September 22, 2011
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/22/2011
Bound Volume, "The Monthly Review or Literary Journal" London, July 1754 through December 1754, 510 pp., plus index, ex-library, boards present but loose, interior pages VG. From the September issue, under "Observations on thunder and electricity," 1/2 page, in part, "Franklin, after shewing that lightning and electrical fire are the same, and that sharp points attract and discharge the electrical matter most copiously, supposes, that a very sharp pointed rod, fixed to the extremity of the top-mast of a ship, with a wire conducted down from the foot of the rod, round one of the shrouds, and over the ship's side into the, sea would silently lead off the electrical fire, and save the ship from thunder, and that by a similar method buildings might be preserved...."And later in the same issue, "An account on a treatise presented to the royal society, entitled Letters concerning electricity, in which the latest discoveries upon this subject, and the consequences which may be deduced from them, are examined ; by the Abbe Nollet, member of the royal academy of sciences of Paris, fellow of the royal society of the institute of Bologna,..." running 6pp. A review of Franklin's letters concerning electricity, in part "...These considerations have induced our author to examine, with care, what may truly be concluded from the experiments proposed by Mr. Franklin of Philadelphia ... The Abbe Nollet's treatise contains nine letters; six of 4 which are addressed to Mr. Franklin, ... The third letter to Mr. Franklin contains several proofs that glass is not impermeable to the electric matter..."Then in the December issue, "New Experiments and Observations on Electricity, made at Philadelphia, in America. By Benjamin Franklin, Esq. ..." another 4pp.
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