PECUMAK SECKKTIOXS. 375 



organ only being divided in a lively torpedo, from which 

 shocks had been previously received, on irritating the 

 animal, it was still found capable of communicating the 

 shock. Whether there was any difference in the degree of 

 intensity, could not be distinctly observed. One electrical 

 organ being altogether removed, the animal still continued 

 capable of discharging the electric shock ; and the same cir- 

 cumstance took place when only one of the nerves of each 

 electrical organ was divided. When a wire was introduced 

 through the cranium of a torpedo, which had been com- 

 municating shocks very freely, all motion immediately ceas- 

 ed, and no irritation could excite the electrical shock. 



He likewise found that no alteration took place in the 

 electrical condition of the organs, when the muscles of the 

 fins were intersected. When the organs themselves were 

 divided by a longitudinal incision, no change was produced 

 in the electrical energies, but they seemed weakened by the 

 removal of part of the organ. When the surfaces of the 

 electrical organs were denuded, the animal could still give 

 shocks ; and the same power remained, when, by incisions, 

 no other attachment existed but by the nerves. 



It is obvious, from all the circumstances which have been 

 stated, that the production or condensation of the electric 

 fluid in these animals, is a vital action, dependent on the 

 will of the animal, and acting through the nerves of the 

 peculiar organs. The power appears to be subservient to 

 the continuance of life, in a twofold manner. It affords 

 protection, by enabling the animal to benumb its foes, and 

 it assists in procuring food, by stunning or killing the small- 

 er animals, on which its sustenance depends. 



The electricity of animals which do not possess peculiar 

 organs for its condensation, has not been investigated with 

 sufficient care. From the observations of SAUSSURE, HEM- 



