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compounded of eel and fare ; the latter, a Saxon word, signifying 

 to go, or travel ; and it is still retained in our language, witli its 

 original meaning; — for instance, in the words, " tborougli/ar<!," 

 and " waj/arer." 



That eels did spawn at all, was long denied. They were 

 considered vivijjarous ; and the presence of a multitude of thread- 

 like living creatures, being found in them, at certain seasons, 

 appeared to sanction the idea. These, were not, however, the 

 young eels ; but one of the internal parasites, to which this fish 

 is peculiarly obnoxious. 



Some very odd notions have prevailed, respecting the propaga- 

 tion of eels. Pliny, says they are produced from bits, separated 

 from the parent bodies, by friction against rocks : thus degrading 

 the fish, to at least a level with the polypi. But Helmont favors 

 us Avilh as strange a receipt for engendering eels, as can well be 

 imagined. He tells us to "cut two turfs, covered with May-dew, 

 and lay one upon the other, the grassy sides inward, and expose 

 them to the heat of the sun. In a few hours, there will spring 

 forth a great quantity of eels." 



Though many fables have been related of the eel travelling by 

 land, it certainly can make its way for some distance : — the 

 singular arrangement of its gill-covering, by not exposing the 

 gills themselves to the atmosphere, enables it to live, for many 

 hours, out of its native element. 



A curious discovery of pulsation in the tail of the eel, was 

 made by Dr. Marshall Hall, in 1831. This pulsation is wholly 

 unconnected with the heart ; and beats more than double, in the 

 same time. Dr. MuUer, Professor of Physiology, at Bonn, found 

 that these pulsating sacs in the batrachia — such as the frog, 

 salamander, and others — contain lymph, and direct its motion. 

 The pulsation in the eel is probably lymphatic. 



The electric eel (Gymnotus electricus), not being one of our 

 fishes, I merely allude to it, for the sake of noticing the singular 

 fact, that so long ago as the days of Anthony and Cleopatra, their 

 physician, Dioscorides, recommended, for medical purposes, the 

 shock of the electric eel — the earliest record extant, of the appli- 

 cation of electricity to medicine. 



