ELECTRICAL TORPEDO. 48$ 



were contented to admire, without attempting to explain ; and, as 

 is usual in similar cases, magnified it into an effect little short of 

 what is commonly ascribed to enchantment. Thus we are told by 

 Oppian, that the torpedo, conscious of his latent faculty, when 

 caught by a hook, exerts it in such a manner, that passing along 

 the line and rod, it benumbs the astonished fisherman, and sud- 

 denly reduces him to a state of helpless stupefaction. 



(i Na< psv Kt yapn^' &c. 



The hook'd torpedo, with instinctive force, 

 Calls all his magic from its secret source ; 

 Quick thro' the slender line and polish'd wand 

 It darts j and tingles in th' offending hand*. 

 The palsied fisherman, in dumb surprise, 

 Feels thro' Ms frame the chilling vapours rise: 

 Drops the lost rod, and seems, in stiffening pain, 

 Some frost-fix'd wanderer on the polar plain. 



It is affirmed by Pliny, that the torpedo, even when touched 

 with a spear, or stick, can benumb the strongest arm, and stop 

 the swiftest foot. 



It is well observed, by Dr. Bloch, that these exaggerations on 

 the part of the ancients are the less to be wondered at, when we 

 reflect on similar ones in modern times. Thus, when Muschen- 

 broek happened accidentally to discover and feel the effect of the 

 electric shock, from what is called the Leyden phial, he represented 

 it of so terrible a nature as to affect his health for several days 

 afterwards ; and declared that he would not undergo a second for 

 the whole kingdom of France. Yet this is now the common 

 amusement of philosophical curiosity. 



The observations of the learned Redi and others, in the seven- 

 teenth century, had tended, in some degree, to elucidate the 

 peculiar actions and anatomy of the torpedo ; but it was reserved 

 for more modern times, and for our own ingenious countrymen ill 

 particular, to explain, in a more satisfactory manner, the particu- 

 lars of its history ; and to prove that its power is truly electric. 



* There are not wanting some who insist that this is no exaggeration, and 

 that the electricity of the torpedo is really conducted in this manner. 



