27.
from New York to Philadelphia, 28.
from Newfoundland to New York, remarks on, ii. 197.
crossing the gulph stream, journal of, 199.
from Philadelphia to France, 200, 201.
from the channel to America, 202.
to benefit distant countries, proposed, 403.
_Vulgar_ opinions, too much slighted, ii. 146.
W.
_Waggons_, number of, supplied by Franklin, on a military emergency,
i. 131.
_War_, civil, whether it strengthens a country considered, ii. 399.
observations on, 435.
laws of, gradually humanized, _ib._
humane article respecting, in a treaty between Prussia and America,
ii. 449.
French, of 1757, its origin, iii. 274.
_Warm_ rooms do not make people tender, or give colds, ii. 249.
_Washington_, early military talents of, i. 130.
Franklin's bequest to, 164.
_Water_, a perfect conductor of electricity, i. 201.
strongly electrified, rises in vapour, 204.
particles of, in rising, are attached to particles of air, 205.
and air, attract each other, 206.
exploded like gunpowder, by electricity, 358.
expansion of, when reduced to vapour, _ib._
saturated with salt, precipitates the overplus, ii. 2.
will dissolve in air, _ib._
expands when boiling, _ib._
how supported in air, 45.
bubbles on the surface of, hypothesis respecting, 48.
agitated, does not produce heat, 49, 96.
supposed originally all salt, 91.
fresh, produce of distillation only, _ib._
curious effects of oil on, 142.
_Water-casks_, how to dispose of, in leaky vessels, ii. 170.
_Water-spouts_, observations on, ii. 11.
whether they descend or ascend, 14, 23, 38.
various appearances of, 16.
winds blow from all points towards them, 21.
are whirlwinds at sea, _ib._
effect of one on the coast of Guinea, 33.
account of one at Antigua, 34.
various instances of, 38.
Mr. Colden's observations on, 53.
_Watson_, Mr. William, letter by, on thunder-clouds, i. 427.
_Waves_, stilled by oil, ii. 144, 145, 148.
greasy water, 146.
_Wax_, when fluid will conduct electricity, i. 256.
may be electrised positively and negatively, 291.
_Wealth_, way to, iii. 453.
national, positions to be examined concerning, ii. 408.
but three ways of acquiring it, 410.
_Webb_, George, a companion of Franklin's, i. 72, 84, 86.
_Wedderburn_, Mr. remarks on his treatment of Franklin before the privy
council, iii. 330, 332, notes; 550.
_West_, Mr. his conductor struck by lightning, i. 340.
_Western_ colonies, plan for settling them, iii. 41.
_Whatley_, Mr. four letters to, iii. 543*.
_Wheels_, electrical, described, i. 196.
_Whirlwinds_, how formed, ii. 10.
observations on, 20.
a remarkable one at Rome, 24.
account of one in Maryland, 61.
_Whistle_, a story, iii. 480.
_White_, fittest colour for clothes in hot climates, ii. 109.
_Will_, extracts from Franklin's, i. 155.
_Wilson_, Mr. draws electricity from the clouds, i. 429.
_Wind_ generated by fermentation, ii. 59.
_Winds_ explained, ii. 8, 9, 48.
the explanation objected to, 50, 51.
observations on, by Mr. Colden, 52.
whether confined to, or generated in, clouds, 57.
raise the surface of the sea above its level, 188.
effect of, on sound, 337.
_Winters_, hard, causes of, ii. 68.
_Winthrop_, professor, letters from, i. 373, 382.
_Wire_ conducts a great stroke of lightning, though destroyed itself,
i. 282.
_Wolfe_, general, i. 136.
_Women_ of Paris, singular saying respecting, as mothers, iii. 548*.
_Wood_, dry, will not conduct electricity, i. 172.
why does not feel so cold as metals, ii. 56.
_Woods_, not unhealthy to inhabit, ii. 130.
_Woollen_, why warmer than linen, ii. 57, 81.
_Words_, to modern songs, only a pretence for singing, ii. 348.
_Wygate_, an acquaintance of Franklin's, i. 66.
_Wyndham_, sir William, applies to Franklin to teach his sons swimming,
i. 69.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Several pages of the book contain a description and examples of a
modified alphabet proposed by B.F. There are six new characters, which
are denoted by the Unicode characters below (these are similar to,
but not a precise rendering of the original printed characters).
