Class IV. ELECTRIC RAY. 119 



The hook'd Torpedo ne'er forgets its art, 

 But soon as struck begins to play its part, 

 And to the line applies its magic sides : 

 Without delay the subtile power glides 

 Along the pliant rod, and slender hairs, 

 Then to the fisher's hand as swift repairs : 

 Amaz'd he stands ; his arm's of sense bereft, 

 Down drops the idle rod ; his prey is left: 

 Not less benumb'd, than if he'd felt the whole 

 Of frost's severest rage beneath the arctic pole. 



But great as its powers are when the fish is 

 in vigor, they are impaired as it declines in 

 strength, and totally cease when it expires. 

 They impart no noxious qualities to it as a 

 food, being commonly eaten by the French, 

 who find it more frequently on their coasts than 

 we do on ours. Galen even affirms, that the 

 meat of the Torpedo is of service to epileptic 

 patients ; and that the shock of the living fish 

 applied to the head is efficacious in removing 

 any pains in that part. 



We may mention a double use in this strange 

 power the torpedo is endued with; the one, 

 when it is exerted as a means of defence against 

 voracious fish, who are at a touch deprived of 

 all possibility of seizing their prey. The other 

 is well explained by Pliny, who tells us, it 

 attains by the same powers its end in respect to 

 those fish it wishes to ensnare. Novit torpedo 



