-it led, in short, every where, to noble adventures; brave experiments; rational doctrines; useful discoveries:-and, after seventy years of jealous, continual examination, has obtained, except in a few particulars, for his theory-that of the self-educated American -a decided, open, almost universal preference among the philosophers of Europe.

To Franklin we owe the knowledge, that electricity and lightning are similar. He proved it; showed others how to prove it; and formed, without assistance, thereupon a scientific theory, which continues, of itself, to explain the principal phenomena of thunder storms-lightning-and electricity. It had been suspected, before, by the Abbe Nolet; but, in throwing out his conjecture, the Abbe, himself, attached no value to it; and, without a question, had no idea of any method, by which the truth of it could be shown. It was only one of those accidental vague thoughts, continually to be met with in the works of brilliant, flighty men, for whom the world are claiming the honour of all our discoveries— all our inventions-all our improvements-one after the other, as fast as they appear: as if to imagine were the same as to invent, or make:-as if to dream were to demonstrate:-as if to talk, without knowing why, of an idle, strange possibility, were to establish a great, useful truth:-as if a poet were a mathematician:-as if a writer, who may have said a century ago, on seeing the top of a tea-kettle forced off, or a coffee-pot nose explode in the fire-that, after a time, the smoke of water might be turned, perhaps, to account-were to have the credit, now, of our great steam discoveries:-nay, as if we ourselves, who, in our soothsaying capacity, now whisper, that, perhaps, the time will come, when star-light will be for sale in the jewellery-shops: put up, in lumps of crystal, for the rich-in plebeian glass, for the poor: when there will be turnpikes over the sea: when butterfly dust will be in common use among the miniature painters: when the better half, in truth, of all mankind, will be for ever on the wing-each in her airs, literally, all the day long, in good weather-ostrich plumage at her back, instead of her head-more flighty than ever-not merely co-quetting, but angelicising with men-floating and flying literally; not figuratively:-when-but we pass over the elixir of life-the philosopher-stone-perpetual motion-the art of navigating the skies in soap or silk bubbles:-As if wE, by reason of two or three audacious conjectures, were to have the credit hereafter, of all the discoveries that may be made in the matters or things, whereabout we have been gossipping.

To Franklin we owe the first idea of the plus and minus; or, in other words, of the positive STATE of electricity, and of the negative. M. Du Faye had previously seen a type, or shadow of the truth, in the two KINDS of electricity, which he called vitreous and resinous: but, instead of pursuing the inquiry, or urging others to pursue it, he threw by his original idea, as erroneous. It fell into neglect. Franklin took it up anew, pursued it; obtained a re

min Franklin.

sult, which enabled him to sc a multitude of problems-that the Leyden jar, among othe -which had puzzled, for a long time, all the schools of Europe.-This discovery, by the way, is claimed for Dr. Watson.-A single fact will show, with what propriety. The paper of Dr. Franklin is dated July 11, 1747: that of Dr. Watson, Jan. 21, 1748.

To Franklin, moreover, do we owe the consummation of proof respecting the sameness of electricity and lightning. He had previously discovered what has been claimed for T. Hopkinson; but upon what grounds we do not know; the power of points upon electric matter. The first experiment, on Dr. Franklin's plan. was made, in 1752, at Marley, near Paris, under the direction of M. D'Alibard. About a month after this, Franklin obtained a like result, in Philadelphia, by using a kite.

So, too, the discovery of ascending thunder has been claimed for the Abbe Bertholon, whose paper was published in 1776. Franklin's letter declaring the fact, and accounting for it, is dated in September, 1753.

After this, followed a series of minor discoveries; experiments; and explanations of electrical phenomena; for most of which Dr. Franklin has now full credit over Europe; and if he had not, here is no place-this is no time-for doing justice to all parties.

Pass we on, therefore, to his POLITICAL ESSAYS; merely remarking, by the way, that while he was ransacking the skies; meddling with goverüment; plucking down, literally, the thunders of both upon his head; he found icisure, with a few hints, to get up a set of musical glasses: to invent a store, now in general use throughout America: to construet his glaring rods: give laws for swimming, which are inestimable: establist, a plan for libraries, which has been followed every where :—” do &o, &e.”

