[FRANKLIN, Benjamin (1706-1790)]. The Providence Gazette; and Country Journal. Ben Franklin’s invention for the lightning rod. Providence: John Carter, 18 August 1770. Vol. 7, No. 345. 4pp., folio (400 x 260 mm), old fold, spotting, browning. In the mid-18th century, Franklin’s experiments with electricity led him to propose the idea of a lightning rod as a means of protecting buildings and ships from the destructive forces of lightning. In 1752, he famously conducted his kite experiment, flying a kite in a thunderstorm to demonstrate the electrical nature of lightning. This experiment provided crucial insights, leading Franklin to develop the lightning rod - an iron rod attached to the top of a structure and connected to the ground to safely conduct lightning away. The lightning rod revolutionized the protection of buildings and became widely adopted, significantly reducing the risk of fire and damage caused by lightning strikes. In a front-page column, a contributor writes of this invention and expresses sorrow that it has not been universally adopted. “’Tis a great pity that this admirable invention, so simple in its preparation, so beneficial in its consequences, and approved now by the experience of several years, and in different countries, should not be universally adopted”. He attributes this to religious hesitations, “Many persons have considered Thunder and Lightning as tokens of divine displeasure, and instruments of divine justice…But these scruples…are founded on misapprehensions of the method in which Divine Providence has thought fit to govern the material world”.