South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1917-01-03
Stronge Animals
Weld Lightning,
The Electric EeLs

Ally uOug WIN uONbNo AAC NAASN-
ence OF electric cells" would get a
mental. as well as physical shock
If he should happen TO take hold OF
one OF those animals while IL was
alive. especially II he got both
hands upon il.
II is true, however, that this
wonderful animal is not a member
OF the eel family. II gets its popu-
lar name simply from its resem-
blance in form 10 an eel. It's ZOO
logical name is Gymnotus electricus.
Its best known places Of residence
is in the swamps and marshes of
Guiana and Brazil, where IL haunts
the pools. Ordinarily II is about
three feet long, but individuals are
said 10 exist having a length of six
or seven feet. So powerful is the
electric shock from the gymnotus
that it will knock down a man. and
kill small animals outright.
The famOues philosophical trav-
eler, Humboldt. who wrote the best
of all travellers stories because he
studied and explained the things he
saw. found that the South Ameri-
can Indians liked electric cells as
food, and TO capture the dangerous
creatures they drove the horses into
the pools in order that the eels
might temporarily exhaust their
electric charges in repeated attacks
upon the horses. The cells lost their
courage with their power. and
lurked helpless about the banks.
where they could then be safely
harpooned.
Humboldt says that there were
localities where the electric cells
were so numerous that the courses
of roads passing through flooded
marshes had to be changed. Even
horses were sometimes felled by
the shocks. The appearance of a
gymnOtus is alone enough 20 impart
a shock to sensitive persons, for al
though only a yard in length its
body is as thick as a mans thigh.
The electric organs consisting of
modified muscles of the body, the
rear end being electrically positive
and the front end negative, and the
current passes from tail to head,
through a series Of between 200 and
soc superposed cells or plates
The gymnotus is not the only
electrical animal. and there is a
branch of biological science called
electro physiology" which deals
specially with the electric organs
of living creatures AS already in
timated these organs are made up
of modified froms of muscle actu-
ated, like ordinary muscles, through
the nervous system.
Aside from the underlying mys-
terry of all life action, there is moth
ing wonderful about the electric
organs, for the muscles of any ami
NAL exhibit slight electrical dis
turbance when in the act of con-
traction. and it seems rather sur
prising that the ability 10 impart
electric shocks is not more widely
distributed through the animal
kingdom There are circumstances
in which a man would give much TO
possess the power of the gymnOtus,
or the torpedo.
The torpedo, which has lent it's
name TO one OF the most fearful Of
iHOueTh weapons VI wall DtlOHSS u
the family of the rays, or skates,
found widely distributed around the
Atlantic. Poetic and Indian oceans,
and also in the Mediterranean sea.
II is as powerful as the gymnotus.
and its electrical organ, although
differing in the details of structure,
is essentially the same in kind.
There must be two points Of con-
tact between the torpedo and the
object that receives its shock, 9TH
erwise the electric circuit will not
be completed. But the animal can
be depended upon 10 make an ef-
fective contact, for il uses it's cleo
trical weapon continually, both for
defense and for aggression. stun
ming it's prey before beginning to
feed upon it, The shock may be
communicated without direct con-
tact with the torpedo through some
electrically conducting body. In
the torpedo the upper surface of the
electric organ is positively charged
and the lower, or belly, surface
negatively.
II we ourselves had electric power
We SnOOiO nnO nOlnlnS SuTprlSlnB
about the torpedo and the gymno-
tus. but, possessing none, we read
with some feeling of establishment
that these creatures can set in ac-
ton electric currents that exhibit
every quality of those known TO us
through our experiments. They will
emit a spark, magnetic a needle,
and decompose chemical COM
pounds. In other words, an electric
eel become a man would be a liv-
ing. walkin. talking telegraph sta
ton. electro plating establishment
and electric execution chair. Give
gymnotus. or a torpedo, a brain
com para bic with ours and IL might
distance us in this electro ma ghetto
age.
There are other electric fishes be-
sides those named, such as the
electrical catfish" found i'm the
river Nile. and the significantly
named "cramp-fish," species Of
torpedo found on the Atlantic coast.
and which, il is said. sometimes at
tains a weight OF 200 pounds OF
the wonders OF creation there is no
end,
HOPELESS.