allic
conductors, which he permitted them to do with indifference. It is worthy
of observation, that this is the only specimen of the Gymnotus Electricus
ever brought over alive into this country. The great secret of preserving
his life would appear to consist in keeping the water at an even
temperature--summer and winter--of seventy-five degrees of Fahrenheit. After
having been subjected to a great variety of experiments, the creature is
now permitted to enjoy the remainder of its days in honorable peace, and
the only occasion upon which he is now disturbed, is when it is found
necessary to take him out of his shallow reservoir to have it cleaned,
when he discharges angrily enough shock after shock, which the attendants
describe to be very smart, even though he be held in several thick and
well wetted cloths, for they do not at all relish the job.

The Gymnotus Electricus is not the only animal endowed with this very
singular power; there are other fish, especially the Torpedo and Silurus,
which are equally remarkable, and equally well known. The peculiar
structure which enters into the formation of their electrical organs, was
first examined by the eminent anatomist John Hunter, in the Torpedo; and,
very recently, Rudolphi has described their structure with great exactness
in the Gymnotus Electricus.

Without entering into minute details, the peculiarity of the organic
apparatus of the Electrical Eel seems to consist in this, that it is
composed of numerous _laminae_ or thin tendinous partitions, between which
exists an infinite number of small cells filled with a thickish gelatinous
fluid. These strata and cells are supplied with nerves of unusual size,
and the intensity of the electrical power is presumed to depend on the
amount of nervous energy accumulated in these cells, whence it can be
voluntarily discharged, just as a muscle may be voluntarily contracted.
Furthermore, there are, it would appear, good reasons to believe that
nervous power (in whatever it may consist) and electricity are identical.
The progress of science has already shown the identity between heat,
electricity, and magnetism; that heat may be concentrated into
electricity, and this electricity reconverted into heat; that electric
force may be converted into magnetic force, and Professor Faraday himself
discovered how, by reacting back again, the magnetic force can be
reconverted into the electric force, and _vice versa_; and should the
identit