THE POISON OF THE MURRY 



parable to those produced by a bite from the creature's 

 mouth. The poisonous function, while it is more 

 clearly displayed in the action of a definite organ, 

 belongs to the creature's substance: it has a general 

 character, which a more accessible and easily realized 

 localization should not disguise. The teeth in their 

 own way, and so far as they are capable of so doing, 

 only make use of a property of more extensive type. 



Moreover, people have long known that one cannot 

 handle with impunity the bleeding slices of a freshly 

 cut up eel. If there are scratches or broken skin on 

 the hands, these will become more painful if the blood 



Fig. 26. — Skull of a Murry, showing the large upper teeth which act as 

 poisonous fangs. 



touches them, and take longer to heal, as though the 

 contact had poisoned them. This, indeed, it actually 

 does. The eels belong to the murry's group; they 

 have the same essential conformation and the main 

 characteristics of its organization; they share its 

 capacity to produce toxins. In them, too, the blood 

 serum contains substances like poisons. This capacity 

 remains confined in the eel's body and only displays 

 itself when there is an unexpected contact between its 

 blood and a wound already made. In Nature, in 

 the normal course of existence, nothing of the sort 

 would happen. But the capacity exists, secret and 

 hidden. In this group of fishes, before it can 

 become evident to us as an episode of normal life, 

 148 



