284 



SCIENTIFIC RECREATIONS. 



Fig. 28--'.- Electric eel. 



years, other experiments may be perused, but space will not permit us to 



dilate upon them. The fact has been established, and we are told that 



muscles and nerves, as well as certain glands of the body, possess certain 



electrical properties. 



The electricity of fishes, and the power possessed by the torpedo whose 



name is now chiefly known in connection with warlike appliances and the 



gymnotus, have been known for a very long time. This fish, popularly 



known as the electric eel, inhabits the warm fresh-water lakes of Africa, 



Asia, and America. A specimen was ex- 

 hibited at the Polytechnic some years ago. 

 This was the fish experimented on at the 

 Adelaide Gallery by Professor Faraday, who 

 clearly demonstrated the fact that the elec- 

 tricity of the animal and the common electricity 

 are identical. Numerous experiments were 

 made, and the circuit shock and even sparks 

 were obtained from the gymnotus. In fact,, 

 the gymnotus is a natural electric machine. 

 The force of the shock given by the electric 

 eel is very great, for Faraday has put on 

 record that a single discharge of the eel is 

 equal to fifteen Leyden jars charged as highly 



as possible. Its power does not even end there, for having shocked people 



to that extent, it was capable of a second and occasionally of a third shock 



of less violence. 



The manner in which the gymnotus acts is from a regular battery in 



the head, the sides of which are filled with a fluid. These cells are some- 

 thing like a honeycomb in appearance. The 



shock is quite voluntary on the part of the fish. 



Sometimes it will kill its prey, on other occasions 



it is merely numbed. Professor Faraday on one 



occasion placed a live fish in the tub with the 



gymnotus, which curled itself so as to enclose 



the unsuspecting one. In a second the prey 



was struck dead, and floated on the water. The 



gymnotus immediately devoured it, and went in 



quest of more. Another, but an injured fish, 



was then introduced, but the electric eel took no 



trouble about this one. It did not trouble to 



give it a shock, seeing it was disabled, it merely swallowed without killing it. 



It is also on record that on one occasion an 'electric eel had stunned a fish 



which, before he began to eat it, gave signs of returning animation ; the eel 



immediately gave it another shock and killed it. 



There were some other curious peculiarities connected with the electric 



eel. It appears to be quite capable of discriminating between animate and 



