Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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Notwithstanding These Considerations, It Appears To
Me Very Surprising That Shocks Of The Torpedo, Strong In Appearance,
Are Not Propagated To The Hand When A Very Thin Plate Of Metal Is
Interposed Between It And The Fish.
Schilling declared that the gymnotus approached the magnet
involuntarily.
We tried in a thousand ways this supposed influence of
the magnet on the electrical organs, without having ever observed any
sensible effect. The fish no more approached the magnet, than a bar of
iron not magnetic. Iron-filings, thrown on its back, remained
motionless.
The gymnoti, which are objects of curiosity and of the deepest
interest to the philosophers of Europe, are at once dreaded and
detested by the natives. They furnish, indeed, in their muscular
flesh, pretty good aliment; but the electric organ fills the greater
part of their body, and this organ is slimy, and disagreeable to the
taste; it is accordingly separated with care from the rest of the eel.
The presence of gymnoti is also considered as the principal cause of
the want of fish in the ponds and pools of the Llanos. They, however,
kill many more than they devour: and the Indians told us, that when
young alligators and gymnoti are caught at the same time in very
strong nets, the latter never show the slightest trace of a wound,
because they disable the young alligators before they are attacked by
them. All the inhabitants of the waters dread the society of the
gymnoti. Lizards, tortoises, and frogs, seek pools where they are
secure from the electric action.
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