800 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



was not then evpcricnccd from the 

 animal, but it was imitated with ar. 

 tifioial electricity, and shown to ijc 

 produrilile by a quirk consecution 

 of niiniuo shocks. This, in the tor- 

 pedo, may perhaps be effected by 

 the successive discharge of his nu- 

 merous cylinders, in tlie nature of a 

 running, lire of musquctry: the 

 strong single shock may be his gene- 

 ral volley. In the continued effect, 

 as well as the instantaneous, liis 

 eyes, which are usually prominent, 

 are withdrawn into their sockets. 



*' A lavge torjiedo, very liberal of 

 his shocks, being held with both 

 hands, by electric organs above and 

 below, was briskly plunged into 

 water to the depth of a foot, and 

 instantly raised an equal height in 

 air, and was thus continually 

 plunged and raised, as quick as pos- 

 sible, for the space of a minute. Ih 

 the instant his lower surface touched 

 tiie water in his descent, he always 

 gave a violent shock, and another, 

 still more violent in his ascent; both 

 which shocks, but particularly the 

 last, -were accompanied with a writh- 

 ing in his body, as if meant to force 

 an escape. I'esidcs these two shocks 

 from the surface of the M'ater, which 

 may yet be considered as delivered 

 in the air, he constantly gave at least 

 two when in the air, and as con- 

 stantly one, and sometimes two, 

 when wholly in the water. The 

 shocks in the water appeared, as far 

 as sensation could decide, not to have 

 near a fourth theforceof those which 

 look place at the surface of the wa- 

 ter, nor much more than a fourth of 

 iliase entirely in air. 



" The shocks received in a cer- 

 tain time were not, on this occasion, 

 counted by a watch, as they had 

 been on a former, when fifty were 

 delivered in a minute aud a half, by 



tiie animal, when in an insulated and 

 unagitated state ; but, from the 

 quickness with which the immersions 

 were made, it may be presumed there 

 were full twenty of these in a mi- 

 nute ; from whence the number of 

 shocks in that time must have a- 

 mouiited to above an hundred. — 

 This experiment, therefore, while it 

 discovered the comparative force be- 

 tween a shock in water and one in 

 air, and between a shock delivered 

 with a greater degree ot exertion on 

 the part of the animal, and one with 

 le.ss, seemed to determine that the 

 change of his organs with electrici- 

 ty, as well as the discharge, was af- 

 fected in an instant. 



" The torpedo was then put into 

 a flat basket, open at the top, but 

 secured by a net with wide meshes, 

 and with this confinement was let 

 dov n info the water about a foot ' 

 b;.low the surface ; being there 

 touched through the meshes, -with 

 only a single finger, on one of his 

 electric or^ians, while the other hand 

 was held at a distance in the Avater, 

 he gave shocks Mhicii were distinctly 

 felt with both hands. 



" The circuit for the passage of 

 the elrect being contracted to the fin- 

 ger and thumb of one hand, applied 

 above and below to a single organ, 

 produced a shock, to our sensation, 

 of twice the force of that in the larger 

 circuit by the arms. 



" The torpedo, still confined in 

 the basket, being raised to within 

 three inches of the surface of the 

 water, Mas there touched with a 

 short iron bolt, which was held, lialf 

 above and half in the water, by one 

 hand, while the other hand M'as 

 dipj)ed, as before, at a distance in the 

 Avater; and strong shocks, felt with 

 both hands, were thus obtained 

 through the iro(i. 



" A wet 



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