636 



A HISTORY OF 



small; the tail tapering to a point; and the 

 weight of the fish from a quarter to fifteen 

 pounds. Redi found one twenty-four pounds 

 weight. To all outward appearance, it is fur- 

 nished with no extraordinary powers ; it has 

 no muscles formed for particularly great ex- 

 ertions; no internal conformation perceptibly 

 differing from the rest of its kind ; yet such is 

 that unaccountable power it possesses, that, 

 the instant it is touched, it numbs not only the 

 hand- and arm, but sometimes also the whole 

 body. The shock received, by all accounts, 

 most resembles the stroke of an electrical 

 machine; sudden, tingling, and painful. "The 

 instant," says Kempfer, " I touched it with my 

 hand, I felt a terrible numbness in my arm, 

 and as far up as the shoulder. Even if one 

 treads upon it with the shoe on, it affects not 

 only the leg, but the whole thigh upwards. 

 Those who touch it with the foot, are seized 

 with a stronger palpitation than even those 

 who touch it with the hand. This numbness 

 bears no resemblance to that which we feel 

 when a nerve is a long time pressed, and the 

 foot is said to be asleep; it rather appears 

 like a sudden vapour, which passing through 

 the pores in an instant, penetrates to the very 

 springs of life, from whence it diffuses itself 

 over the whole body, and gives real pain. 

 The nerves are so affected, that the person 

 struck imagines all the bones of his body, and 

 particularly those of the limb that received 

 the blow, are driven out of joint. All this is 

 accompanied with an universal tremor, a sick- 

 ness of the stomach, a general convulsion, arid 

 a total suspension of the faculties of the mind. 

 In short," continues Kempfer, "such is the 

 pain, that all the force of our promises and 

 authority could not prevail upon a seaman to 

 undergo the shock a second time. A negro, 

 indeed, that was standing by, readily under- 

 took to touch the torpedo, and was seen to 

 handle it without feeling any of its effects. 

 He informed us, that his whole secret con- 

 sisted in keeping in his breath ; and we found, 

 upon trial, that this method answered with 

 ourselves. When we held in our breath, the 

 torpedo was harmless; but when we breathed 

 ever so little, its efficacy took place." 



Kempfer has very well described the effects 

 of this animal's shock; but succeeding ex- 

 perience has abundantly convinced us, that 



holding in the breath no way guards against 

 its violence. Those, therefore, who depend- 

 ing on that receipt, should play with a tor- 

 pedo, would soon find themselves painfully 

 undeceived : not but that this fish may be 

 many times touched with perfect security; 

 for it is not upon every occasion that it ex- 

 erts its potency. Reaumur, who made seve- 

 ral trials upon this animal, has at least con- 

 vinced the world that it is not necessarily, but 

 by an effort, that the torpedo numbs the hand 

 of him that touches it. He tried several times, 

 and could easily tell when the fish intended 

 the stroke, and when it was about to continue 

 harmless. Always before the fish intended 

 the stroke, it flattened the back, raised the 

 head and the tail, and then, by a violent con- 

 traction in the opposite direction, struck with 

 its back against the pressing finger; and the 

 body, which before was flat, became humped 

 and round. 



But we must not infer, as he has done, that 

 the whole effect of this animal's exertions 

 arise from the greatness of the blow which 

 the fingers receive at the instant they are 

 struck. We will, with him, allow that the 

 stroke is very powerful, equal to that of a 

 musquet-ball, since he will have it so; but it 

 is very well known, that a blow, though ne- 

 ver so great, on the points of the fingers, dif- 

 fuses no numbness over the whole body : such 

 a blow might break the ends of the fingers 

 indeed, but would hardly numb the shoulder. 

 Those blows that numb, must be applied im- 

 mediately to some great and leading nerve, or 

 to a large surface of the body ; a powerful 

 stroke applied to the points of the fingers 

 will be excessively painful indeed, but the 

 numbness will not reach beyond the fingers 

 themselves. We must, therefore, look for 

 another cause producing the powerful effects 

 wrought by the torpedo. 



Others have ascribed it to a tremulous mo- 

 tion which this animal is found to possess, 

 somewhat resembling that of a horse's skin, 

 when stung by a fly. This operating under 

 the touch with an amazing quickness of vi- 

 bration, they suppose produces the uneasy 

 sensation described above; something simi- 

 lar to what we feel when we rub plush cloth 

 against the grain. But the cause is quite dis.- 

 proportioued to the effect; and so much be- 



