THE TORPEDO. 



28 5 



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inanimate touch. For instance, when touched with a glass rod it at first 

 gave signs of electricity, and discharged a shock at the attacking party. But 

 on subsequent occasions, when touched with metal rods or glass, the fish 

 declined to " shock " ; nevertheless the Professor succeeded the moment he 

 touched the animal with his hands. 



The torpedo is something like the well-known skate ; it is sometimes 

 called the electric ray, and is common 

 enough in the Bay of Biscay and in the 

 Mediterranean Sea. It sometimes pays 

 England a visit, or is caught by fishermen 

 and brought in. We have seen one at 

 Plymouth, and a very ugly-looking fish it 

 was. Its electric power is considerable. 



There is yet another fish known as 

 the malapterurus ; one species is called 

 the thunder-fish. Professor Wilson has HP,' 

 written a paper upon the electric fishes as 

 applied to the remedy of disease, and 

 considers them the " earliest electric ma- 

 chines ever known." 



Humboldt relates that the South- 

 American Indians capture the gymnotus 

 by driving horses into ponds which the 

 electric eels are known to inhabit. The 

 result is that the fish deliver shock after 

 shock upon the unfortunate quadrupeds. 

 Mules and horses have frequently been 

 killed by these powerful eels, and even 

 Faraday experienced a very great shock 



c, brain ; m e, spinal chord ; o, eye ; e, electric organs ; 



when he touched the head and tail of the b, giiis ; n p, 4 nerves ; , spinal nerve, 

 captive gymnotus with either hand. 



The malapterurus to which we have referred is an inhabitant of the 

 African rivers, chiefly in the Nile and Senegal. Such a fish has been known 

 with others for some hundreds of years ; its electrical powers are not great. 



There are one or two other species 

 of fish which possess electrical 

 qualities, but none apparently to 

 the same extent as the torpedo 

 and the gymnotus. 



The electricity of plants also 

 is in some cases very marked. 

 Flashes have been seen to come from some flowers in hot and dry weather. 

 Currents of electricity have been detected, and Wartmann investigated the 

 subject closely. He says the currents in flowers are feeble, but in succulent 

 fruits and some kinds of grain they are very marked. These currents depend 



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Fig. 284. Ray torpedo. 



Fig. 285. The Malapterurus. 



