264 THE TORPEDO. 



fastened to the parts adjoining, by cellular texture and 

 tendinous fibres ; and their upper and under surfaces 

 are covered by the common skin of the fish, while 

 immediately under the skin there is a thin fascia of 

 longitudinal fibres, which are open in many places. 

 Another fascia immediately below this, is formed into 

 a great number of perpendicular sheaths, and these 

 again are filled by angular columns, of various numbers 

 of sides. There are several rows of these columns, 

 and the number appears to increase annually by the 

 addition of new ones at the exterior. The number of 

 columns in one organ of a torpedo, four feet and a half 

 in length, was eleven hundred and eighty-two. The 

 columns are divided across into cells, of which, with 

 these partitions, there are one hundred and fifty in an 

 inch, but they vary with the state of moisture on the 

 body of the animal. The partitions of the columns 

 contain a great number of blood-vessels, which come 

 immediately from the gill cells, in which the blood has 

 been purified by the action of the air. The cells 

 formed by the divisions of the columns are filled with 

 a fluid, which has, upon analysis, been found to consist 

 of albunum and gelatine, and which, therefore, cannot, 

 as was once supposed, possess any electric action, but 

 must merely serve to lubricate the delicate fibrous 

 structure of which the electric organs are composed. 

 Those organs contain a great?* portion of nervous 

 ramifications than almost any other animal texture, 

 except that which is an immediate seat of sensation ; 

 and as the shocks given by the torpedo appear to be, 

 in a great measure at least, voluntary, there can be 

 no doubt that their production is in some way or other 



