Volume II Part 28 (1/2)

METHOD OF CONTRACTING CHIMNEYS--MODESTY IN DISPUTATION

Craven-street, Saturday evening, past 10

The question you ask ive you a satisfactory answer There are tays of contracting a chi _before_ the fire, the other by contracting the funnel _above_ the fire If the funnel above the fire is left open in its full di before the fire is contracted, then the coals, I ih the fire, and in a stronger stream; that air which before passed over it and on each side of it, now passing _through_ it This is seen in narrow stove chimneys, when a _sacheverell_ or blower is used, which stillBut if the funnel only _above_ the fire is contracted, then, as a less streah the fire, and, consequently, it should see of the coals would rather be checked than augmented by such contraction And this will also be the case when both the opening _before_ the fire and the funnel _above_ the fire are contracted, provided the funnel above the fire isbefore the fire So, you see, I think you had the best of the arguave it up in complaisance to the company, I think you had also the best of the dispute There are few, though convinced, that kno to give up even an error they have been once engaged ina contest where one thinks one's self right; it is at least respectful to those we converse with And, indeed, all our knowledge is so imperfect, and we are, from a thousand causes, so perpetually subject to mistake and error, that positiveness can scarce ever beco any opinion, however plain and true we enerally more likely to procure assent Pope's rule,

To speak, though sure, with seeood one; and if I had ever seen in your conversation the least deviation from it, I should earnestly recommend it to your observation I a_

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PREVAILING DOCTRINES OF LIFE AND DEATH

Your observations on the causes of death, and the experi to life those who appear to be killed by lightning, deacity and your hueneral, are yet but little understood

A toad buried in sand will live, it is said, till the sand beco enclosed in the stone, it es The facts which are cited in support of this opinion are too nuree of credit As we are accustomed to see all the animals hich we are acquainted eat and drink, it appears to us difficult to conceive how a toad can be supported in such a dungeon: but if we reflect that the necessity of nourishment, which animals experience in their ordinary state, proceeds from the continual waste of their substance by perspiration, it will appear less incredible that so less because they use no exercise, should have less need of aliment; and that others, which are covered with scales or shells which stop perspiration, such as land and sea turtles, serpents, and some species of fish, should be able to subsist a considerable time without any nourishment whatever A plant, with its flowers, fades and dies i its root immersed in a humid soil, from which it may draw a sufficient quantity of moisture to supply that which exhales from its substance and is carried off continually by the air Perhaps, however, if it were buried in quicksilver, it etable life, its sht prove a co from distant countries those delicate plants which are unable to sustain the inclemency of the weather at sea, and which require particular care and attention I have seen an instance of common flies preserved in a manner somewhat similar

They had been drowned in Madeira wine, apparently about the tiinia to be sent hither (to London) At the opening of one of the bottles, at the house of a friend where I then was, three drowned flies fell into the first glass that was filled Having heard it re revived by the rays of the sun, I proposedthe experiment upon these: they were therefore exposed to the sun upon a sieve, which had been employed to strain thean by degrees to recover life They coth they raised thes, wiped their eyes with their fore-feet, beat and brushed their wings with their hind-feet, and soon after began to fly, finding the how they came thither The third continued lifeless till sunset, when, losing all hopes of him, he was throay

I wish it were possible, fro drowned persons, in such a manner that they may be recalled to life at any period, however distant; for, having a very ardent desire to see and observe the state of America a hundred years hence, I should prefer to any ordinary death the being immersed in a cask of Madeira wine, with a few friends, till that time, to be then recalled to life by the solar warmth of my dear country! But since, in all probability, we live in an age too early and too near the infancy of science to hope to see such an art brought in our time to its perfection, I must, for the present, content myself with the treat which you are so kind as to promise me, of the resuscitation of a fowl or a turkey-cock

B FRANKLIN

LORD BROUGHAM'S PORTRAIT OF DR FRANKLIN