278 



HISTORY OF FISHES. 



posed venom on its surface ; and the animal 

 has no gland that separates the noxious fluid ; 

 besides, all those animals that are furnished 

 with envenomed fangs or stings, seem to have 

 them strongly connected with their safety and 

 existence ; they never part with them ; there is 

 an apparatus of poison prepared in the body 

 to accompany their exertions ; and when the 

 fangs or stings are taken away, the animal 

 languishes and dies. But it is otherwise with 

 the spine of the fire flare ; it is fixed to the 

 tail, as a quill is into the tail of a fowl, and is 

 annually shed in the same manner : it maybe 

 necessary for the creature's defence, but it is 

 no way necessary for its existence. The 

 wound inflicted by an animal's tail, has some- 

 thing terrible in the idea, and may from 

 thence alone be supposed to be fatal. From 

 hence terror might have added poison to the 

 pain, and called up imagined dangers ; the 

 Negroes universally believe that the sting is 

 poisonous ; but they never die of the wound ; 

 for by opening the fish, and laying it on the 

 part injured, it effects a speedy cure. The 

 slightness of the remedy proves the innocence 

 of the wound. 1 



The Torpedo (see Plate XXI. fig. 10.) is 

 an animal of this kind, equally formidable 

 and well known with the former ; but the 

 manner of its operating is to this hour a mystery 

 to mankind. 2 The body of this fish is almost 

 circular, and thicker than others of the ray 

 kind ; the skin is soft, smooth, and of a yellow- 

 ish colour, marked, as all the kind, with large 

 annular spots ; the eyes very 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 out- 

 ward appearance, it is furnished with no ex- 

 traordinary powers; it has no muscles formed 

 for particularly great exertions ; no internal 

 conformation perceptibly differing from the 

 rest of its kind; yet such is that unaccount- 

 able 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 

 Kempter, " 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. 



1 The account of the venomous properties of this 

 spine, as well as that it is shed annually, appears to be 

 altogether fabulous. It is probable that, by its great 

 strength, it may be able to inflict a painfully lacerated 

 wound. 



* The Torpedo Ray is rare on the British coast. 

 Two or three species inhabit the Mediterranean, and 

 others are to be found in different parts of the world. 



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 a universal tremor, a sick- 

 ness of the stomach, a general convulsion, and 

 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, in- 

 deed, that was standing by, readily undertook 

 to touch the torpedo, and was seen to handle it 

 without feeling any of its effects. He informed 

 us, that his whole secret consisted 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 effi- 

 cacy took place." 



Kempfer has very well described the effects 

 of this animal's shock ; but succeeding exper- 

 ience has abundantly convinced us, that hold- 

 ing in the breath no way guards against its 

 violence. Those, therefore, who depending 

 on that receipt, should play with a torpedo, 

 would soon find themselves painfully unde- 

 ceived : not but that this fish may be many 

 times touched with perfect security ; for it is 

 not upon every occasion that it exerts its po- 

 tency. Reaumur, who made several trials 

 upon this animal, has at least convinced the 

 world that it is not necessarily, but by an ef- 

 fort, 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 exertion arises 

 from the greatness of the blow which the 

 fingers receive at the instant they are struck. 

 We will, with him, allow 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 never so great, on the 



