VOL. LXV.j PHILOSOPHICAL TllANSACTlOXS. ' 599 



of all these experiments was, that whatever usually conveys the electrical fluid, 

 would also convey the fluid discharged by the eel ; and vice vers4, a brass chain, 

 that had very many links in it, would not convey it, unless when the shock was 

 severe, or the chain tense. 18. One of the company being insulated on glass 

 bottles, received several shocks from the eel ; but he exhibited no marks of a 

 plus state of electricity, nor would cork balls, suspended by silken threads, give 

 any marks of it, either when they were suspended over the eel's back, or touched 

 by the insulated person at the instant he received the shock. 1 y. A person, 

 holding a phial in one hand properly lined and coated for electrical experiments, 

 put his hand to the tail of the fish, while an assistant, holding a short wire in 

 one hand, that communicated with the inside of the phial, grasped the fish near 

 its head, so as to receive a severe shock in his hand and arm, but it passed no 

 farther. 20. Two pieces of brass wire, about the thickness of a crow's quill, 

 were screwed in opposite directions, into a frame of wood, so as to come within 

 less than the lOOth part of an inch of contact ; they were rounded at the point. 

 Dr. W. held the remote end of one of those wires, while an assistant held the 

 other ; in the mean while, one of them putting his hand into the water near the 

 eel, the other touched it so as to receive a shock. They repeated this experiment 

 1 5 or 20 times with different success : when the points of the wires were even 

 screwed asunder, to the 50th part of an inch, the shock never passed in the 

 circle ; but when they were screwed up within the thickness of double-post paper, 

 the shocks, such of them as were severe, would pass through them both ; in 

 which case, they doubtless leaped from the point of one wire to the other, 

 though he was not so fortunate as to render the spark generally visible. But it 

 should be observed, that the eel, on which he made these experiments, was not 

 easily provoked, and appeared to be in bad health. He frequently passed his 

 hand along its back and sides from head to tail, and lifted part of its body 

 above the water, without tempting it to make any defence. Dr. Bancroft says, 

 that such eels in Guiana have shocked his hand at the distance of some inches 

 from the surface of the water. Perhaps fire emitted by eels lately taken, might 

 be rendered visible. 



From the above experiments it appears : 1 . That the Guiana eel has the power 

 of communicating a painful sensation to animals that touch or come near it. 

 2. That this effect depends entirely on the will of the eel ; that it has the power 

 of giving a small shock, a severe one, or none at all, just as circumstances may 

 require. 3. That the shock given, or the painful sensation communicated, de- 

 pends not on the muscular action of the eel, since it shocks bodies in certain 

 situations at a great distance ; and since particular substances only will convey 

 the shock, while others, equally elastic or hard, refuse to convey it. 4. That 

 the shock must therefore depend on some fluid, which the eel discharges from 



