this animal's shock; but succeeding experience has abundantly convinced us, that holding in the breath no way guards against its violence. Those, therefore, who, depending on that receipt, should play with a torpedo, would soon find themselves painfully undeceived: not but that this fish may be many times touched with perfect security, for it is not upon every occasion that it exerts its potency. Reaumur, who made several trials upon this animal, has at least convinced the world that it is not necessarily, but by an effort that the torpedo numbs the hands of him that touches it. He tried several times, and could easily tell when the fish intended the stroke, and when it was about to continue harmless. Always before the fish intended the stroke, it flattened the back, raised the head and the tail, and then, by a violent contraction in the opposite direction, struck with its back against the pressing finger, and the body, which before, was flat, became humped and round.

But we must not infer as he has done, that the whole effect of this animal's exertions arise from the greatness of the blow which the fingers receive at the instant they are struck. We will, with him, allow that the stroke is very powerful, equal to that of a musket-ball, since he will have it so; but it is very well known, that a blow, though never so great, on the points of the fingers, diffuses no numbness over the whole body: such a blow might break the ends of the fingers indeed, but would hardly numb the shoulder. Those blows that numb, must be applied immediately to some great and leading nerve, or to a large surface of the body: a powerful stroke applied to the points of the fingers will be excessively painful indeed, but the numbness will not reach beyond the fingers themselves. We must, therefore, look for another cause producing the powerful effects wrought by the torpedo.

Others have ascribed it to a tremulous motion which this animal is found to possess, somewhat resembling that of a horse's skin, when stung by a fly. This operating under the touch with an amazing quickness of vibration, they suppose produces the uneasy sensation described above-something similar to what we feel when we rub plush cloth against the grain. But the cause is quite disproportioned to the effect, and so much beyond our experience, that this solution is as difficult as the wonder we wish to explain.

The most probable solution seems to be, that the shock proceeds from an animal electricity, which this fish has some hidden power of storing up, and producing on its most urgent occasions. The shocks are entirely similar; the duration of the pain is the same: but how the animal contrives to renew the charge, how it is prevented from evaporating it on contiguous objects, how it is orginally procured -these are difficulties that time alone can elucidate. But to know even the effects is wisdom. Certain it is, that the powers of this animal seem to decline with its vigor; for as its strength ceases, the force of the shock seems to diminish, till at last, when the fish is dead, the whole power is destroyed, and it may be handled or eaten with perfect security: on the contrary, when immediately taken out of the sea, its force is very great, and not only affects the hand, but if even touched with a stick, the person finds himself sometimes affected. This power, however is not to be extended to the degree that some would have us believe; as reaching the fishermen at the end of the line, or numbing fishes in the same pond. Godignus, in his History of Abyssinia, carries this quality to a most ridiculous excess: he tells us of one of these that was put into a basket among a number of dead fishes, and that the next morning the people,

to their utter astonishment, perceived, that the torpedo had actually numbed the dead fishes into life again.

To conclude, it is generally suposed that the female torpedo is inuch more powerful than the male. Lorenzini, who has made several experiments upon this animal, seems convinced that its power wholly resides in two thin mucles that cover a part of the back. These he calls the trembling fibres; and he asserts that the animal may be touched with safety in any other part. It is now known also, that there are more fish than this of the ray kind, possessed of the numbing quality, which has acquired them the name of the torpedo. These are decribed by Atkins and Moore, and found in great abundance along the coast of Africa. They are shaped like a mackerel, except that the head is much larger: the effects of these seem also to differ in some respects. Moore talks of keeping his hand upon the animal, which in the ray torpedo, it is actually impossible to do. "There was no man in the company," says he, "that could bear to keep his hand on this animal the twentieth part of a minute, it gave him so great pain; but upon taking the hand away, the numbness went off, and all was well again. This numbing quality continued in this torpedo even after it was dead; and the very skin was still possessed of its extraordinary powers till it became dry.". Condamine informs us of a fish possessed of the powers of the torpedo, of a shape very different from the former, and every way resembling a lamprey. This animal, if touched by the hand, or even with a stick, instantly benumbs the hand and arm to the very shoulder; and sometimes the man falls down under the blow. These animals, therefore, must affect the nervous system in a different manner from the former, both with respect to the manner and the intention; but

how this effect is wrought, we must be content to dismiss in obscurity.

CHAPTER IV.

OF THE LAMPREY, AND ITS AFFINITIES.

THERE is a species of the Lamprey served up as a great delicacy among the modern Romans, very different from ours. Whether theirs be the Muræna of the ancients I will not pretend to say; but there is nothing more certain than that our lamprey is not. The Roman lamprey agrees with the ancient fish in being kept in ponds, and considered by the luxurious as a very great delicacy.

The lamprey known among us is differently estimated, according to the season in which it is caught, or the place where it has been fed. Those that leave the sea to deposit their spawn in fresh waters are the best; those that are entirely bred in our rivers, and that have never been at sea, are considered as much inferior to the former. Those that are taken in the months of March, April, or May, just upon their leaving the sea, are reckoned very good, those that are caught after they have cast their spawn, are found to be flabby and of little value. Those caught in several of the rivers of Ireland the people will not venture to touch; those of the English Severn are considered as the most delicate of all other fish whatever.

The lamprey much resembles an eel in its general appearance, but is of a lighter colour, and rather a clumsier make. It differs however in the mouth, which is round, and placed rather obliquely below the end of the nose. It more resembles the mouth of a

leech than an eel; and the animal has a hole on the top of the head through which it spouts water, as in the cetaceous kind. There are seven holes on each side for respiration; and the fins are formed rather by a lengthening out of the skin, than any set of bones or spines for that purpose. As the mouth is formed resembling that of a leech, so it has a property resembling that animal, of sticking close to and sucking any body it is applied to. It is extraordinary the power they have of adhering to stones, which they do so firmly as not to be drawn off without some difficulty. We are told of one that weighed but three pounds, and yet it stuck so firmly to a stone of twelve pounds that it remained suspended at its mouth, from which it was separated with no small difficulty. This amazing power of suction is supposed to arise from the animal's exhausting the air within its body by the hole over the nose, while the mouth is closely fixed to the object, and permits no air to enter. It would be easy to determine the weight this animal is thus able to sustain, which will be equal to the weight of a column of air of equal diameter with the fish's mouth.

From some peculiarity of formation, this animal. swims generally with its body as near as possible to the surface; and it might easily be drowned by being kept by force for any time under water. Muralto has given us the anatomy of this animal; but, in a very minute description, makes no mention of lungs. Yet I am very apt to suspect, that two red glands tissued with nerves, which he describes as lying towards the back of the head are no other than the lungs of this animal. The absolute necessity it is under of breathing in the air, convinces me that it must have lungs, though I do not know of any anatomist that has described them.

The adhesive quality in the lamprey may be in