BRlftSa ASSOCIATION FOR, THE ABVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 63 



Up to as one of the highest authorities in medicine and surgery during a long suc- 

 cession of ages," thus condenses the opinions of his predecessors: — "Torpedo; 

 ■when applied to the head, while still alive, in cases of headache, it procures relief, 

 to the pain, probably by its peculiar property of producing torpor ; and the oil in 

 ■which the living animal has been boiled, -when rubbed in, allays the most violent 

 pains of the joints." The accomplished scholar, -whose translation I have quoted, 

 refers, in the relative commentary and elsewhere, to the general employment 

 of the torpedo by the Greet, Roman, and Arabian physicians, adding the significant 

 query — " Is not this an application of the principle of galvanism in medicine ?" 



Marcellus (whom I quote out of order) prescribes standing on a live black tor- 

 pedo, on a moist shore -which has been -washed by the sea, till torpor is felt through 

 the feet up to the knee, as a cure for gout. 



From these accounts, and especially from that of Scribonius Largus, it appears 

 that in the treatment of sevei-e and obstinate headache, the torpedo -was laid on 

 the aching head, or aching part of the head, and left there till it had thoroughly 

 benumbed it. The fish ivas probably -wetted occasionally -with sea--water (as Mar-* 

 cellus plainly intends), or immersed in it, otherwise it must soon have ceased to 

 be " torpedo viva;" but whether dead or alive, its good effects must have frequently 

 been owing as much to its acting as a cold poultice or wet bandage, as to its effi-' 

 ciency as an electric machine. It was faith, however, in its electrical powers that 

 led to its therapeutic use ; and this is all that concerns the present inquiry. 



How early the torpedo was employed in medicine cannot be precisely determined. 

 The labours of Daremberg and his colleagues -will doubtless throw light on this 

 point ; but as Scribonius Largus, Pliny, and other writers of the first century, all 

 describe the medical use of the torpedo, and Asclepiades and Nicander refer. to it 

 a century earlier, it at least dates from before the Christian era. It is probable, 

 also, that the aocient physicians borro-wed their torpedinal remedy from the Medi-^ 

 terrauean fishermen long after they had acquired faith in it ; and altogether we 

 may safely say, in round numbers, that the electrical machine, as embodied in the 

 torpedo, is at least 2000 years old. It is probably very much older, for barbaric 

 nations love -what the French call " heroic" remedies ; and the shock of the provoked 

 torpedo is likely to have been held medicinal by the earliest fishermen of the 

 Mediterranean sea. It would be interesting to ascertain whether the Italian sailors 

 of the present day have any traditional respect for the torpedo as a medicine. 

 It is sold in the ITeapolitan markets as an article of food ; but I do not know if 

 Galen's successors agree with him in imputing to, it medicinal virtues after it is 

 cooked. Apparently not ; but the naturalists and electricians of Italy, a country 

 prodigal of both, will enlighten us on this not unimportant matter. 



Another electric fish besides the torpedo Was known to the civilized nations of 

 antiquity, and to nations whose civilization is of much earlier date than that of 

 the Greeks and Romans. The Mle breeds one electrical fish, if not more ; and 

 when we remember what an inquisitive, intelligent people the ancient Egyptians 

 were, and that both their medical skill and their practice of animal worship were 

 likely to interest them in the singular endowments of the electric fish, we may 

 well expect to find its powers chronicled, if not employed, by their priests and 

 physicians. As yet, however, nothing has been extracted from either the hiero- 

 glyphics or the paintings on the tombs to fulfil this expectation. A very compe- 

 tent authority, indeed, adduces the absence of pictorial representations of the 

 Nile fish from the Egyptian monuments as a proof of the special esteem with 



