148 FISHING GOSSIP. 
is more often met with than with us, and where its 
remarkable powers attracted the attention of the most 
eminent philosophers, whose utter ignorance of the 
nature of the phenomena characteristic of the fish 
could only lead them to the belief that they were to 
be ascribed to the then usual cover for what they 
could not understand—the supposition of a magical 
quality, With this obscure theory to act upon, phy- 
sicians were accustomed to advise the application of 
the living fish to the head of a patient for the cure of 
pain in that part, and also to other parts of the body 
for diseases of relaxation ; but where the living fish 
could not be obtained, they expected to obtain the 
same benefit from the application of the lifeless body ; 
and even the cooked flesh was prescribed for the cure 
of some diseases. But even ina living state, from 
the manner in which it was used we judge that the 
strength of the influence which this fish is capable of 
exerting must at the times referred to have been un- 
derrated, as it also seems to have been in the experi- 
ments made at a more modern date, of which an 
account has been given in our Natural History of the 
Fishes of the British Islands ; and which deficiency 
may be explained by the length of time during which 
the fishes employed had been under unnatural cir- 
cumstances ; and it is on this account the narrative 
that follows may possess no small amount of interest 
even to the natural historian. 