The political papers of Ir. Franklin are worthy of great praise. They are profound, comprehensive, statesman-ike. He saw, with a clear eye, the polley of rations: fretill, with surprising accuracy, certala great politial charges, which tock, and are taking place. By his "Canada pamphlet.” be manly contributed, while the elder Plu was P ister, to provoke that mariceat, bold enterprise, which ended in the cumplete, and perpetual overthrow of the French perver, throughout all North America.

We have good reason to believe that be had a share in Paine's poverili boca.—” The Rights of Man." He had. also, the hardihood, in 1785, when the whole coast of his rotry, from Georgia to Malze, was ready to swarm out with privateers, at a day's notee, in case of war; when the United States of America had no ray; and, of course, no means of annoyance of privateers-10 kore dat opery-derocree privateering; and call it, in so macy words, little better bas prix. A were of this, whe passing.Mr. Morroe, and other leading politian men of the United States, have beg a to talk the same langlace—wherefore, a hint or two for them, before it is toe into. Mike war upon private property any

'where, at sea, or on shore; ank ivate property will immediately become a species of public property. It will belong no more to individuals-but, altogether, to communities. Every capture will be the loss of some insurance company. The loss, therefore, will come upon the whole nation, without working the destruction of individuals, who are helpless. It is, therefore, not so much a question of humanity, in a time of warfare-whether you will, or will not, assail private property-whether you will, or will not, spare the merchant, as it is of sound policy. The true question is this, for every people: are we-taking all the mischief into view-are we to gain or lose by privateering?-A cowardly, cruel, piratical temper, is generated by it: property acquired by lawless adventure, is prettty sure to be wasted in debauchery or extravagance: great mischief-great profligacy-great interruption to the sober productive habits of a people, are likely to follow:-Privateersmen are a species of pirate. Granted-granted. But, after all, if you have no other way of defending yourself-no other way of driving your adversary to terms-why not let loose even the pirate upon him? or-why restrain the pirate?-Self-preservation is the first law of nature. The enemy of your enemy is your friend-so far. Doctor Franklin was a bold advocate for the Indians; at a time, when they had hardly another white advocate upon the whole earth. He wrote in their behalf, like a philosopher-like a man-like a Christian. Some of his opinions, by the way, may be found in several of our late works-(very late, some of them)-upon the North American savages. Vide Hunter's Narrative, Colburn's Magazine, &c. &c.

Till of late, it has been a habit with all the white Americans, to abuse and belie their copper-coloured brethren. Up to the time of Dr. Franklin, this habit was universal. After him, followed Ramsay, with a voice, like that of a trumpet, in their behalf; Irving, (see Knickerbocker-Introd.) with a brave, manly heart-a steady look and a powerful arm-but only for a few hours; Neal, who has never sheathed his weapon, for nearly eight years; a multitude of young writers, who are now tilting away, in behalf, not so much of the red Americans-their countrymen-as of themselves. They, the latter of these, are in the saddle, not because they understand, or care for the merits of the controversy; not because they pity the red men, or would atone for the outrage that has been heaped upon them, year after year; not because they care two-pence about Indians, or any thing else-except a week or two of newspaper popularity; but because it is now the fashion to be philanthropical.

So, too, in the slave trade-Franklin showed himself to be the same friend of humanity. A paper of his, purporting to be the arguments of a Barbary slave-holder, in justification of himself and others, for holding white Christian slaves in captivity-but, in truth, being a fine parody upon the speech of Mr. Jackson, a Georgia slave-holder, in Congress-contains a masterly refutation of the ar

guments generally used by the southern planters of the United States.

Moreover-if any political economist of this day, will turn to a paper of Dr. F.'s, entitled, "Positions to be examined;" or to another concerning "Embargoes, Corn Laws, &c."-he will be amazed, we are sure. The science of political economy, he will find, has made much less progress, than he could have believed, since the days of Benjamin Franklin.

