ELECTRICAL GYMNOTE. 
139 
mediately compels those who handle it to desist. 
This fish resembles an eel in figure; but it is thicker 
in proportion, and of a blackish brown colour. It 
has a flat head, and a wide mouth without teeth. 
A deep, soft, wavy fin rises about three or four 
inches below the head, and runs to the extremity of 
the tail. A number of bands, or rather rugae, of the 
skin reach across the body, and give the fish some- 
what the appearance of a worm. 
The electric power of this animal is such, that 
a person touching it receives a shock which passes 
through his body in the same manner as if con- 
veyed by a charged jar. We are told that Mr. Fir- 
min, during his residence in Surinam, demonstrated 
by experiment, that fourteen slaves, holding each 
other by the hands, received the shock at the same 
instant; the first touching the fish with a stick, 
and the last dipping his hand into the water in 
which it was kept. In the second volume of the 
American Philosophical Transactions, Mr. Bryant 
observes that, one morning while he was standing 
by, as a servant was emptying a tub which con- 
tained one of these fish, he received a shock so 
violent as occasioned him to let the tub fall. Mr.B. 
then called another person to his assistance, and 
made them together lift up the tub, each laying 
hold only on the outside. When they were pouring 
off the remainder of the water, they each received 
a shock so smart that they were forced to desist. 
A great number of experiments have been tried 
