viz.

1619. TO FERDINAND GRAND

DEAR SIR,

(L. C.)

Philad. Jan. 29, 1786.

I have lately drawn on you the following Bills,

In favour of Theodore Hopkins for 200 £ Sterling

of Mess Roy [?] & Freres for 3110 Livres tournR

of Messrs Lea & Obrien 500 £ Sterling

The Bills for Sterling Money are made payable in London. You will accept to pay them there accordingly, and whatever Expence is occasion'd by it will be charg'd to me. I shall draw no more at present, having no farther Occasion for Money here, as the high Price of Labour discourages my Project of Building, till it shall be more moderate. I wish much to hear from you, and to receive my Account to the End of last year. I hope the good Family continue well. We are all so here, and my Grandsons join in Love, &c Notwithstanding what you may see in the English Newspapers, be assured that America is in a most prosperous Situation. My own Estate I find more than tripled in Value since the Revolution. I hear nothing yet of our Baggage which was in the Hands of Mr Limousin at Havre and wish you would enquire about it, and inform me if you can what is become of it; I have not receiv'd a Line from him since I left France. Please to remember me affectionately to all our Friends at Passy and Auteuil, &c &c With great and sincere Esteem, I am my dear Friend,

Ever yours,

B FRANKLIN.

1620. Description of an Instrument for taking down Books from high Shelves 1

1

January, 1786.

OLD men find it inconvenient to mount a ladder or steps for that purpose, their heads being sometimes subject to giddinesses, and their activity, with the steadiness of their joints, being abated by age; besides the trouble of removing the steps every time a book is wanted from a different part of their library.

For a remedy, I have lately made the following simple machine, which I call the Long Arm.

A B, the Arm, is a stick of pine, an inch square and 8 feet long. C, D, the Thumb and Finger, are two pieces of ash lath, an inch and half wide, and a quarter of an inch thick. These are fixed by wood screws on opposite sides of the end A of the arm A B; the finger D being longer and standing out an inch and half farther than the thumb C. The outside of the ends of these laths are pared off sloping and thin, that they may more easily enter between books that stand together on a shelf. Two small holes are bored through them at i, k. E F, the sinew, is a cord of the size of a small goosequill, with a loop at one end. When applied to the machine it passes through the two laths, and is stopped by a knot in its other end behind the longest at k. The hole at i is nearer the end of the arm than that at k, about an inch. A number

1 This article was first published by Sparks. See "The Works of Benjamin Franklin," Vol. VI, p. 562. The Ms. was sent by Franklin to Jonathan Williams to be communicated to James Bowdoin. See letter to Williams, February 12, 1786. — ED.

of knots are also on the cord, distant three or four inches

from each other.

To use this instrument; put one hand into the loop, and draw the sinew straight down the side of the arm; then enter the end of the finger between the book you would take down and that which is next to it. The laths being flexible, you may easily by a slight pressure sideways open them wider if the book is thick, or close them if it is thin by pulling the string, so as to enter the shorter lath or thumb between your book and that which is next to its other side, then push till the back of your book comes to touch the string. Then draw the string or sinew tight, which will cause the thumb and finger to pinch the book strongly, so that you may draw it out. As it leaves the other books, turn the instrument a quarter round, so that the book may lie flat and rest on its side upon the under lath or finger. The knots on the sinew will help you to keep it tight and close to the side of the arm as you take it down hand over hand, till the book comes to you; which would drop from between the thumb and finger if the sinew was let loose.

All new tools require some practice before we can become expert in the use of them. This requires very little.

Made in the proportions above given, it serves well for books in duodecimo or octavo. Quartos and folios are too heavy for it; but those are usually placed on the lower shelves within reach of hand.

The book taken down, may, when done with, be put up again into its place by the same machine.

1621. TO JONATHAN WILLIAMS'

DEAR JONATHAN

(P. C.)

Philada Feb. 12. 1786

I wrote to you a few Days since, and sent you 4 philosophical Papers which I permitted your communicating to Mr. Bowdoin. As they are chiefly speculative and hypothetical and (except the Description of the long Arm a new Instrument for taking down Books from high Shelves) contain little of practical Utility.

I apprehend he will not think them worth laying before the Society. I sent the Pacquet by Mrs. Allen whom you may remember to have seen in France. So you will receive them free of Postage, tho' a little later, for I cannot frank as you suppose, and I pay for all Letters that come to me, except those from the Secretaries of Congress. I thank you however for your Pacquet containing your Dispute with Mercator in which I think you have the Advantage both in Temper and Strength of Argument. It seems to me that instead of discussing When we ceas'd to be British Subjects you should have deny'd our ever having been such. We were Subjects to the King of G. Britain, as were also the Irish, the Jersey and Guernsey People and the Hanoverians, but we were American Subjects as they were Irish, Jersey and Hanoverian Subjects. None are British Subjects but those under the Parliament of Britain.

Your affectionate Uncle

B. FRANKLIN.

1 From the original in the possession of Mr. Louis A. Biddle. - Ed.