Cs® 3 
IV. Account of some experiments on the Torpedo electricus > at L<l 
Rochelle. By John T. To *d, Esq. Communicated by Sir 
Everard Home, Bart. V.P. R. S. 
Read December 5, 1816. 
The Royal Society having condescended to accept a Paper 
which I had the honor of submitting to them, through the 
kindness of Sir Everard Home, on the subject of the Tor- 
pedo electricus, may perhaps, from the same motives, be 
induced to receive the following commencement of a set of 
experiments made at La Rochelle, unfortunately interrupted 
by some untoward circumstances. 
The following series had for its principal object, to deter- 
mine whether the Torpedo possessed any voluntary power 
over the electrical organs, either in exciting or interrupting 
their action, except through the nerves of these organs. They 
were made on board the fishing boats, immediately after the 
fish were caught. 
The two Torpedos, the subjects of my first experiments, 
were of very different sizes ; the one being about eight 
inches in length, and the other eighteen. They were of the 
same colour, light hazle grey, and mottled. The shocks 
were easily excited ; those of the larger being much more 
severe. The fishermen held them by the tail without any 
apprehension of receiving the shock. They possessed the 
same security when they held them by that part between the 
