486 NATURE'S TEACHINGS. 



from each other by delicate membranes, which take the place of 

 the cloth. When I mention that more than eleven hundred 

 columns have been found in a single Torpedo, and that each 

 column contains several hundred discs, it may be imagined that 

 the shock which such a creature can give must be a very power- 

 ful one. 



The object of this power seems to be analogous to that of the 

 venomous serpent, i.e. to enable the creature to secure its 

 prey by either killing it or rendering it temporarily insensible by 

 an electric shock. As if to show that the delivery of the shock 

 is achieved by an exertion of will, observers have noticed that 

 just before the shock is delivered, the eyes are depressed in the 

 head like those of a toad when swallowing a large insect. 



A STILL more powerfully electric animal is the Electric Eel 

 of Southern America. It sometimes attains a length of six 

 feet, and its electric organs are four times as proportionately 

 large as those of the torpedo. 



There is no doubt as to the object of the electric power of 

 this eel, as I have often seen it kill fish, and then eat them. 



When about to deliver its shock, it curves its body towards 

 the intended victim, stiffens itself, and with a sort of shudder 

 the electric fluid is emitted. The fish at which it is aimed 

 never seems to escape, but, simultaneously with the shudder on 

 the part of the Electric Eel, turns on its back and lies motion- 

 less until it is picked up by its destroyer. 



Neither the Torpedo nor the Electric Eel has unlimited 

 stores of electricity. If irritated into delivering repeated 

 shocks, each discharge is less powerful than its predecessor, 

 until at last the creature is almost wholly powerless, and must 

 rest and recruit itself before it can lay up fresh stores of the 

 electric fluid. 



I may add that the electric spark has been obtained from 

 both these fishes. It was only a small spark, but in such 

 experiments a small spark is as satisfactory as a large one. 



WHAT are the channels by which the electric fluid is 

 transmitted through our bodies ? 



They are the nerves, which convey from and to the brain a 

 subtle fluid, if it may be so called, just as the arteries and 



