Development of the 18th Century
Prior centuries leading up to the 18th were period of time where profit ranked higher percentages rather than sufficiency. In the 16th century profits were 5% where as the sufficiency was the remainder of 95%. As the centuries progressed by the profits began to take over. In the early centuries, the mind frame was that one had to survive before one could make a living. Little did the people of the time know if only they were able to survive to the 18th century where change reigned. The American colonists of the 18th century were slow to develop academic and artistic pursuits upon the influx in time allotted within the concentrations of literature and science; colonist began to rapidly refine their academic and artistic pursuits. Literature dominated this trend change but another concept was science. In 1743, Ben observed that northeast storms begin in the southwest. He thought it was odd that storms travel in an opposite direction to their winds. He predicted that a storm's course could be plotted. Therefore, in a way, Ben was a weatherman too! He even printed weather forecasts in his Almanack. Since Ben spent so much time sailing to Europe across the Atlantic Ocean, he became very interested in both ocean currents and shipbuilding. Ben was actually one of the first people to chart the Gulf Stream. He measured its temperature on each of his eight voyages and was able to chart the Stream in detail. In June of 1752, Franklin was in Philadelphia, waiting for the steeple on top of Christ Church to be completed for his experiment (the steeple would act as the "lightning rod"). He grew impatient, and decided that a kite would be able to get close to the storm clouds just as well. Also at age 46, Franklin developed another device to help him understand electricity, called lightning bells. These bells would jingle when lightning was in the air. Franklin wore glasses, and after the age of 40, he needed another pair for reading. To solve that problem, he split the lenses