MUSCULAR CONTRACTION. 203 



that it seems scarcely possible to refuse assent to 

 the proposition, that the nervous power is the 

 agent which is instrumental in producing both 

 sets of phenomena." ] 



Humboldt 2 says that "some of the South 

 American gymnoti were from five to six English 

 feet in length, and three and one-half inches in 

 diameter. The rows of little yellow spots are sym- 

 metrically arranged along the back, from the head 

 to the end of the tail, every spot surrounding an 

 excreting duct. The skin of the animal is coated 

 with a slimy matter, which, as tested by Volta, 

 serves to conduct electricity twenty or thirty times 

 better than water." 



Mr. Sidney says of an eel in the Royal Institute 

 in London : " On giving the animal a good shaking 

 with the wires he became angry, emitting a dis- 

 charge which caused an electric spark to pass be- 

 tween a knob and piece of gold-leaf, which was 

 partially burned thereby. Compound substances 

 were decomposed, steel needles were magnetized, 

 and other phenomena were produced similar to 

 those presented by a regular galvanic apparatus." 

 He adds that " Captain Basil Hall was laid pros- 

 trate on the floor by a shock." 



In an experiment made with the same eel, by 

 Mr. Noad, a fine conducting-wire was made red 

 hot by the electric discharges. A defiant life- 



1 Carpenter's Physiology, pp. 465, 470. 



2 Annales de Chimie, torn, n, p. 255. 



