TORPEDO. 



land ; 1 1 miles N. of Uddevall,!. — Alfo, a town of Sweden, 

 in Warmeland ; 1 1 miles N. of Carlftadt. 



TORPEDO, Cramp-F'ijh, or Ehark Ray, the raja 

 torpedo of Linnieus, in Ichthyology, a fea-fidi, famed, both 

 among the ancient and modern naturalifts, for a remarkable 

 numbncfs with which it ftrikes the arm of fuch as touch it. 

 See Raia Torpedo. 



This fpecies is found in the Mediterranean, on the At- 

 lantic coad of France, in the Engliih feas, particularly at 

 Torbay, near Waterford, on the coaft of Ireland, and in 

 other places. See Anfon's Voyage, p. 266. 



It is generally taken with the trawl, but an inftance oc- 

 ■curs of its taking a bait, which vindicates a fine account 

 wiiich Oppian has left us of tliis fifh. It commonly lies in 

 water about the depth of forty fathoms, in company with 

 the congenerous rays ; but its more frequent and favourite 

 fituatiou is the fand, in which it will bury itfelf by flapping 

 its extremities, and throwing the fand in a light (hower over 

 its back. In this fituation the torpedo gives his moll for- 

 cible (hock, which throws down the aftoni(hed paffenger 

 who inadvertently treads upon him. The food of the tor- 

 pedo is fifh, and they probably (lupefy their prey by the 

 fhock they give them ; and yet the fea-leech and common 

 fea-crab will venture to annoy them. 



This fifh is fo far amphibious as to live in air twenty-four 

 hours, and but little longer in frefh water. The befl 

 method of prefcrving them is in well-boats kept in falt- 

 water, and not put into much motion. 



Rond-'let fpeaks unfavourably of the torpedo as food, 

 and tells us, that at Vejiice the pref?ft of health forbids it 

 to be fold in the market ; but in deeming it wholeionie food, 

 we have the fanftion of Hippocrates and Galen, and it is 

 fold in the markets of France. The eleclrical organs, 

 indeed, which make one half of the animal, though whole- 

 fome, are an infipid mucilage ; but its mulcular part is, at 

 leafl, as palatable as the fiefh of the other rays : among 

 thefe, the old and overgrown are always in little requeil. 



The torpedo brings forth its young at the autumnal 

 equinox, as affirmed by Arillotle, though queilioned by 

 Lorenzini. In one difTefted at L.a Rochelle, on the loth 

 of September, were found in the matrices feveral of the 

 foetufes quite formed, and nine eggs in no ftate of forward- 

 nefs ; fuperfetation feems to be, therefore, a property of 

 this fifh ; the eggs feemed to be deftined for the fpi-ing 

 brood, as they produce about the vernal as well as tlie au- 

 tumnal equinox. There may be alfo another produftion at 

 midfummer, but it principally takes place at the tv.'O 

 equinoxes. 



Upon touching this fifh with the fingers, it frequently, 

 though not alsvays, happens, that the perlon feels an unufual 

 painful numbnefs, which fuddenly feizes the arm up to the 

 elbow, and fometimes to the very (houlder and head. 



The pain is of a very particular fpecies, and is not to be 

 defcribed by any words ; yet MM. Lorenzini, Borelli, 

 Redi, and Reaumur, who all felt it feverely, obferve it to 

 bear fome refemblance to that painful fenfation felt in the 

 arm, upon Itriking the elbow violently againil a hard body : 

 though M. Reaumur alTures us, this gives but a very faint 

 idea of it. 



Its chief force is at the inftant it begins ; it lafls but a 

 few moments, and then vanifhes entirely. If a man do not 

 aftually touch the torpedo, how near foever he holds his 

 hand, he feels nothing : if he touch it with a flick, he feels 

 a feint effeft : if he touch it through the interpofition of 

 any pretty thin body, the numbnefs is felt very confiderably ; 

 if the hand be preffed very ftrong againil it, the numbnefs is 



the lefs, but ftill ftrong enough to oblige a man fpeedily to 

 let go. 



