DEPAUTUUJC FBOM CALABOZO. 131 



to all the phenomena of muscular motion subject to voli- 

 tion. It will perhaps be found that, in most animals, every 

 contraction of the muscular fibre is preceded by a discharge 

 from the nerve into the muscle ; and that the mere simple 

 contact of heterogeneous substances is a source of move- 

 ment and of life in all organized beings. Did an ingenious 

 and lively people, the Arabians, guess from remote antiquity, 

 that the same force which inflames the vault of Heaven in 

 storms, is the living and invisible weapon of inhabitants of 

 the waters? It is said, that the electric fish of the Nile 

 bears a name in Egypt, that signifies thunder* 



"We left the town of Calabozo on the 24th of March, 

 highly satisfied with our stay, and the experiments we had 

 made on an object so worthy of the attention of physio- 

 logists. I had besides obtained some good observations of 

 the stars ; and discovered with surprise, that the errors of 

 maps amounted here also to a quarter of a degree of lati- 

 tude. No person had taken an observation before me on 

 this spot ; and geographers, magnifying as usual the distance 

 from the coast to the islands, have carried back beyond 

 measure all the localities towards the south. 



As we advanced into the southern part of the Llanos, we 

 found the ground more dusty, more destitute of herbage, 

 and more cracked by the effect of long drought. The palm- 

 trees disappeared by degrees. The thermometer kept, from 

 eleven in the morning till sunset, at 34 or 35. The calmer 

 the air appeared at eight or ten feet high, the more we were 

 enveloped in those whirlwinds of dust, caused by the little 

 currents of air that sweep the ground. About four o'clock 

 in the afternoon, we found a young Indian girl stretched 

 upon the savannah. She was almost in a state of nudity, and 

 appeared to be about twelve or thirteen years of age. Ex- 

 hausted with fatigue and thirst, her eyes, nostrils, and mouth 



When the gymnotus was enfeebled by bad health, the lateral shock 

 was imperceptible ; and in order to feel the shock, it was necessary to 

 form a chain, and touch the fish with both hands at once. Cavendish, 

 in his ingenious experiments on an artificial torpedo, had well remarked 

 these differences, depending on the greater or less energy of the charge. 

 (Philosophical Transactions, 1776, p. 212). 



* It appears, however, that a distinction is to be made between rahd. 

 thunder, and rzhadh, the electrical fish; and that this latter word meant 

 itni'lj ' that w'lich causes trembling.' 



K 2 





