COG 
THE OCEAN WORLD. 
could explain the cause of tlie strange phenomenon. It was reserved 
for Dr. Walsh, a member of the Koyal Society of Loudon, to demon- 
strate the fact that the power was electrical in its nature. This he 
did by numerous experiments, which he made in the Isle of Be. The 
following are some of his experiments: — 
He placed a living torpedo upon a clean wet towel ; from a plate he 
suspended two pieces of brass wire by means of silken cord, which 
served to isolate them. Bound the torpedo were eight persons, stand- 
ing on isolating substances. One end of the brass wire was sup- 
ported by the wet towel, the other end being placed in a basinfull of 
water. The first person had a finger of one hand in this basin, and a 
finger of the other in a second basin, also full of water. The second 
person placed a finger of one hand in this second basin, aud a finger 
of the other hand m a third basin. The third person did the same, 
and so on, until a complete chain was established between the eight 
persons and nine basins. Into the ninth basin the end of the second 
brass wire was plunged, while Dr. Walsh applied the other end to the 
back of the torpedo, thus establishing a complete conducting circle- 
At the moment when the experimenter touched the torpedo, the eight 
actors in the experiment felt a sudden shock, similar in all respects to 
that communicated by the shock of a Leyden jar, only less intense. 
When the torpedo was placed on an isolated supporter, it com- 
municated to many persons similarly placed from forty to fifty shocks 
in a minute and a half. Each effort made by the animal, in order to 
give them, was accompanied by the depression of its eyes, which were 
slightly projecting in their natural state, and seemed to be drawn withm 
their orbits, while the other parts of the body remained immovable. 
If only one of the two organs of the torpedo is touched it happed 
that, in place of a strong and sudden shock, only a slight sensation i s 
experienced — a numbness, or start, rather than a shock. The same 
result followed witli every experiment tried. The animal was tried 
with a non-conducting rod, and no shock followed ; glass, or a rod 
covered with wax, produced no effect ; touched with a metallic wire, 11 
violent shock followed. Melloni, Matteucci, Becquerel, and Breschet 
have all made the same experiments with the same results — Matteucci 
having ascertained that the shock produced by the torpedo is com- 
parable to that given by a voltaic pile of a column of a hundred to » 
hundred and fifty couples. 
