Gleanings from the natural history of the ancients / by the Rev. W.Houghton.
- Houghton, W. (William), 1829?-1897.
- Date:
- [1879]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Gleanings from the natural history of the ancients / by the Rev. W.Houghton. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![“ They rub themselves against rocks, and their scrapings come to life; they have no other mode of propagation.” The electrical properties of the Toijjedo, or Numb-fish, the Electric Eay, were in effect known to the ancients. By the Greeks it was called by the appropriate name of narke {vdpKT]), “the benumbing fish.” Thus Meno, in Plato, accuses Socrates of resembling “ both in form and other respects, the broad marine narke, for this fish benumbs the man who approaches and touches it; and you appear to have done to me the same thing; for in truth I am benumbed, both in mind and mouth, and I don’t know how to answer you.” Aristotle rightly says—“The narke stupefies any fish it may desire to master by the peculiar force which it has in its body, and then takes and feeds on it; it lies con- cealed in mud and sand, and captures the fishes as they swim over it, after it has be- numbed them : of this fact many persons have been witnesses. The narke has also benumbed](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24850044_0242.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
