262 
DR. DAVY’S ACCOUNT OF SOME EXPERIMENTS 
quently produced, sometimes in the form of sparks, and sometimes in the form 
of flashes, not unlike summer lightning on an infinitely minute scale. At 
first, I was disposed to consider the phenomena electrical; but, on reflection, 
it occurred that they might depend on the presence of animalcules, which be¬ 
came luminous when agitated. And this I believe is the correct explanation 
of the effects; for, when the salt water was agitated without the torpedo, 
sparks of light now and then were seen, and the flashes or coruscations might 
have been owing either to luminous matter thrown off from the surface of the 
fish when it gave a shock, or to the shock simultaneously stimulating several 
particles, which, in consequence, shone for an instant. 
The only positive result which I have obtained on the passage of the elec¬ 
tricity of the torpedo through air, has been by using a chain as a substitute 
for a wire of communication. It was a small gold chain, composed of sixty- 
six double links, each circular and about one tenth of an inch in diameter, 
fastened unstretched to a dry glass rod at each end. Holding the upper 
portion of this chain in one hand, and the under wire in the other, (the hands 
being moistened,) I irritated, by means of them, the upper and under surface 
of an active fish ; the shock which it gave was pretty strong, reaching beyond 
the fingers, and was felt with the same degree of force in both hands. This 
seems to show that the air is not impermeable to the electricity of the tor¬ 
pedo ; and the same conclusion may be drawn from the facility with which I 
have found it to pass through a circuit of wire in which there have been no 
less than seven joinings, and these made merely with ordinary care, with the 
fingers, without the aid of any instrument. 
In accordance with Mr. Walsh and my brother, I have in no instance seen 
the torpedo affect the common electrometer, or exhibit any the slightest 
indications of a power of attraction and repulsion in air. 
The experiments which I have made on it as a chemical agent have been 
of a satisfactory kind. A small glass globe, of the capacity of about half a 
cubic inch, was used for holding the fluid to be acted on ; and fine wires, com¬ 
municating with the contact-wires, were introduced into it through a perfo¬ 
rated glass stopple, and they were coated with sealing-wax along their whole 
course in the vessel, excepting at their points. By means of this little appa¬ 
ratus, I first tried the effect of a small active fish on a strong solution of com- 
