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Alexander von Humboldt: „The Gymnotus, or Electrical Eel“, in: ders., Sämtliche Schriften digital, herausgegeben von Oliver Lubrich und Thomas Nehrlich, Universität Bern 2021. URL: <https://humboldt.unibe.ch/text/1819-Baron_Humboldts_Personal_Heft1-29-neu> [abgerufen am 26.04.2024].
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| Titel | The Gymnotus, or Electrical Eel | ||||
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| Jahr | 1849 | ||||
| Ort | Buffalo, New York | ||||
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Nachweis in: Buffalo Commercial Advertiser 15:4596 (18. September 1849), S. [2].
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| Sprache | Englisch | ||||
| Typografischer Befund | Antiqua; Spaltensatz; Auszeichnung: Kursivierung, Kapitälchen. | ||||
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Statistiken
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Several species of fish, particularly the ray, areknown to possess the power of giving, at will,electrical shocks, of greater or less intensity.—The Gymnotus, or Electrical Eel, that has thispower in the highest degree, abounds in many ofthe rivers of tropical South America, especially inthe Oroonoke, the Amazon and the rivers ofDutch Guiana, whence most of the specimensthat have been seen in this country and Europehave been procured. Humboldt, in the personalnarrative of his travels in the Equinoctial regionsof this continent during the years 1799 and 1804,gives a very minute account of experiments hemade with electrical eels he obtained at Calabozo,a small town in the Llanos, or Plains of Venezu-la, that border the Oroonoko. The basins of stag-nant water in that vicinity were full of the eels,but the natives have so great a dread of theirshocks that they were very reluctant to catchthem, and as for catching them with nets, thatwas almost impossible, on account of the extremeagility of the fish, which bury themselves in themud like serpents. The travelers were unwillingto employ any intoxicating drugs, that are some-times used in taking fish, as the eels would there-by be benumbed and lose much of their electri-cal power. The Indians professed to believe thatthe eels could be handled with impunity by aperson chewing tobacco, but their faith was notstrong enough to induce them to subject it to apractical test. The enterprising travelers were,however, determined to get some of the eels, andfinally the Indians told them that they would “fishwith horses.” “We found it difficult,” saysHumboldt, “to form an idea of this extraordinarymanner of fishing; but we soon saw our guidesreturn from the Savannah, which they had beenscouring for wild horses and mules.” About thirtyof these animals were forced to enter the pool,and the scene that ensued is thus described:“The extraordinary noise caused by the horses’hoofs makes the fish issue from the mud, and ex-cites them to combat. These yellowish and livideels, resembling large aquatic serpents, swim on thesurface of the water, and crowd under the bellies ofthe horses and mules. A contest between animalsof so different an organization furnishes a very strik-ing spectacle. The Indians, provided with har-poons and long slender reeds, surrounded the poolclosely, and soon climb upon the trees, the branchesof which extend horizontally over the surface of thewater. By their wild cries, and the length of theirreeds, they prevent the horses from running away,and reaching the bank of the pool. The eels, stunn-ed by the noise, defend themselves by the repeateddischarge of their batteries. During a long timethey seem to prove victorious. Several horses sinkbeneath the violence of the invisible strokes, whichthey receive from all sides in organs the most es-sential to life, and stunned by the force and fre-quency of the shocks, disappear under the water.—Others panting, with mane erect, and haggard eyes,expressing anguish, raise themselves, and endeavorto flee from the storm by which they are overtaken.They are driven back by the Indians into the mid-dle of the water but a small number succeed ineluding the active vigilence of the fishermen. Theseregain the shore, stumbling at every step, andstretch themselves on the sand, exhausted with fa-tigue, and their limbs benumbed by the electricshocks of the Gymnoti.”“In less than five minutes two horses weredrowned. The eel, being five feet long, and press-ing itself against the belly of the horses; makes adischarge along the whole extent of its electric or-gan. It attacks at once the heart, the intestines,and the plexus cœliacus of the abdominal nerves. Itis natural, that the effect felt by the horses shouldbe more powerful, than that produced upon manby the touch of the same fish at only one of hisextremities. The horses are probably not killed,but stunned. They are drowned from the impossi-bility of rising amid the prolonged struggle betweenthe other horses and the eels.”