THE ELECTBIC EEL. 199 



By Capt. Stedman, and Mr. Hunter. 



Captain Stedman's account differs from the 

 above in one material point : he says, that it is 

 by no means necessary to grasp the animal with 

 both hands to receive the shock, having himself 

 experienced the contrary effect. For a small 

 wager he attempted several times to seize an 

 electrical eel with one hand, and at every trial he 

 had a severe shock, which extended to the top 

 of his shoulder ; and after about twenty different 

 attempts, to no purpose, he was compelled to 

 desist. 



Mr. Hunter, in his ingenious investigation of 

 this animal, observes that the organs which pro- 

 duce this wonderful accumulation of electric 

 matter, constitute nearly one half of that part of 

 the flesh in which they are placed, and, perhaps, 

 compose more than one third of the whole ani- 

 mal. There are two pairs of these organs, one 

 on each side. Their structure is very simple and 

 regular, consisting only of flat partitions, with 

 cross divisions between them. The partitions are 

 thin membranes placed nearly parallel to one 

 another, and of different lengths and breadths. 

 Their distances from each other differ with the 

 size of the fish ; in one of two feet four inches in 

 length they were found to be one twenty-ninth of 

 an inch asunder. They appear to answer the 

 same purpose with the columns of the torpedo, 

 making walls or butments for the subdivisions, 

 and are to be considered as forming so many 