Of his humorous essays, we have only to say, that every body has heard of them. A part of his papers have been translated into all the languages of Europe, some into Latin. His "Poor Richard," and "Whistle," are two of a multitude, which have done, we believe, incalculable good, in our language, at least.-Blackwood's Edinb. Mag.

SELECTED FOR THE MUSEUM.

On Asphyxia by Strangulation.

M. Segalas has established, by a considerable number of experiments, which he communicated to the Philomathic Society, in the month of August last, 1. That the death which succeeds the mechanical obstruction of the trachea is more or less protracted, according to the temperature of the atmosphere in which it is produced, the species of animal strangled, and especially its age; a young animal resisting it longer than an older: 2. That, in these different circumstances, the obstruction of the trachea in mammifera is followed by a more protracted death, when, after having produced it, the thorax of the animal is opened in such a manner as to admit the air into contact with the external surface of the lungs: 3. That every operation which, without hurting the central organs of sensation and circulation, and without allowing a great part of the blood to escape, damages a great number of capillary blood-vessels, equally retards death following obstruction of the trachea; that, for example, on skinning guinea-pigs, small cats, small dogs, &c. as also on laying bare the abdominal viscera by a crucial incision, the symptoms of life are prolonged in these animals. From these facts M. Segalas has drawn the following conclusions: The lungs in mammifera are not the exclusive seat of respiration; the oxygenation of the blood appears, as is also demonstrated with regard to the transpiration and disengagement of carbonic acid, to be the joint production of all the cutaneous and mucous surfaces which are in contact with the air, and which are not removed from its action by too thick an epidermis, or by too dense a pile. Consequently M. Segalas is not disinclined to believe, that the prerogative which man possesses of surviving prolonged asphyxia, depends, at least in part, upon the naked state of the skin, the thinness of the epidermis, and the great number of capillary blood-vessels which are found in this envelop.-Edinb. Philos. Journ.

SELECTED FOR THE MUSEUM.

STANZAS.

"And art thou gone! Ah! life was never made

For one like thee!"

I TURN'D into the olive grove

Where first I said my vow of love;

The leaves were fresh; the flowers were fair,
As in our first sweet wand'ring there.

And as I look'd on the blue sky,

And saw the gem-clear stream pass by,
How did I wish that, like these, fate

Had formed the heart inanimate.

And all around was breath and bloom,

And colour'd lamps of rich perfume

Flowers mixed with the green leaves, and made
A varied light amid the shade.

It seem'd like wrong that they could be

So fair, and yet not fair for thee!

I thought upon thy tenderness,

No chance could change, no wrong make less,

When madden'd brain, and tortur'd mind,

Made even me almost unkind

To one, for whom I would have given
A death-bed certainty of Heaven!

I thought on the sweet smile, which stole
Amid the tempest of my soul,

And, like the moonlight on the tide,
Smooth'd what was rough to all beside.
And then I thought how, day by day,
I mark'd some fresh sign of decay,
Upon the cheek, upon the brow,
Which only thou wouldst not allow;
The temple, where the veins shone through,
The clearness of the eyes' deep blue,

Like stars, whose brightest rays have met,

For one last blaze before they set;

And, when I wept this worst of ill,

To find a ruin deeper still

To leave thee, or to see thee die,

In the last wants of poverty.

We parted, dear one; thou wast left,

Of him thou hadst so lov'd bereft,

To coldness, misery, and pain,

All the worn heart endures in vain,

And yet too gentle to complain;

Left, 'mid the cold and proud-behind-
Friends even more than fate unkind;
And then, thy solitude of death,
No lip to catch thy parting breath,
No clasp, fond as that it would press
Life to stay for love's last caress;
And then, the years of toil and care
Thy gentleness had had to bear;
All, all the faithlessness and wrong
That have pursu'd my path so long;
Desolate, as I feel alone,

How can I weep that thou art gone?-L. E. L. Lond. Lit. Gaz