148 FISHING GOSSIP. 



is more often met with than with us, and where its 

 remarkable powers attracted the attention of the most 

 eminent philosophers, whose utter ignorance of the 

 nature of the phenomena characteristic of the fish 

 could only lead them to the belief that they were to 

 be ascribed to the then usual cover for what they 

 could not understand the supposition of a magical 

 quality. With this obscure theory to act upon, phy- 

 sicians were accustomed to advise the application of 

 the living fish to the head of a patient for the cure of 

 pain in that part, and also to other parts of the body 

 for diseases of relaxation ; but where the living fish 

 could not be obtained, they expected to obtain the 

 same benefit from the application of the lifeless body ; 

 and even the cooked flesh was prescribed for the cure 

 of some diseases. But even in a living state, from 

 the manner in which it was used we judge that the 

 strength of the influence which this fish is capable of 

 exerting must at the times referred to have been un- 

 derrated, as it also seems to have been in the experi- 

 ments made at a more modern date, of which an 

 account has been given in our Natural History of the 

 Fishes of the British Islands ; and which deficiency 

 may be explained by the length of time during which 

 the fishes employed had been under unnatural cir- 

 cumstances ; and it is on this account the narrative 

 that follows may possess no small amount of interest 

 i to the natural historian. 



