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Monday 22. This day, after visiting
the Institute, I waited on the Dottoreffa
Laura Bassi, and met with a very polite
and easy reception. Upon naming Padre
Beccaria, and shewing his recommendat-
ion in my tablets, we were instantly
good friends. This lady is between fifty
and sixty; but though learned, and a ge-
nius, not at all masculine or assuming.
We talked over the most celebrated men
of science in Europe. She was very civil
to the English, in eulogiums of Newton,
Halley, Bradley, Franklin, and others.
She shewed me her electrical machine
and apparatus: the machine is simple, port-
able, and convenient; it consists of a plain
plate of glass, placed vertically; the two
cushions are covered with red leather;
the receiver is a tin forked tube; the two
forks, with pins at the ends, are placed
next the glass plate. She is very dextrous
and ingenious in her experiments, of
which she was so obliging as to shew me
several.
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