VOL. LXVI.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 29 



torpedo, as with the former ; and the difference between its strength when re- 

 ceived under water and out of it, was much less than before, and perhaps not 

 greater than in the real torpedo. There is however a considerable difference be- 

 tween the feel of it under water and in air. In air it is felt chiefly in the elbows; 

 whereas under water it is felt chiefly in the hands ; and the sensation is sharper 

 and more disagreeable. The same kind of shock, only weaker, was felt if, in- 

 stead of touching the sides, I held my hands under water at 2 or 3 inches dis- 

 tance from it. 



It is remarkable, that I felt a shock of the same kind, and nearly of the same 

 strength, if I touched the torpedo under water with only one hand, as with both. 

 Some gentlemen who repeated the experiment with me thought it was rather 

 stronger. This shows, that the shock under water is produced chiefly by the 

 electricity running through the hand from one part to the other ; and that but a 

 small part passes through our body from one hand to the other. The truth of 

 this will appear with more certainty from the following circumstance ; namely, 

 that if 1 held a piece of metal, a large spoon for instance, in each hand, and 

 touched the torpedo with them instead of my hands, it gave me not the least 

 shock when immersed in water ; though when held in air, it affected me as 

 strongly if I touched it with the spoons as with my hands. On increasing the 

 charge indeed its effect became sensible : and the battery required to be charged 

 about 12 times as high to give the same shock when the torpedo was touched 

 with the spoons under water, as out of it. It must be observed, that in trying 

 this experiment, as my hands were out of water, I could be affected only by that 

 part of the fluid which passed through my body from one hand to the other. 



The following experiments were made with the torpedo in air. If I stood on 

 an electric stool, and touched either surface of the electric organs with one 

 hand only, I felt a shock in that hand ; but scarcely so strong as when touching 

 it in the same manner under water. If I laid a hand on one surface of the elec- 

 tric organs, and with the other touched the tail, I felt a shock ; but much 

 weaker than when touching it in the usual manner ; that is, with one hand on 

 the upper surface of those organs, and the other on the lower. If I laid a 

 thumb on either surface of an electric organ, and a finger of the same hand on 

 any part of the body, except on or very near the same surface of the organs, I 

 felt a small shock. In all the foregoing experiments, the battery was charged to 

 the same degree, except where the contrary is expressed : they all seem to agree 

 very well with Mr. Walsh's experiments. 



Mr. Walsh found, that if he inclosed a torpedo in a flat basket, open at the 

 top, and immersed it in water to the depth of 3 inches, and while the animal 

 was in that situation, touched its upper surface with an iron bolt held in one 

 hand, while the other hand was dipped into the water at some distance, he felt a 



