The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-01-31

ing in the hut just across from mine. 1 Discovering at a glance that the child was not being tortured to death, as l had at first supposed from the noise he 1 made. Ioked to see the cause for his ! Outcry. A large tub was standing in front of the hut, and every few minutes the child would put his hand into this, immediately afterward jump ing back and emitting another squeal. While was standing there and won dering what was the matter with him, his mother came out of the hut, and, picking him up in her arms, soused i him into the tub, causing him to emit ! most ear splitting howls and make frantic efforts to chamber out. Curious to learn the cause of this strange pro- ceedings, crossed over and looked ifl- to the tub, from whicn the mother had by this time removed the boy, and was surprised to see swimming around in 1t a fish about about foot and half in length. Looking closer at it, sudden Iy recognized it to be what the natives called a thunder fish, and which Is known to scientists as the malapterus, l one of the sildridae, or catfishes.
 This fish possesses the remarkable property of being able to give an in- ] tense electric shock to any animate body which it touches, and on inquiry of the mother I found that it was a common custom with them whenever a child was ailing to secure one of these fishes and compel the little one to play with it, or place the sick one in the tub so that it would come in contact with the live wire-I should say live fish.
 I Unlike most os the electric fishes, which have their electric organ situa- ted in mass of muscle, this animal has his in his skin, which is quite thick and throughout which are found some- 1 times as many as four millions plates 4 arranged essentially as in a galyanic pile. e..
 While on the subject of electric fish es must tell you about curious thing I saw once while collecting specimens along one of the tributaries of the Or inoco in South America. I had sat down to rest on the fallen trunk of a \ tree, half Of which was. lying in the water, and was half asleep, when a slight splashing along the bank at tracted my notice, and the collecting instinct, which is over strong, caused ! me at once to become all attention. Casting my eye along the waters edge, noticed the head of a small animal, which had evidently just plunged into the water. and was swimming toward I the sunken end of the log upon which was sitting. Just as he had covered about two-thirds of the distance I was surprised to see a long, slender white body rise in the air alongside the 4 swimmer, and apparently coil itself ! around the animal in less time than I take to tell it. At this moment the a hitherto unsuspecting animal saw its 4 danger, but it was then too late, for I saw the coil tighten, and with a fran J tic yell the animal rolled over on its I back as though a bolt of lightning had struck it. Very much surprised at such a remarkable occurrence. and be- ing curious to learn the cause of it, I Y at once picked up my shotgun and I filled the animals snakelike body with al fine shot. I then plunged in and brought both ashore. and saw then that the animal had virtually been killed by bolt of lightning, for the l creature which had attacked 1t was the < gymnotus, or electric eel, which is N quite common in those waters.
 "The gymnotus is probably the best known ot the electric fishes. It pos sesses four batteries which extendfrum { behind the pectoral, or forward, fin to l the extremity of the tail The batter l ies consist of a number of piles placed I horizontally in a direction from head 1 to tail, and have been aptly compared to gaIvanic troughs. The current pass es from before backward, and, remark able to relate. passes through the ani- malls own brain. &
 You have doubtless heard how the Indians dare not cross South American streams which are infested by these creatures, and therefore adopt the ex- pedient of driving in their horses, upon which the els fasten and exhaust themselves in a vain effort to kill them. When exhausted they are unable through failure of the central nerve or gan, to discharge the organ, and the Indians then cross in safety.
 $I AtIOlHeE tltCtTtU 5ltsil ID tIiG LoEptuO, j a flat fish closely allied to the family I of skates and rays, and often termed the electric ray. I have, caught many of these in the waters surrounding Key 1 West, Fla. and in the West Indies l The urchins of Key West frequently catch them. and take great delight in persuading unsuspecting tourists tc touch the min order to see the fish jump, with the result that the tourist generally does the jumping. -.
 This animal is the only one with electric organs which exercise all the other known powers of electricity; they render the needle magnetic. deeompose chemical compounds and emit tho spark.
 "The animal sometimes attain to g width of from two to. three feet, and specimens Of that size are competent
 to disable by single discharge a full. grown man. The creature has two bat
 teries, which occupy the two space.
 tween the pectoral fins, the head ant
 gills. Each battery consists of quan
 tity of prisms, which vary in numbers from four hundred to upward of on,
 thousand, depending upon the age O
 the animal. According to observation
 the upper surface of the fish is positiv,
 and the abdominal surface negative ! a1.