471 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1773. 



which the wire was immersed, and a finger of the other hand in the 2d hasin. 

 The 2d person put a finger of one hand in this last basin, and a finger of the 

 other hand in the 3d; and so on successively, till the 5 persons communicated 

 with one another by the water in the basins. In the last basin one end of the 

 second wire was immersed; and with the other end Mr. Walsh touched the back 

 of the torpedo, when the 5 persons felt a commotion which differed in nothing 

 from that of the Leyden experiment, except in the degree of force. Mr. Walsh, 

 who was not in the circle of conduction, received no shock. This experiment 

 was repeated several times, even with 8 persons; and always with the same 

 success. The action of the torpedo is communicated by the same mediums as 

 that of the electric fluid. The bodies which intercept the action of the one, 

 intercept likewise the action of the other. The effects produced by the torpedo 

 resemble in every respect a weak electricity." 



This exhibition of the electric powers of the torpedo, before the academy of 

 La Rochelle, was at a meeting, held f9r the purpose in my apartments, on the 

 22d July, 1772, and stands registered in the journals of the academy. 



The effect of the animal was, in these experiments, transmitted through as 

 great an extent and variety of conductors as almost at any time we had been 

 able to obtain it, and the experiments included nearly all the points, in which 

 its analogy with the effect of the Leyden Phial had been observed. These points 

 were stated to the gentlemen present, as were the circumstances in which the 

 2 effects appeared to vary. It was likewise represented to them, that our 

 experiments had been almost wholly with the animal in air: that its action in 

 water was a capital desideratum: that indeed all as yet done was little more than 

 opening the door to inquiry: that much remained to be examined by the 

 electrician as well as by the anatomist: that as artificial electricity had thrown 

 light on the natural operation of the torpedo, this might in return, if well con- 

 sidered, throw light on artificial electricity, particularly in those respects in 

 which they now seemed to differ: that for me, I was about to take leaveof theanimal, 

 as nature had denied it to the British seas; and that the prosecution of these 

 researches rested in a particular manner with them whose shores abounded with it. 



The torpedo, on this occasion, dispensed only the distinct, instantaneous 

 stroke, so well known by the name of the electric shock. That protracted but 

 lighter sensation, that toi-por or numbness which he at times induces, and from 

 which he takes his name, was not then experienced from the animal; but it was 

 imitated with artificial electricity, and shown to be producible by a quick con- 

 secution of minute shocks. This, in the torpedo, may perhaps be effected by 

 the successive discharge of his numerous cylinders, in the nature of a running 

 fire of musketry: the strong single shock may be his general volley. In the 

 continued effect, as well as the instantaneous, his eyes, usually prominent, are 

 withdrawn into their sockets. The same experiments, performed with the same 



