I was reading a wiki article moments ago about discovery of electron, I suddenly remembered a question which my friend asked yesterday that how electricity discovered before discovery of electron(negative charge).

I went on some other websites including wiki and got that people knew somewhat what is negative charge and what is electricity (to a very very small extent). But when we come to a time which is not more than 600 years ago the changes can be observed.

Wiki article on electron says that "In the early 1700s, Francis Hauksbee and French chemist Charles François de Fay independently discovered what they believed were two kinds of frictional electricity—one generated from rubbing glass, the other from rubbing resin. From this, Du Fay theorized that electricity consists of two electrical fluids, vitreous and resinous, that are separated by friction, and that neutralize each other when combined.American scientist Ebenezer Kinnersley later also independently reached the same conclusion. A decade later Benjamin Franklin proposed that electricity was not from different types of electrical fluid, but a single electrical fluid showing an excess (+) or deficit (-)."

The same article further says that Between 1838 and 1851, British natural philosopher Richard Laming developed the idea that an atom is composed of a core of matter surrounded by subatomic particles that had unit electric charges.

Further data compiled by other resources also depict the same difference in time(I m not including further researches as this question is about history).

Since i have a very little knowledge of electricity, and I always heard people relating these two and saying that electricity originate from knowledge of charge.

So I mm hoping for help.Thanks

I was reading a wiki article moments ago about discovery of electron, I suddenly remembered a question which my friend asked yesterday that how electricity discovered before discovery of electron  (negative charge).

I went on some other websites including wiki and got that people knew somewhat what is negative charge and what is electricity (to a very very small extent). But when we come to a time which is not more than 600 years ago the changes can be observed.

Wiki article on electron says that "In the early 1700s, Francis Hauksbee and French chemist Charles François de Fay independently discovered what they believed were two kinds of frictional electricity—one generated from rubbing glass, the other from rubbing resin. From this, Du Fay theorized that electricity consists of two electrical fluids, vitreous and resinous, that are separated by friction, and that neutralize each other when combined.American scientist Ebenezer Kinnersley later also independently reached the same conclusion. A decade later Benjamin Franklin proposed that electricity was not from different types of electrical fluid, but a single electrical fluid showing an excess (+) or deficit (-)."

The same article further says that Between 1838 and 1851, British natural philosopher Richard Laming developed the idea that an atom is composed of a core of matter surrounded by subatomic particles that had unit electric charges.

Further data compiled by other resources also depict the same difference in time(I m not including further researches as this question is about history).

Since i have a very little knowledge of electricity, and I always heard people relating these two and saying that electricity originate from knowledge of charge.

So I mm hoping for help.