PLATE Lilt 
Surface of the water, slight shocks, through the net, to the person 
holding it.” 
<£ These experiments in water manifested, that bodies, immersed 
in that element, might be affected by immediate contact with the 
Torpedo ; that the shorter the circuit in which the electricity moved, 
the greater would be the effect ; and that the shock was communi- 
cable, from the animal in water, to persons in air through some 
substances.” 
«< How far harpoons and nets, consisting of wood and hemp,, 
could in like circumstances, as it has been frequently asserted, convey 
the effect, was not so particularly tried as to enable us to confirm it. 
I mention the omission in hope that some one may be induced to 
determine the point by express trial.” 
/ 
« w e convinced ourselves, on former occasions, that the accurate 
Krempfer, who so well describes the effect of the Torpedo, and hap- 
pily compares it with lightening, was deceived in the ciicumstance, 
that it could be avoided by holding in the breath, which we found 
no more to prevent the shock of the Torpedo, when he was disposed 
to give it, than it would prevent the shock of the Leyden phial.” 
t 
“ Several persons, forming as many distinct circuits, can be affected 
by one stroke of the animal, as well as when joined in a single circuit. 
For instance, four persons, touching separately his upper and lower 
surfaces, were all affected. Two persons likewise, after the electri- 
city had passed through a wire into a basin of water, transmitted it 
from thence in two distinct channels, as their sensation convinced 
them, into another basin of water, from whence it was conducted. 
