With the magnanimity of a really great man, Franklin published this project to the world; being more solicitous to extend the domain of science by new discoveries, than to secure for himself the glory of having made them. The project was set forth in a letter to Mr. Collinson, of London, which bears date July 29, 1750, and which, in the course of a year or two, was translated into the principal languages of Europe. Two years later the experiment suggested by Franklin was made by Monsieur Dalibard, a wealthy man of science, at his villa near Marly-la-Ville, a few miles from Paris. In the middle of an elevated plain Monsieur Dalibard erected an iron rod, forty feet in length, one inch in diameter, and ending above in a sharp steel point. The iron rod rested on an insulating support, and was kept in position by means of silk cords. In the absence of Monsieur Dalibard, who was called by business to Paris, this apparatus was watched by an old dragoon, named Coiffier; and on the afternoon of the tenth of May, 1752, he drew sparks from the lower end of the rod at the time that a thundercloud was passing over the neighborhood. Conscious of the importance that would be attached to this phenomenon, the old dragoon summoned, in all haste, the prior of Marly to come and witness it. The prior came without delay, and he was followed by some of the principal inhabitants of the village. In the presence of the little group, thus gathered together, the experiment was repeated--electric sparks were again drawn, in rapid succession, from the iron rod; the prediction of Franklin was fulfilled to the letter; and the identity of lightning and electricity was, for the first time, demonstrated to the world. =Franklin’s Experiment.=--Meanwhile Franklin had been waiting, with impatience, for the completion of the tower of Christchurch, in Philadelphia, on which he intended to make the experiment himself. He even collected money, it is said, to hasten on the building. But, notwithstanding his exertions, the progress of the tower was slow; and his active mind, which could ill brook delay, hit upon another expedient, remarkable alike for its simplicity and for its complete success. He constructed a boy’s kite, using, however, a silk pockethandkerchief, instead of paper, that it might not be damaged by rain. To the top of the kite he attached a pointed iron wire about a foot long, and he provided a roll of hempen twine, which he knew to be a conductor of electricity, for flying it. This was the apparatus with which he proposed to explore the nature of a thundercloud.