[ + 6 S ] 
* { up a fpirit of inquiry, both as to its electricity and 
“ general ceconomy. 
— « The vigour of the frefh taken Tor- 
tc pedos at the Ille of Re, was not able to force the 
torpedinal fluid acrofs the minuteft tract of air ; 
“ not from one link of a fmall chain, fufpcnded 
“ freely, to another ; not through an almoft in- 
<c vifible feparation, made by the edge of a penknife,, 
<c in a flip of tinfoil pafled on fealing-wax. The 
“ fpark therefore (of courfe the attendant flapping 
“ noife) was denied to all our attempts to difcover 
“ it, not only in day-light, but in complete dark- 
nefs. 1 obferved to you, in my laft, the fingu- 
cc larity of the Torpedo being able, when infulated, 
“ to give to an infulated perfon a great number of 
“ fucceflive fhocks : in this fituation I have taken 
<c no lefs than fifty from him in the fpace of a 
<c minute and an half. All our experiments con- 
ct firmed, that his electricity was condenfed, in 
“ the inftant of its explofion, by a fudden energy 
“ of the animal; and as there was no gradual 
“ accumulation, nor retention of it, as in the cafe 
“ of charged glafs, it is not at ail furprizing that 
“ no figns of attraction or repulfion were perceived 
“ in the pith balls. In fhort, the effeCi of the Tor- 
<£ pedo appears to arife from a comprefled elaflic 
“ fluid, reftoring itfelf to its equilibrium in the fame 
<c way, and by the fame mediums, as the elaflic fluid 
tc comprefled in charged glafs. The fkin of the 
tx animal, bad conductor as it is, feems to be a 
“ better condu&or of his eleCfricity, than the 
“ thineft plate of elaflic air. Notwithftanding the 
M weak fpring of the torpedinal electricity, I was 
“ able 
3 * 
