I say
much practice, for my house was continually full, for some time,
with people who came to see these new wonders.
To divide a little this incumbrance among my friends, I caused
a number of similar tubes to be blown at our glass-house,
with which they furnish'd themselves, so that we had at length
several performers. Among these, the principal was Mr. Kinnersley,
an ingenious neighbor, who, being out of business, I encouraged
to undertake showing the experiments for money, and drew up for him
two lectures, in which the experiments were rang'd in such order,
and accompanied with such explanations in such method, as that
the foregoing should assist in comprehending the following.
He procur'd an elegant apparatus for the purpose, in which all
the little machines that I had roughly made for myself were nicely
form'd by instrument-makers. His lectures were well attended,
and gave great satisfaction; and after some time he went thro'
the colonies, exhibiting them in every capital town, and pick'd up
some money. In the West India islands, indeed, it was with difficulty
the experiments could be made, from the general moisture of the air.
Oblig'd as we were to Mr. Collinson for his present of the tube, etc., I
thought it right he should be inform'd of our success in using it,
and wrote him several letters containing accounts of our experiments.
He got them read in the Royal Society, where they were not at first
thought worth so much notice as to be printed in their Transactions.
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