314 



TORPEDO RAY. 



From the above description it appears that the 

 electric organs of the Torpedo constitute a pair of 

 Galvanic batteries, disposed in the form of perpen- 

 dicidar hexagonal columns. In the Gymnotus 

 electricus on the contrary the Galvanic battery is 

 disposed lengthw^ise on the low^er part of the animal. 



We are informed by the ingenious Dr. Ingen- 

 houz, that on taking up some Torpedos about 

 twenty miles from Leghorn, he observed that on 

 pressing gently with the thumbs on the upper side 

 of the two soft bodies on each side the head (the 

 electric organs), in about the space of a minute or 

 two he felt a sudden trembling in the thumbs, 

 which extended no farther than the hands, and 

 lasted about two seconds, perfectly resembling the 

 sensation produced by a great number of very 

 small electrical bottles discharged in quick succes- 

 sion through the hand. After some seconds the 

 sensation returned, and again at more distant in- 

 tervals. Sometimes it was so strong as almost to 

 oblige the hand to let go the fish ; and at other 

 times was but weak, and after the fish had given 

 one strong shock, it did not seem soon to lose the 

 power of communicating one of similar strength ; 

 and it v/as sometimes found that when the shocks 

 followed one another in quick succession, the last 

 were stronger than the first. 



The celebrated Spallanzani informs us that some 

 few minutes before the Torpedo expires, the shocks 

 which it communicates, instead of being given at 

 distant intervals, take place in quick succession, 

 like the pulsations of the heart • they are weak 



