could no longer withhold their assent. Repeated sparks were drawn from
the key, a vial was charged, a shock given, and all the experiments made
which are usually performed with electricity.

"About a month before this period some ingenious Frenchman had completed
the discovery in the manner originally proposed by Dr. Franklin. The
letters which he sent to Mr. Collinson, it is said, were refused a place
in the _Transactions_ of the Royal Society of London. However this may
be, Collinson published them in a separate volume, under the title of
_New Experiments and Observations on Electricity, made at Philadelphia,
in America_. They were read with avidity, and soon translated into
different languages. A very incorrect French translation fell into the
hands of the celebrated Buffon, who, notwithstanding the disadvantages
under which the work labored, was much pleased with it, and repeated the
experiments with success. He prevailed on his friend, M. Dalibard, to
give his countrymen a more correct translation of the works of the
American electrician. This contributed much toward spreading a knowledge
of Franklin's principles in France. The King, Louis XV, hearing of these
experiments, expressed a wish to be a spectator of them. A course of
experiments was given at the seat of the Duc d'Ayen, at St. Germain, by
M. de Lor. The applause which the King bestowed upon Franklin excited in
Buffon, Dalibard, and De Lor an earnest desire of ascertaining the truth
of his theory of thunder-gusts. Buffon erected his apparatus on the
tower of Montbar, M. Dalibard at Marly-la-Ville, and De Lor at his house
in the Estrapade at Paris, some of the highest ground in that capital.
Dalibard's machine first showed signs of electricity. On May 16, 1752, a
thunder-cloud passed over it, in the absence of M. Dalibard, and a
number of sparks were drawn from it by Coiffier, joiner, with whom
Dalibard had left directions how to proceed, and by M. Paulet, the prior
of Marly-la-Ville.

"An account of this experiment was given to the Royal Academy of
Sciences, by M. Dalibard, in a memoir dated May 13, 1752. On May 18th,
M. de Lor proved equally as successful with the apparatus erected at his
own house. These philosophers soon excited those of other parts of
Europe to repeat the experiment; among whom none signalized themselves
more than Father Beccaria, of Turin, to whose observations science is
much indebted. Even the cold regions of Russia were penetrated