“We had little doubt that the fishing would ter-minate by killing successively all the animals en-gaged, but by degrees the impetuosity of this une-qual combat diminished, and the wearied Gymnotidispersed. They require a long rest, and abundantnourishment, to repair what they have lost of gal-vanic force. The mules and horses appear lessfrightened, their manes are no longer bristled, andtheir eyes express less dread. The Gymnoti ap-proach timidly the edge of the marsh, where theyare taken by means of small harpoons fastened tolong cords. In a few minutes we had five large eels,the greater part of which were but slightly wounded.”The temperature of the water in which theseeels live is about 80°. Their electric force di-minishes, it is said, in colder waters, though theywill live in such. They are the longest of theelectrical fishes. Some of those obtained atCalabozo measured five feet three inches in length,and were three inches and a half through. Theirskin is constantly covered with a mucous matter,which, as Volta has proved, conducts electricitytwenty or thirty times better than pure water.—No electrical fish yet discovered has scales. TheGymnoti are fond of breathing air on the surfaceof the water, but, unlike the common eels whichoften wander a part of the night on the grass, soondie if thrown upon the ground. Their brain,electrical organs and muscles, are supplied withan extraordinary amount of arterial blood. It isdangerous to expose one’s self to the first shocks ofa very large and strongly irritated gymnotus.Humboldt says he does not remember havingever received from the discharge of a large Leydenjar, a more dreadful shock, than he experiencedby imprudently placing both his feet on a gymnotusjust taken out of the water. He was affected therest of the day with a violent pain in the knees,and in almost every joint. In Dutch Guianaelectrical eels were formerly employed to cure theparalytic, as in old times, among the Greeks, thetorpedo, with a much less electrical power, wasused for the same purpose. Gymnoti are neithercharged conductors, nor batteries, nor electro-motive apparatuses, the shock of which is re-ceived every time they are touched. The electricaction of the fish depends entirely on its will,sometimes suffering itself to be handled gentlywithout giving any indication of its peculiarpowers, and at others discharging its batteries onthe least touch. It has the power also of actingtoward the point of greatest irritation. For in-stance two persons may have hold of the samefish, and one by pressing too hard may receive asevere shock, while the other experiences nosensation. A still more remarkable power itpossesses is that of darting and directing its strokeagainst an object at some distance from it. Inthis way it often kills small fish. Although usual-ly very prompt to resent any irritation by exertingits electrical powers, it will sometimes struggleviolently with a person holding it by the tail with-out communicating any shock. Humboldt madea slight incision in one, near the pectoral fin, andgalvanized the wound by the contact of two piecesof zinc and silver. The gymnotus bent itself con-vulsively, and raised its head out of water, as ifaffrighted by a sensation altogether new, but novibration was felt in the hands which held themetals.The gymnoti are called electrical eels, and pro-bably with propriety, but the electrical power theypossess differs some what from common electricity.Resinous substances, very dry wood, horn, bones,&c., generally believed to be good conductors,prevent the action of the gymnoti from beingtransmitted to man. When a chain is formed byseveral persons holding each others’ hands, andone of them touches the fish, the shock is some-times felt by all simultaneously, while it some-times happens that the shock, even when mostsevere, is felt alone by the person in immediatecontact with the fish. The belief is popularlyentertained that the gymnoti are involuntarily at-tracted by the loadstone, and some very respec-table scientific authority can be cited in support ofthis belief. Humboldt says he tried in a thousandways this pretended influence of the magnet onthe electrical organs, without having ever observ-ed any sensible effect. Iron fillings thrown on theback of the fish remained motionless. The fleshof the fish is sometimes eaten, but it is not muchesteemed. Wherever the gymnoti abound, theyare considered great nuisances. They kill manymore fish than they devour, and all the inhabitantsof the water, such as lizards, tortoises, and frogs,dread their society, and will, if possible, avoidtheir companionship by seeking other pools.—They are even capable of disabling young alli-gators. In one river near Uritucu it becamenecessary to change the direction of a road, be-cause the eels were so numerous that every yearthey killed a great number of mules of burden asthey forded the water.
The Gymnotus, or Electrical Eel.