2OO ELECTRIC POWERS OF ANIMALS. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



ANIMALS AS ELECTRIC MACHINES. 



HPHE extraordinary electrical powers possessed 

 by certain fishes was noticed in the earliest 

 records of science, by Aristotle, Pliny, and other 

 ancient authors. After the discovery of the elec- 

 trical jar and the shocks produced thereby, the sim- 

 ilarity of the sensation was so striking as to obtain 

 for them the name of " electrical " fishes. 



In the torpedo, there are a great number of 

 small membranous cells arranged like those of a 

 honeycomb, as shown in Fig. 64. 



Fig. 64. 



These cells are filled with a mucous substance, 

 and are furnished with tissues of nerves. No use 

 can be imagined for this peculiar arrangement of 

 cells, unless it be for the purpose of a galvanic 



