What is a Franklinism and give an example.?

Answer 1

However, Franklin was real enough; his experiments were soon repeated and his ideas spread widely. His "principles" soon led to the sensational demonstration of the electrical nature of lightning. His name, and "Franklinism," became known to most and familiar to many-statesmen and philosophers, ladies of the court, and scullery maids alike.

With such a glorious and dramatic demonstration of American colonial prowess in electrical science, one might have expected the field to have flourished and spread. However, there was but one Franklin, and American science was destined to be-for a couple of centuries-more the spontaneous efflorescence of individual genius than a widespread cultural phenomenon. However, Franklinism was perhaps a portent of the future. The invention of the lightning conductor to protect buildings was the first practical use of electrical "science"; and the exploitation of Franklin's scientific reputation enhanced the stature of science in the world of politics and diplomacy.

Benjamin Franklin, was at times besieged by the lame and sick with requests for electrotherapy. He was master of the science of electricity to that time and also one of the most vocal sceptics of the exaggerated claims of electrotherapists (Stillings 1974). No doubt Franklin's most important contribution to medical electricity was indirect: with his experiments he proved that electricity is an ever-present natural force; he developed the theory and terminology of positive and negative charge as well as the idea that a balance of charge is conserved in nature. Before Franklin, the study of electricity had been primarily a matter of philosophical speculation; after him, it became a science. Franklin removed much of the fear and superstition that had become associated with electricity, and in so doing, he opened the way to serious scientific investigation of electricity in the treatment of disease.

Answer 2

Franklinism was the 18th century name for electro-theraphy. Mild electrical shocks (sometimes using electric eels?!) were used to treat such conditions as gout and rheumatism.