ÆT. 37.]

PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

37

shall begin with next January, and proceed as I find encouragement and assistance." This was one of the few designs conceived by Franklin, never carried into execution. In the organization of this society, Franklin had probably anticipated somewhat the times in which he lived-for it does not appear to have met with much encouragement, and after a few years of feeble existence, lapsed into a slumber, in which it was permitted to repose until November, 1767.

At this time, Dr. Bond succeeded in reviving it, by calling together its old members and electing a number of new ones. During the following year, the medical society of Philadelphia was incorporated with it, and negotiations were opened to unite with it a rival society. On the 2d of January, 1769, these two societies were united under the title of the American Philosophical Society, and elected Franklin as their President, which office he continued to hold until his death.

His attention was soon diverted from the scheme of the Philosophical Society by a new phase in the then open rupture between England and Spain. This latter power being joined by France, Philadelphia felt herself greatly endangered from the invasion of the hostile armies of Spain and her ally. The creed of the Quakers prevented them from joining in open hostilities, even to protect their own firesides, and no little maneuvering was necessary in order to overcome their scruples, and enlist them in the defence of the colonies. The Governor having in vain importuned the Legislature, a majority of whom were Friends, to pass a militia law, and other means of defence, Franklin proposed to effect the object by a voluntary subscription, and in order to prepare the way for it, published a pamphlet entitled

PLAIN TRUTH, in which he set forth their feeble condition so vividly, that it produced an immediate and decided feeling in favor of the movement, and to his instrumentality is generally attributed the preservation of the city from offensive invasion.

It would appear that this opposition to the use of defensive means, frequently placed this sect in an awkward position, from which they managed to extricate themselves with great adroitness. Thus, when on one occasion a demand was made upon the Assembly by the Governor for an appropriation to purchase powder to enable the New England government to sustain itself, they refused to grant the demand, but appropriated three thousand pounds, to be placed in the hands of the Governor to be expended in the purchase of bread, flour, wheat or other grain, which the Governor understood to mean powder, and made this disposition of the funds.

Franklin, at a later period, when a member of the Legislature, wishing to obtain the passage of a law to create a lottery to raise funds for keeping the city fortified, proposed in case the measure failed, to ask that the proceeds of the lottery should be expended in the purchase of a fire engine. "Then," said he to a fellow member, "if you nominate me, and I you, as a committee for that purpose, we will buy a great gun, which is certainly a fire engine."

In 1742, he invented the famous stove, which now bears his name, and which is as extensively used in America at the present day as perhaps any other, except the one known by the name of the "ten-plate stove." He published an essay on warming houses, in 1744, intended mainly to explain the qualities of his invention, which was caught up by stove makers in England, and defectively constructed, so as to do

ÆT. 38.]

BUSINESS RELATIONS.

39

away with many of its advantages. The invention of this stove proved to be so great a public benefaction, that the Governor offered him a patent for the exclusive right to vend it for a term of years, which he declined, improperly, we think, because the profit was only transferred from his own pocket to the dealers who vended the article, who having more regard for their gains than its reputation, manufactured it in the slightest possible manner.

Franklin's pecuniary circumstances were day by day becoming more prosperous. "My business," he remarks, "was now constantly augmenting, and my circumstances growing daily easier, my newspaper having become very profitable, as being for a time the only one in that and the neighboring provinces. I experienced, too, the truth of the observation, that after getting the first hundred pounds, it is more easy to get the second;' money itself being of a prolific nature." He now felt himself somewhat at liberty to retire from the more active labors of his occupation, in order to devote more of his time to scientific pursuits, which he cultivated with great avidity and delight. With this view, he associated with him in business, in 1748, Mr. David Hall, a man of worth and integrity, and well known to Franklin, having been in his employ some years previous. Neither had occasion to regret the association, which continued to the mutual satisfaction and profit of both for nearly twenty years.

He was not particularly attached to money for itself, but rather as a means of aiding him in the attainment of higher objects, nor did he entertain any great desire to enrich his

* Playfair says that this treatise is "infinitely more original, concise and scientific than that of Count Rumford's," on the same subject.

immediate posterity by his gains. On this subject, he thus writes to his mother: "As to your grand-children, Will is now nineteen years of age, a tall proper youth, and much of a beau. He acquired a habit of idleness on the expedition, but begins of late to apply himself to business, and I hope will become an industrious man. He imagined his father had got enough for him, but I have assured him, that I intend to spend what little I have myself, if it please God that I live long enough, and as he by no means wants acuteness, he can see by my going on, that I mean to be as good as my word.” This letter likewise informs us as to his mode of disposing of his time. "For my own part," it continues, "at present, I pass my time agreeably enough; I enjoy (through mercy) a tolerable share of health. I read a great deal, ride a little ; do a little business for myself, (and now and then for others;) retire when I can, and go into company when I please; so the years roll round, and the last will come, when I would rather have it said, he lived usefully than he died rich."

Franklin's mind was too active long to continue without employment of some kind; and as he had, in a great measure, become disconnected from his own private business, he found himself insensibly more and more engaged with the affairs of the public, acting upon the hint contained in the letter to his mother, written about this period, that he would rather live usefully than die wealthy. He always recurred with great pleasure to the few months of instruction he had received at a grammar school, and the advantages he derived from this brief period of instruction, as well as the want he felt of the necessity for a more extended course, made him a steadfast friend to similar institutions.

ÆT. 42.]

ACADEMY-UNIVERSITY.

41

He had accordingly no sooner arranged his private affairs in such a manner as to require less of his attention than heretofore, than he sought to revive a plan, set on foot by himself some few years previous, without success, to establish an Academy in Philadelphia, on a highly respectable footing. After enlisting a number of personal friends in the matter, he wrote and published a pamphlet, called "Proposals relating to the education of youth in Pennsylvania," which he distributed without charge, to the principal inhabitants. This pamphlet, written in his usual plain and forcible style, set forth the want and advantages of education, and laid down a plan of instruction to be pursued. It was accompanied by a large collection of notes and quotations from the ablest writers on the subject of education. The way being thus prepared, he set a subscription on foot, that amounted to over five thousand pounds.

Franklin had long previous to this period, learned that the most effectual way of accomplishing any matter of public utility, or one which depended on the public for its support, was to withdraw as much as possible from their gaze, and allow it to be considered as the work of others, rather than that of the individual most zealous in pressing it forward, for as he wisely remarks, "the present little sacrifice of your vanity will afterwards be amply repaid. If it remains a while uncertain to whom the merit belongs, some one more vain than yourself may be encouraged to claim it, and then even envy will be disposed to do you justice by plucking these assumed feathers, and restoring them to their right owner."

In his scheme of the academy, therefore, he presented it not as a plan of his own, "but of some public spirited gentle