Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Physics, Electricity, Instruments, Domestic Economy, Societies

People mentioned:

Benjamin Franklin

Institutions mentioned:

British Association for the Advancement of Science

    Introduces the American Association for the Advancement of Science as a 'learned body' which indulges in 'seasonable tomfoolery'. Discusses an Athenaeum report of Elias Loomis, who addressed the association with a paper on the electrical sparks received from doorknobs and other parts of a house. Ridicules Loomis's idea that the phenomenon is caused by 'friction of the shoes' and concludes that if Loomis 'can electrify any house but an insulated one' by walking, 'Mr. Punch will eat him, boots and all'.