TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE

Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources.

Several pages of the book contain a description and examples of a modified alphabet proposed by B.F. There are six new characters in his alphabet; these, and the example text using them (pages 360-366 in the original book) are shown as images in this ebook.

For consistency and clarity, the pound abbreviation 'l.' has been italicized, so for example '123,321l.' has been replaced by '123,321l.' in the etext.

For consistency, the date and salutation at the beginning of each letter, and the closing and name at the end of each letter, have been put on separate lines (they were sometimes placed on the same line in the original printed text).

A 'List of the Plates' has been created and added in front of the Errata.

Asterisks were used by the editor to indicate omitted text. For consistency, '****' is used when at the beginning or end of a letter, otherwise a line of 5 spaced asterisks is used.

A deliberate blank space in the text, eg pg 70, is indicated by [    ].

All the changes noted in the Errata (pg vi) have been applied to the text.

Many Footnotes have the signature 'B. V.' rather than 'Editor'. This is explained in Vol 1 p 399 Footnote [90], and is copied below for the reader's convenience:—

Wherever this signature occurs, the note is taken from a volume of Dr. Franklin's writings, entitled Political, Miscellaneous, and Philosophical Pieces, printed for Johnson, 1779. The editor of that volume, though a young man at the time, had already evinced extraordinary talents, and was the friend and correspondent of our author. As he has chosen to withhold his name, we conceive ourselves not entitled to disclose it: but we shall take the freedom of an acquaintance to use the notes occasionally, deeming them in many instances valuable historical records. Editor.

Except for those changes noted below, misspelling in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. For example, compleat; cieling; inclose; watry; smoak; spunge; Pensylvania; Massachussets; newspaper, news-paper; midnight, mid-night.

In addition:
Pg iv. 'Mr. Tengugel' replaced by 'Mr. Tengnagel'.
Pg vi. Errata: '254 47:' replaced by '254 17:'.
Pg 15. 'decending' replaced by 'descending'.
Pg 28. 'cirle' replaced by 'circle'.
Pg 49. 'immerged' replaced by 'immersed'.
Pg 54. 'canon-ball' replaced by 'cannon-ball'.
Pg 55 FN [10]. 'Cadwalader' replaced by 'Cadwallader'.
Pg 81. 'sik-worm' replaced by 'silk-worm'.
Pg 84. 'desarts' replaced by 'deserts'.
Pg 88 FN [16]. 'J. B.' is probably James Bowdoin, not 'I. Badoin'.
Pg 101. 'circumsance' replaced by 'circumstance'.
Pg 112. 'substracted' replaced by 'subtracted'.
Pg 126. 'larg ecomet' replaced by 'large comet'.
Pg 131. 'frome making' replaced by 'from making'.
Pg 137. 'ran acros' replaced by 'ran across'.
Pg 150. 'betwween water' replaced by 'between water'.
Pg 151. 'smoth surface' replaced by 'smooth surface'.
Pg 196. 'throughly' replaced by 'thoroughly'.
Pg 204. '33. Much' replaced by '30. Much'.
Pg 227. 'he separated' replaced by 'be separated'.
Pg 240. 'kept closes hut' replaced by 'kept close shut'.
Pg 247. 'bginning of this' replaced by 'beginning of this'.
Pg 272. 'for pasages' replaced by 'for passages'.
Pg 302. 'partions' replaced by 'partitions'.
Pg 322. 'unluckly' replaced by 'unlucky'.
Pg 328. 'mnke 180' replaced by 'make 180'.
Pg 331. 'on atable' replaced by 'on a table'.
Pg 337. 'substracting' replaced by 'subtracting'.
Pg 339. 'betwen two' replaced by 'between two'.
Pg 347. 'srceaming' replaced by 'screaming'.
Pg 359. 'place of z' replaced by 'place of q'.
Pg 375. 'sir Willam Temple' replaced by 'sir William Temple'.
Pg 385. '6. The danger' replaced by '9. The danger'.
Pg 411 FN [85]. 'presentedt ot he' replaced by 'presented to the'.
Pg 421. 'when yon' replaced by 'when you'.
Pg 424. 'of yonrs' replaced by 'of yours'.
Pg 448. 'not restained' replaced by 'not restrained'.
Pg 448. 'Englist and' replaced by 'English and'.
Pg 461. 'islanism' replaced by 'islamism'.
Index Pg 4i. 'Animalcnles' replaced by 'Animalcules'.
Index Pg 29i. 'relation batween' replaced by 'relation between'.

The Index covers all three volumes and was originally printed at the end of Volume 1 only. It has been copied to the end of Volume 2 and 3 as a convenience for the reader.

The Index had no page numbers in the original text; page numbers from 1i to 36i have been added for completeness. For clarity, some volume identifiers (i. or ii. or iii.) have been added, or removed, in the index. Only references within this volume have been hyperlinked.

The Index has some references to page numbers with a *, eg 551*. These are valid references; the book printer inserted pages 543*-556* between pages 542 and 543 in Vol iii.