oS 
PECULIAR SECRETIONS. 75 
ergan only being divided in a lively torpedo, from which 
shocks had been previously received, on irritating the 
animal, it was still found capable of communicating the 
shock. Whether there was any difference in the degree of 
intensity, could not be distinctly observed. One electrical 
organ being altogether removed, the animal still continued 
capable of discharging the electric shock ; and the same cir- 
cumstance took place when only one of the nerves of each 
electrical organ was divided. When a wire was introduced 
through the cranium of a torpedo, which had been com- 
municating shocks very freely, all motion immediately ceas- 
ed, and no irritation could excite the electrical shock. 
He likewise found that no alteration took place in the 
electrical condition of the organs, when the muscles of the 
fins were intersected. When the organs themselves were 
divided by a longitudinal incision, no change was produced 
in the electrical energies, but they seemed weakened by the 
removal of part of the organ. When the surfaces of the 
electrical organs were denuded, the animal could still give 
shocks ; and the same power remained, when, by incisions, 
no other attachment existed but by the nerves. 
It is obvious, from all the circumstances which have been 
stated, that the production or condensation of the electric 
fluid in these animals, is a vital action, dependent on the 
will of the animal, and acting through the nerves of the 
peculiar organs. ‘The power appears to be subservient to 
the continuance of life, in a twofold manner. It affords 
protection, by enabling the animal to benumb its foes, and 
it assists in procuring food, by stunning or killing the small- 
er animals, on which its sustenance depends. 
The electricity of animals which do not possess peculiar 
organs for its condensation, has not been investigated with 
sufficient care. From the observations of Saussurr, Hrem- 
