did not matters little. The fact remains
that they refused to consider the paper seriously at the time; and later
on, when its true value became known, were obliged to acknowledge their
error by a tardy report on the already well-known document.

But if English scientists were cold in their reception of Franklin's
theory and suggestions, the French scientists were not. Buffon,
perceiving at once the importance of some of Franklin's experiments,
took steps to have the famous letter translated into French, and soon
not only the savants, but members of the court and the king himself were
intensely interested. Two scientists, De Lor and D'Alibard, undertook to
test the truth of Franklin's suggestions as to pointed rods "drawing off
lightning." In a garden near Paris, the latter erected a pointed iron
rod fifty feet high and an inch in diameter. As no thunder-clouds
appeared for several days, a guard was stationed, armed with an
insulated brass wire, who was directed to test the iron rods with it in
case a storm came on during D'Alibard's absence. The storm did come on,
and the guard, not waiting for his employer's arrival, seized the wire
and touched the rod. Instantly there was a report. Sparks flew and the
guard received such a shock that he thought his time had come. Believing
from his outcry that he was mortally hurt, his friends rushed for a
spiritual adviser, who came running through rain and hail to administer
the last rites; but when he found the guard still alive and uninjured,
he turned his visit to account by testing the rod himself several times,
and later writing a report of his experiments to M. d'Alibard. This
scientist at once reported the affair to the French Academy, remarking
that "Franklin's idea was no longer a conjecture, but a reality."

FRANKLIN PROVES THAT LIGHTNING IS ELECTRICITY

Europe, hitherto somewhat sceptical of Franklin's views, was by this
time convinced of the identity of lightning and electricity. It was now
Franklin's turn to be sceptical. To him the fact that a rod, one hundred
feet high, became electrified during a storm did not necessarily prove
that the storm-clouds were electrified. A rod of that length was not
really projected into the cloud, for even a very low thunder-cloud was
more than a hundred feet above the ground. Irrefutable proof could
only be had, as he saw it, by "extracting" the lightning with something
actually sent up into the storm-cloud; and to accomplish this