The Experiments of Ramón M. Termeyer SJ on the Electric Eel in the River Plate Region (c. 1760) and other Early Accounts ofElectrophorus electricus

2008/04/09 by Miguel de Asúa · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · Neuroscience · Engineering · #History of Medicine Studies #Historical and Literary Studies #Neurology and Historical Studies #Electrophorus #Meaning (existential) #Electricity #Biology #Philosophy #Electrical engineering #Engineering #Epistemology

paper · doi:10.1080/09647040601070325

openalex publication_date 2008/04/09 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

This paper focuses on Ramón M. Termeyer SJ (1737-1814?), a naturalist who experimented with the electric eel in the River Plate region during the 1760s. After going through an enumeration of the chroniclers that since the sixteenth century noticed the benumbing discharge of Electrophorus electricus, the article summarizes the work that immediately preceded Termeyer's and considers as a term of comparison the experiments on the electric eel performed by Bertrand Bajon (fl. 1751-1778) in the French Guyanne. It ends by discussing the meaning of Termeyer's 1781 and 1810 articles in the light of contemporary ideas of animal electricity.

Citations

• Animal electricity before Galvani
• X. Experiments and observations on the gymnotus electricus, or electric eel

Cited by

• Edward Bancroft’s “Torporific Eels”
• Luigi Galvani [wikipedia]

Related

• Edward Bancroft’s “Torporific Eels”
• Electric eels use high-voltage to track fast-moving prey
• Two Clinical Records of Human Injuries with a Death caused by Electric Eels Electrophorus spp. Gill, 1864
• Nesting and Paternal Care in the Weakly Electric Fish Gymnotus (Gymnotiformes: Gymnotidae) with Descriptions of Larval and Adult Electric Organ Discharges of Two Species
• Recherches sur la biologie d'un Sélacien du Golfe de Tunis, Torpedo torpedo Linné, 1758: Ecologie, sexualité, reproduction