ECORD: Darwin, C. R. 1848.02. Owen says that there is organ in Ray's Tail. CUL-DAR205.5.124. Edited by John van Wyhe (Darwin Online, http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and edited by John van Wyhe 1.2023. RN1
NOTE: See record in the Darwin Online manuscript catalogue, enter its Identifier here. Reproduced with permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library and William Huxley Darwin. The volume CUL-DAR205.5 contains notes on the principle of divergence, transitional organs and instincts.
[124]
Feb. /48/ Owen says that there is organ in Ray's Tail anatomically certainly like electrical organ; but Matteucci cd not perceive trace of electrical emission.—
[Origin, p. 192-3: "The electric organs of fishes offer another case of special difficulty; it is impossible to conceive by what steps these wondrous organs have been produced; but, as Owen and others have remarked, their intimate structure closely resembles that of common muscle; and as it has lately been shown that Rays have an organ closely analogous to the electric apparatus, and yet do not, as Matteuchi asserts, discharge any electricity, we must own that we are far too ignorant to argue that no transition of any kind is possible."]
Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
File last updated 5 March, 2023