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I DID NOT KNOW THIS.
According to New York Times Magazine (Sunday, 12/22/1996, page 17)Franklin
nearly killed himself in 1750 (2 years before the kite experiment). Hewas
trying "to electrocute his holiday turkey as a parlor trick" ...claiming
that the meat becomes "uncommonly tender". He used two metal wiresinserted
into Leyden jars. "Absent-mindendly touching the wires to the chainthat
connected the jars, Frankiln himself became a conductor. Witnessesreported
a loud flash and crack. Franklin passed out; his body convulsedbriefly
before he came to, left with an aching chest and a swollen spot wherethe
charge apparently entered his head. It was, he wrote later, anexperiment
'I desire never to repeat' ".
ludwik kowalski