56 



ANIMAL MECHANISM. 



nerves. It is as much as to say that the motive force is (treated 

 in the brain and conveyed to the muscles by the nerves of 

 motion. The electricity of the torpedo has its origin in the 

 special organ of this fish — as mechanical work is originated 

 in a muscle. When we see the phenomena of electricity 

 or of motion produced, the motive or electric nerves fulfil 

 only the duty of transmitting the order received from the 

 brain ; but the electricity which circulates in the nerves is 

 not that which is manifested so energetically in the discharge 

 of the apparatus. It is, says Matteucci himself, as if we 

 were to confound the effect of the gunpowder with that of 

 the priming which has been used in order to fire the charge. 



Thus, the most probable theory is that which assimilates 

 the electric nerves to those of motion, the discharge to a 

 muscular shock, the series of discharges to tetanus. 



In order to verify this theory, we have endeavoured to 

 ascertain^ whether the nerves of the torpedo carry out the 

 commands of the will with the same rapidity as the nerves of 

 motion ; if, when the electric apparatus has received the order 

 transmitted by the nerve, it hesitates, like the muscle, an 

 instant before it re- acts [lost time) ; in fact, whether the dis- 

 charge of the torpedo, contrary to those given by teneion 

 machines, possesses a certain duration which may be compared 

 to that of the shock of a muscle. 



It has been seen, that heat, cold, the ligature of the arteries, 

 and the action of certain poisons modify considerably the form 

 and duration of the muscular shock. If experiment showed 

 that as to its retardation, its duration, and its other phases, 

 the torpedo's discharge corresponds with the shock of a muscle; 

 if it is proved, that in both cases, the same agents produce the 

 same effects, we should be right in assimilating still more 

 completely the electrical phenomena with those of motion ; the 

 physiology of the former would illustrate, in many points, 

 that of the latter. 



During a stay of a few weeks at Naples we have been 

 able to sketch out this mode of inquiry, which has furnished 



* See, for the details of these experiments, ' ' Journal de Tanatomie et 

 de la physiologie." 1872. 



