Book 7
95
But the torpedo, says Aristotle, is one of the cartilaginous and viviparous fish; and, to provide itself with food, it hunts after little fish, touching them, and causing them all to become torpid and motionless. And Diphilus of Laodicea, in his essay on the Theriaca of Nicander, says that it is not every part of the animal which produces this torpor, but only some particular parts of it; and he says that he has arrived at this fact by a long series of experiments. But Archestratus speaks of– A bold torpedo done in oil and wine, And fragrant herbs, and some thin grated cheese. Alexis, in his Galatea, says— I counsel you to season well and stuff Torpedos whole, and then to roast them thoroughly. And in his Demetrius he says— Then I took a torpedo, calculating If my wife touch'd it with her tender fingers That they would get no hurt from its backbone.
