on the Torpedo at the Cape oj Good Mope, 125 
Having divided one of the nerves of each electrical organ! 
in a torpedo, from which shocks had been previously received, 
I still found the animal capable, after this change, of commu- 
nicating the shock. 
Having introduced a wire through the cranium of a torpedo, 
which had been communicating shocks very freely, all motion 
immediately ceased, and no irritation could excite the electrical 
shock. 
I never received a shock from a torpedo, when held by the 
extremities of the lateral fins or tail. 
The preceding account appears to me to afford grounds for 
the following conclusions. 
1. That the electrical discharge of this animal is in every 
respect a vital action, being dependent on the life of the 
animal, and having a relation to the degree of life and to the 
degree of perfection of structure of the electrical organs. 
2. That the action of the electrical organs is perfectly 
voluntary. 
g. That frequent action of the electrical organs is injurious 
to the life of the animal ; and, if continued, deprives the 
animal of it. Is this only an instance of a law common to all 
animals, that by long continued voluntary action they are 
deprived of life ? Whence is the cause of the rapidity with 
which it takes place in this instance ? Or is it owing to the 
re-action of the shock on the animal ? 
4. That those animals, in which the nerves of the electrical 
organs are intersected, lose the power of communicating the 
shock, but appear more vivacious, and live longer than those 
in which this change has not been produced, and in which 
this power is exerted. Is the loss of the power of commit- 
