268 



ELECTMIG FISHES. 



tlie tunny was considered an antidote to poison; the teeth 

 of thornbacks, bruised in a mortar, were used for sore eyes; 

 the gall for complaints of the ear; the bones of the sturgeon 

 were reduced to powder and applied in rheumatic cases; 

 oyster and mussel-shells ground to powder were also em- 

 ployed. 



Wonderful is the property of several species of fish of 

 inflicting electric shocks so severe as to produce exhaustion 

 and numbness of the nerves exposed to its action. That 

 God should arm certain fishes, in some sense, Avith the light- 

 ning of the clouds, and enable them thus to employ an 

 element so potent and irresistible as we do gunpowder, to 

 astound, and smite, and stupefy, and kill the inhabitants of 

 the water, is one of those wonders of an Almighty arm 

 which no terrestrial animal is gifted to exhibit. 



ELKCTRIC EEL. 



The Torpedo, popularly named by fishermen " numb-fish " 

 and " cramp-fish," a genus of fishes of the Ray order,is a living 

 electrical machine, which has the power of striking its enemies 

 even at a very considerable distance. Fishermen constantly 

 witness evidences of the singular faculty of this fish. As 

 soon as it enters their net they are made aware of the fact 

 by the shocks which are transmitted through the tackle by 



