| RefNo | AP/25/4 |
| Previous numbers | AP.25.4 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Unpublished paper, 'Miscellaneous observations on the torpedo' by John Davy |
| Date | 6 December 1840 |
| Description | Davy describes experiments made on a single fish, of middle size commonly known as electric ray, recently taken out of the water. Portions of the electrical organs, cut transversely in thin slices, showed under the microscope many elliptical particles, apparently blood corpuscles, the long diameter of which was about 1-800th, and the short about 1-1000th of an inch, and a few filaments, apparently nervous, irregularly scattered; some of them tortuous, and all about the 2000th of an inch in diameter. The latter bore no resemblance to muscular fibres. The blood contained some globular particles, having a diameter of the 4000th of an inch, mixed with the elliptical. The mucus for lubricating the surface was found to contain globules apparently homogeneous in substance, but of irregular outline, and in size varying from the 2000th to the 270th of an inch.
Annotations in pencil throughout.
Subject: Zoology / Ichthyology
Received 7 January 1841.
Written by Davy at Constantinople [Istanbul].
Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 4 of Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London [later Proceedings of the Royal Society] as 'Miscellaneous observations on the torpedo'. |
| Extent | 4p |
| Format | Manuscript |
| PhysicalDescription | Ink and graphite pencil on paper |
| Digital images | View item on Science in the Making |
| AccessStatus | Open |
| RelatedMaterial | DOI: 10.1098/rspl.1837.0149 |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA3369 | Davy; John (1790 - 1868); surgeon | 1790 - 1868 |