488 FISHES. 



The sword-fish is occasionally found not only in the Mediter- 

 ranean but in the Northern seas, and sometimes in the Pacific : it 

 is probable, however, that it has been often confounded with a 

 different species more common in that ocean. 



This fish is bold and active, and in one instance was known to, 

 attack an East Indiaman, which he would certainly have sunk, by 

 driving his long serrated snout or sword through its hulk, but that 

 he killed himself by the violence of his attack ; in consequence of 

 which the sword remained in the timbers of the ship, and no leak 

 of any consequence ensued. A piece of the hulk, with a part of 

 the fish's sword imbedded in it, was presented to the British 

 Museum, and may still be seen there as an object of curiosity * 



[Pennant. Shaw. Editor* 



SECTION III. 



Electrical Eel, or Gymnote. 

 Gymnotus electricus. tLinn. 



Electrical Torpedo, or Ray, 

 Raia torpedo. Linn. 



There are various fishes which have a power of collecting and 

 discharging small portions of the electric fluid ; some a quantity 

 so minute as to be scarcely sensible, like that thrown forth from 

 the hair of the cats' back, to the hand that touches it : but others 

 in a quantity so considerable, as to produce exhaustion and numb, 

 ness of the nerves exposed to its action, or even a shock equal to 

 that of a large Leyden phial. 



Of this last kind the two most celebrated are those which we 

 have enumerated at the head of the section; and which, though in 

 the artificial system of Linnaeus, belonging to different orders, we 

 shall here contemplate simultaneously. 



The Torpedo has been celebrated both by ancients and moderns 

 for its wonderful faculty of causing a sudden numbness, or painful 

 sensation, in the limbs of those who touch or handle it. This 

 power the ancients, unacquainted with the theory of electricity, 



