268 
DR. DAVY’S ACCOUNT OF SOME EXPERIMENTS 
of barytes and by corrosive sublimate. By evaporation, it afforded a residue 
which deliquesced partially on exposure to a moist atmosphere, and had an 
acrid and bitter saline taste. The exact proportion of this weak solution of 
animal and saline matters, I have not ascertained ; and, indeed, it would be 
very difficult to determine it with any degree of accuracy, for only a small 
portion separates spontaneously, and if pressure be used, the fibres are broken, 
and the expressed fluid is mixed with a pulpy matter. 
When the electrical organs of the torpedo are immersed in boiling water, 
they suddenly contract in all their dimensions, and the columns, from penta¬ 
gonal, which they generally are, become circular. In my early experiments 
at Rome, they were rendered firmer by immersion for a few minutes, and the 
columns appeared to be tolerably distinctly fibrous and laminated, bringing 
to recollection the structure of the pile of Zamboni. Latterly I have not wit¬ 
nessed this effect; in a few seconds the tendinous fibres have been converted 
into jelly, and the columns have fallen asunder, having the appearance and 
consistence of a translucent, very soft mucilage. To what this difference of 
effect may be owing, I am at a loss to conceive ; perhaps the Roman fish were 
older than the Maltese, or the aqueduct water at Rome may be harder than 
the rain cistern water of Malta. 
On exposure to the air in a damp atmosphere, or by maceration in water, 
changing the water daily, the electrical organs undergo change more slowly 
than the parts distinctly muscular ; in putrefaction and maceration they have 
less resemblance to muscular fibre than to tendinous fibre, which latter offers 
great resistance to both these processes. But I would not lay any stress on 
this quality of resistance, as it is vague, depending on circumstances which it 
is extremely difficult to appreciate, as every one must be convinced who has 
compared the different degrees of rapidity with which different orders of mus¬ 
cles in man and the larger mammalia undergo change from putrefaction and 
maceration ; for instance, the slowness with which the muscular fibres of the 
stomach and intestines alter, and the rapidity of change of the fibres of the 
heart and thick muscles. 
Quitting the organs of the dead fish, I shall now notice the few observa¬ 
tions which I have made on them, before they have been deprived of their 
vitality. 
