Franklin and Newton : an inquiry into speculative Newtonian experimental science and Franklin's work in electricity as an example thereof / I. Bernard Cohen.

Philadelphia : American Philosophical Society, 1956.

xxvi, 657 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 25 cm.

Copy 1 Donor: Family of Peter Williams.

pt. I. Introduction: Franklin and Newton. The study of eighteenth-century Newtonian science -- Franklin's scientific reputation -- The scientific personality of Franklin and of Newton -- pt. II. Newton: the new natural philosophy. Physical theory in the age of Newton and Franklin -- The two major sources of the Newtonian philosophy: the Principia and the Opticks -- Experimental Newtonianism and the role of hypotheses: the "exact" corpuscular philosophy of the Opticks -- pt. III. Newton and Franklin: the new corpuscular philosophy. Experimental Newtonianism in examples--Franklin's introduction to science -- Benjamin Franklin's contribution to the Newtonian natural philosophy -- pt. IV. Franklin: the rise of electricity as a Newtonian science. Electricity--the new natural philosophy of the eighteenth century -- The Franklinian theory of electricity -- The reception of the Franklin theory: atmospheric electricity and lightning rods -- Further applications and development of the Franklin theory: the ultimate need for the revision of some concepts -- Appendix 1. Newton's use of the word hypothesis -- Appendix 2. Originality in scientific discovery, with special reference to Franklin's experiments and his concept of the electric fluid.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 603-650).