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She told me that Signor Verati, her
husband, immediately after Dr. Franklin
had proved the identity of electrical fire
and lightning, and published his method
of preserving buildings from the effects
of it, by iron rods, had caused conductors
to be erected at the Institute: but that
the people of Bologna were so afraid of
the rods, believing they would bring the
lightning upon them, instead of the con-
trary, that he was forced to take them
down. Benedict XIV, one of the most
enlightened and enlarged of the popes,
a native, and in a particular manner the
patron, as well as sovereign of Bologna,
wrote a letter to recommend the use of
these conductors; but it was so much
against the inclination of the inhabitants
of this city, that Signor Verati desisted
entirely, and they have never since that
time been used here.
There is an apparatus, and a room
apart for electricity at the Institute, but
the machines are old, and very inferior
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