"I think it becomes Christian philosophers rather to try whether they can investigate the final causes of things than, without trial, to take it for granted that they are undiscoverable." "The book of Nature is a fine and large piece of tapestry rolled up, which we are not able to see all at once, but must be content to wait for the discovery of its beauty and symmetry, little by little, as it gradually comes to be more unfolded or displayed." BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. Among those whose contributions to physics have immortalized their names in the annals of science, there is none that holds a more prominent position in the history of the world than Benjamin Franklin. At one time a journeyman printer, living in obscure lodgings in London, he became, during the American War of Independence, one of the most conspicuous figures in Europe, and among Americans his reputation was probably second to none, General Washington not excepted. Professor Laboulaye says of Franklin: "No one ever started from a lower point than the poor apprentice of Boston. No one ever raised himself higher by his own unaided forces than the inventor of the lightning-rod. No one has rendered greater service to his country than the diplomatist who signed the treaty of 1783, and assured the independence of the United States. Better than the biographies of Plutarch, this life, so long and so well filled, is a source of perpetual instruction to all men. Every one can there find counsel and example." A great part of the history of his life was written by Franklin himself, at first for the edification of the members of his own family, and afterwards at the pressing request of some of his friends in London and Paris. His autobiography does not, however, comprise much more than the first fifty years of his life. The first part was written while he was the guest of the Bishop of St. Asaph, at Twyford; the second portion at Passy, in the house of M. de Chaumont; and the last part in Philadelphia, when he was retiring from public life at the age of eighty-two. The former part of this autobiography was translated into French, and published in Paris, in 1793, though it is not known how the manuscript came into the publisher's hands. The French version was translated into English, and published in England and America, together with such other of Franklin's works as could be collected, before the latter part was given to the world by Franklin's grandson, to whom he had bequeathed his papers, and who first published them in America in 1817.