[ 466 ] 
organs likewife were proportionate with theirs, each 
organ meafuring fifteen inches in extreme length, 
and eight in extreme breadth. In fhort, the Tor- 
pedo of Torbay no way differed from thofe I faw in 
the Bay of Bifcay but in fize and colour; and per- 
haps this difference may be thought rather calual 
than denoting a fpecific diftindtion. 
It was a female, without any figns of preg- 
nancy. The inteftines contained, with fome black 
flime, two vertebres of a fifh, feemingly of the 
cod kind. The electrical organs of this Torpedo 
were likewife injedted by Mr. Hunter, though not 
with his firlf fuccefs, from the burfting of the artery 
in the operation ; he determined, however, the num- 
ber of columns in one organ to amount to 1182, 
and fully confirmed the obfervation he formerly 
made, that their numerous horizontal partitions were 
very vafcular. 
Shall I take notice that the reft of this fifh was 
dreffed and brought to table, and that fome of my 
friends fuffered a little for their curiofity in tailing it ? 
Rondelet fpeaks unfavourably of the Torpedo as food ; 
and tells us, that at Venice the PrefeCt of Health 
forbids it to be fold in the market. But to deem it 
wholefome diet, we have the fandtion of Hippocrates 
as well as Galen ; and if forbid at Venice when 
Rondelet was there, in the markets of France I 
know it to be fold. The truth is, that the eledtrical 
organs, which make one half of the animal, are, 
though wholefome to be eaten, an infipid mucilage * 
but its mufcular part is, at leaff, as palatable as the 
ffefh of the other Rays : among thefe the old and 
overgrown are ever in little requeft. Our Torpedo 
was 
7 
