600 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1775. 



its body. 5. That as the fluid discharged by the eel affects the same parts of the 

 human body that are affected by the electric fluid ; as it excites sensations per- 

 fectly similar ; as it kills or stuns animals in the same manner ; as it is conveyed 

 by the same bodies that convey the electric fluid, and refuses to be conveyed by 

 other bodies that refuse to convey the electric fluid ; it must also be the true 

 electrical fluid ; and the shock given by this eel, must be the true electrical 

 shock. 



While Dr. W. made these experiments, the eel was kept in a large vessel, 

 supported by pieces of dry timber, about 3 feet above the floor. Perhaps it may 

 deserve notice, that a small hole being bored in the vessel in which the eel was 

 swimming, one person provoked the eel so as to receive a shock ; another person 

 at the same time, not in contact with him, but holding his finger in the stream 

 that spouted from the vessel, received a shock also in that finger. From this 

 and sundry other experiments, Dr. W. believes that the gymnotus has powers 

 greatly superior to, or rather different from those of the torpedo. 



XL Of the Gymnotus Electricus, or Electrical Eel. In a Letter from Alexan- 

 der Garden, M. D., F. R. S. Dated Oiarles-Town, South Carolina, 

 Aug. 14, 1774. p. 102. 



There are 5 of these fishes now here, of different sizes, from 2 feet in 

 length to three feet 8 inches. The following description was made out from the 

 longest and largest. It might have been much more accurate, if there had been 

 a possibility of handling the fish, and examining it leisurely ; or if there had 

 been a dead specimen, as many things relating to the internal and external struc- 

 ture could in that case have been more exactly ascertained. But this fish has 

 the amazing power of giving so sudden and so violent a shock to any person that 

 touches it, that there seems an absolute impossibility of ever examining accurately 

 a living specimen ; and the person who owns them rates them at too high a price, 

 not less than 50 guineas for the smallest, for me to get a dead specimen, unless 

 one should die by accident. 



The largest of these fish was, as before said, 3 feet 8 inches in length, when 

 extending itself most, and from 10 to 14 inches in circumference about the 

 thickest part of his bo<ly. The head is large, broad, flat, smooth, and impressed 

 here and there with holes, as if perforated with a blunt needle, especially towards 

 the sides, where they are more regularly ranged in a line on each side. The 

 rostrum is obtuse and roundetl. The upper and lower jaws are of an equal 

 . length, and the gape is large. The nostrils are two on each side ; the first large, 

 tubular, and elevated above the surface ; and the others small, and level with the 

 skin, placed immediately behind the verge of the rostrum, at the distance of an 

 inch asunder. The eyes are small, flattish, and of a bluish colour, placed 



