ELECTRICAL GYMNOTE. 497 



rjf seven minutes, no less than three hundred and sixty of these 

 small shocks Were perceived. Spallanzani also assures us of an- 

 other highly curious fact, which he had occasion to verify from his 

 own experience, viz.. that the young torpedo can not only exercise 

 its electric faculty as soon as born, but even while it is yet a foetus 

 in the body of the parent animal. This was ascertained by Spal- 

 lanzani on dissecting a torpedo in a pregnant state, and which con- 

 tained in its ovarium several roundish eggs of different sizes, and 

 also two perfectly formed foetuses, which, when tried in the usual 

 manner, communicated a very sensible electric shock, and which 

 was still more perceptible when the little animaljs were insulated by 

 being placed on a plate of glass. 



The electricity of the torpedo is altogether voluntary, and some- 

 times, if the animal be not irritated, it may be touched, or even 

 handled without being provoked to exert its electric influence. 



The peculiar species of electricity, or galvanism, exerted at plea- 

 sure by the Gtmnote greatly surpasses that of the torpedo, and 

 has been an extensive subject of admiration both in ancient and 

 modern times. The electric gymnotus is a native of the warmer 

 regions of Africa and America, where it inhabits the larger rivers, 

 and is particularly found in those of Surinam. In Africa it is said 

 chiefly to occur in the branches of the river Senegal. It is a fish 

 of a disagreeable appearance ; bearing a general resemblance to a 

 large eel, though somewhat thicker in proportion, and of a much 

 darker colour, being commonly of an uniform blackish brown. It 

 is usually seen in the length of three or four feet, but is said to ar- 

 rive at a far larger size ; specimens occasionally occurring of six, 

 seven, or even ten feet in length. It was first made known to the 

 philosophers of Europe about the year 1671, when its wonderful 

 properties were announced to the French academy by Monsr. 

 Richer, one of the gentlemen sent out by the acachemy to conduct 

 some mathematical observations in Cayenne. This account how- 

 ever seems to have been received with a degree of cautious seep, 

 ticism by the major part of European naturalists, and it was not 

 till towards the middle of the late century that a full and general 

 conviction appears to have taken place j the observations of Monsr. 

 Condaminc, Mr. Ingram, Mr. Gravesend, and others, then con- 

 spiring to prove that the power of this animal consists in a specie 



vol. v. 2 ic 



