The Role of The Gentleman's Magazine in the Dissemination of Knowledge About Electric Fish in the Eighteenth Century |
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Authors: | Stanley Finger Ian Ferguson |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Psychology , Washington University , St. Louis, MO, USA sfinger@wustl.edu;3. Department of Psychology , Washington University , St. Louis, MO, USA |
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Abstract: | Although torpedoes and Malopterurus, a Nile catfish, had been described and even used medically in antiquity, their discharges were poorly understood before the second half of the eighteenth century. It was then that their actions, along with those of certain South American “eels,” became firmly associated with electricity. The realization that an animal could produce electricity marked a turning point in the history of neurophysiology, which had long described nerve actions with recourse to animal spirits. By examining The Gentleman's Magazine during the period when electric fish were becoming electrical, one can begin to appreciate how new discoveries about these unusual creatures captured the imagination of scientists and were filtered down to the literate public. |
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Keywords: | electric fish electric eel Gymnotus electricus Electrophorus electricus torpedo Nile catfish Malopterurus electricus The Gentleman's Magazine Edward Cave John Walsh John Hunter Henry Cavendish Benjamin Franklin Jan Ingenhousz Edward Bancroft John Pringle Hugh Williamson Alexander Garden Ferchault de Réaumur |
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