274 
DR. DAVY’S ACCOUNT OF SOME EXPERIMENTS 
111 support of this notion it may be mentioned, that in the fishes which I have 
kept, in which digestion was arrested, the secretion also of mucus appeared 
to be stopped or considerably diminished. 
Mr. Hunter, from the examination of a torpedo whose vascular system was 
injected, states that the electrical organs of this fish are abundantly supplied 
with blood-vessels. From what I have witnessed in the living fish and the 
fresh fish recently dead, I am compelled to conclude that the quantity of blood 
which circulates through them is very inconsiderable. The blood-vessels which 
pass into them with the electrical nerves are small ; the organs are colourless, 
and very few branches carrying red blood are perceptible extending through 
them. The integuments of these organs, and the pectoral fins, and lateral 
clusters of mucous glands are indeed abundantly supplied with blood-vessels. 
The contrast of the vascularity of these parts and of the electrical organs, is 
so strongly marked as to suggest the idea that the latter can possess very little 
ordinary vital activity, and that in accordance with the common analogies of 
living parts they must be rather passive than active. 
3. Concluding Remarks. 
The experiments which I have detailed on the electricity of the torpedo con- 
firm those of Mr. Walsh made in 1772, showing its resemblance to common 
electricity. They moreover show, that, like common electricity and voltaic 
electricity, it has the power of giving magnetic polarity to iron, and of pro- 
ducing certain chemical changes. In these its general effects it does not seem 
to be essentially peculiar, but as much allied to voltaic electricity as voltaic 
electricity is to atmospheric, or atmospheric electricity is to that produced by 
contact or friction. 
When we examine more minutely its phenomena or effects, in relation to 
these different kinds, or varieties of electricity, certain points of difference occur. 
Compared with voltaic electricity, its effect on the multiplier is feeble ; its 
power of decomposing water and metallic solutions is inconsiderable ; but its 
power of giving a shock is great, and so also is its power of magnetising iron. 
Compared with common electricity, it has a power of affecting the multiplier, 
which under ordinary circumstances common electricity does not exhibit ; its 
chemical effects are more distinct ; its power of magnetising iron, and giving 