, Oppian affirms, that k will benumb the aftonifhed fifher- 

 man, even through the whole length of line and rod. See the 

 paflage cited and tranflated by Pennant, Brit. Zool. vol. iii. 



P- 39- 



But great as are the powers of this fifh when in vigour, 

 they are impaired as it declines in ilrength, and totally ceafe 

 when it expires. The fliocks in water are apprehended to 

 be near a fourth of the force of thofe at the furface of the 

 water, and not much more than a fourth of thofe entirely in 

 air. This flrange power, with which the torpedo is endued, 

 and which we fhall prefently explain, feems to have a double 

 ufe ; the one, when it is exerted as a means of defence againfl 

 voracious fifli, wlio are by a touch deprived of all power of 

 feizing their prey ; the other is weH explained by Pliny, 

 who tells us, that by the fame powers it attains its end 

 with refpeft to thofe fiih which it wifhes to enfnare ; for, 

 concealing itfelf in the mud, and benumbing the filh that are 

 carelefsly fwimming about, it makes a ready prey of them. 



M. Reaumur, having no fiflies alive to examine what the 

 torpedo would do to them, fhut up a drake in water with it, 

 and after fome time it was taken out dead. See ElcSr'ic 

 Organs 0/' FlsH. 



We fhall now proceed to give a brief recital of the differ- 

 ent theories that have been adopted in order to account for 

 the extraordinary effeiSts of the torpedo. This fifh was early 

 known to the Greeks ; it is mentioned, as an efculent fifh, 

 by Hippocrates, under the name t-j.^Kr., which fhews that the 

 ancients had fome knowledge of its torporific qualities. 

 Plato alfo was acquainted with them, as appears by the hu- 

 morous comparifon of Socrates to that animal, which he puts 

 into the mouth of Menon. Ariflotle likewife treats of the 

 benumbing or ftupefying qualities of this fifh, though he 

 feems to have no idea of their being communicated by the 

 intervention of a flick, rope, or water. 



Theophraflus, accordnig to Athenaeus, obferved tliat the 

 torpedo conveyed the benumbing fenfation through fticks 

 and fpears into the hands of the fifhermen that held them. 

 Diphilus, of Laodicea, takes notice that the torpor was oc- 

 cafioned, not by the whole, but by certain parts of the body 

 of this filh : and Hero of Alexandria mentions it as emitting 

 effluvia through brafs and iron, and other folid bodies. 



Pliny's accoimt, though partly true, is mingled with the 

 marvellous and falfe. Plutarch is more full and jufl; for 

 he reprefents the torpedo as not only benumbing all that 

 touch it, but flriking a numbnefs through the net into the 

 hands of the fifhermen, and as even diminifhing the feeling 

 of thofe who poured water upon it, if it happened to be laid 

 on the ground alive. He adds, that whilfl the torpedo 

 fwims round his prey, he emits certain effluvia like darts, 

 that firfl afleft the water, and then the fifhes in it, which 

 are thus difabled from defending themfelves or efcaping. 



Before the days of Galen the torpedo was placed alive to 

 parts afFetled, and particularly for the cure of an obftinate 

 head-ache, as appears from Scribonius Largus, who lived 

 under Claudian, and from Diofcorides, who flourifhcd foon 

 after. G.ilen conceived that the torpedo adled by a frigorific 

 principle, for as cold occafions a numbnefs iji an animated 

 body, fo does the fliock given by that animal. Paulus of 

 iEgina, one of the Galenic fchool, recommends tlie oil of 

 the dead filh for tempering the hot humour of the gout, 

 and for other aihnents that required cooling apphcations. 



Such are the unfatisfadlory accounts of the philofophers 

 and phyiicians of antiquity. 



The Abyflinians, it is faid, ufe torpedos for the cure of 



feversj 



