369 



charged, or does not always employ the action 

 of it's nerves to establish the chain between the 

 positive and negative poles. This is certain, 

 that the torpedo gives a longer series of shocks 

 with astonishing celerity ; whether it be, that 

 the plates or laminae of his organs are not wholly 

 exhausted, or that the fish recharges them in- 

 stantaneously. 



The electric stroke is felt, when the animal is 

 disposed to give it, whether we touch with a 

 single finger only one of the surfaces of the 

 organs, or apply both hands to the two surfaces, 

 the superior and inferior, at once. In either case 

 it is altogether indifferent, whether the person, 

 who touches the fish with one finger or both 

 hands, be insulated or not. All that has been 

 said on the necessity of a communication with 

 the damp ground, to establish a circuit, is 

 founded on inaccurate observations. 



Mr. Gay-Lussac made the important observa- 

 tion, that, when an insulated person touches the 

 torpedo with one finger, it is indispensible, that 

 the contact be immediate. The fish may with 

 impunity be touched with a key, or any other 

 metallic instrument ; no shock is felt, when a 

 conducting or nonconducting body is interposed 

 between the finger and the electrical organ of 

 the torpedo. This circumstance furnishes a 

 great difference between the torpedo and the 



VOL. IV. 2 B 