ϖ for the 'o' sound as in (John, folly, ball) 0x3d6
ų for the 'u' sound as in (umbrage, unto, er) 0x173
Ի for the 'sh' sound as in (ship, wish) 0x53b
ŋ for the 'ng' sound as in (ing, repeating, among) 0x14b
ɧ for the 'th' sound as in (think, width) 0x267
ƕ for the 'th' sound as in (thy, weather) 0x195
For consistency and clarity, the pound abbreviation 'l.' has been
italicized, so for example '123,321l.' has been replaced by
'123,321_l._' in the etext.
For consistency, the date and salutation at the beginning of each
letter, and the closing and name at the end of each letter,
have been put on separate lines (they were sometimes placed on the
same line in the original printed text).
A 'List of the Plates' has been created and added in front of
the Errata.
Asterisks were used by the editor to indicate omitted text.
For consistency, '****' is used when at the beginning or end
of a letter, otherwise a line of 5 spaced asterisks is used.
A deliberate blank space in the text is indicated by [___].
All the changes noted in the Errata (pg vi) have been applied to the text.
Many Footnotes have the signature 'B. V.' rather than 'Editor'. This is
explained in Vol 1 p 399 Footnote [90], and is copied below for the
reader's convenience:--
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.
Except for those changes noted below, misspelling in the text, and
inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
For example, compleat; cieling; inclose; watry; smoak; spunge;
Pensylvania; Massachussets; newspaper, news-paper; midnight, mid-night.
In addition:
Pg iv. 'Mr. Tengugel' replaced by 'Mr. Tengnagel'.
Pg vi. Errata: '254 47:' replaced by '254 17:'.
Pg 15. 'decending' replaced by 'descending'.
Pg 28. 'cirle' replaced by 'circle'.
Pg 49. 'immerged' replaced by 'immersed'.
Pg 54. 'canon-ball' replaced by 'cannon-ball'.
Pg 55 FN [10]. 'Cadwalader' replaced by 'Cadwallader'.
Pg 81. 'sik-worm' replaced by 'silk-worm'.
Pg 84. 'desarts' replaced by 'deserts'.
Pg 88 FN [16]. 'J. B.' is probably James Bowdoin, not 'I. Badoin'.
Pg 101. 'circumsance' replaced by 'circumstance'.
Pg 112. 'substracted' replaced by 'subtracted'.
Pg 126. 'larg ecomet' replaced by 'large comet'.
Pg 131. 'frome making' replaced by 'from making'.
Pg 137. 'ran acros' replaced by 'ran across'.
Pg 150. 'betwween water' replaced by 'between water'.
Pg 151. 'smoth surface' replaced by 'smooth surface'.
Pg 196. 'throughly' replaced by 'thoroughly'.
Pg 204. '33. Much' replaced by '30. Much'.
Pg 227. 'he separated' replaced by 'be separated'.
Pg 240. 'kept closes hut' replaced by 'kept close shut'.
Pg 247. 'bginning of this' replaced by 'beginning of this'.
Pg 272. 'for pasages' replaced by 'for passages'.
Pg 302. 'partions' replaced by 'partitions'.
Pg 322. 'unluckly' replaced by 'unlucky'.
Pg 328. 'mnke 180' replaced by 'make 180'.
Pg 331. 'on atable' replaced by 'on a table'.
Pg 337. 'substracting' replaced by 'subtracting'.
Pg 339. 'betwen two' replaced by 'between two'.
Pg 347. 'srceaming' replaced by 'screaming'.
Pg 359. 'place of z' replaced by 'place of q'.
Pg 375. 'sir Willam Temple' replaced by 'sir William Temple'.
Pg 385. '6. The danger' replaced by '9. The danger'.
Pg 411 FN [85]. 'presentedt ot he' replaced by 'presented to the'.
Pg 421. 'when yon' replaced by 'when you'.
Pg 424. 'of yonrs' replaced by 'of yours'.
Pg 448. 'not restained' replaced by 'not restrained'.
Pg 448. 'Englist and' replaced by 'English and'.
Pg 461. 'islanism' replaced by 'islamism'.
Index Pg 4i. 'Animalcnles' replaced by 'Animalcules'.
Index Pg 29i. 'relation batween' replaced by 'relation between'.
The Index covers all three volumes and was originally printed
at the end of Volume 1 only. It has been copied to the end of
Volume 2 and 3 as a convenience for the reader.
The Index had no page numbers in the original text; page numbers from
1i to 36i have been added for completeness. For clarity, some volume
identifiers (i. or ii. or iii.) have been added, or removed, in the
index. Only references within this volume have been hyperlinked.
The Index has some references to page numbers with a *, eg 551*. These
are valid references; the book printer inserted pages 543*-556* between
pages 542 and 543 in Vol iii.