Experience With An Electric Eel (1955)

Life seems to be full of questions, doesn't it? Where? What shall I have for breakfast? What am I going to do today? That is unless you're in the army and uh then a lot of those questions are answered for you. But seriously, all of us face questions, small or large, all of our lives. And unfortunately, there's a tendency for us to become so involved with the little questions that we let the big ones go unanswered. Questions like uh where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? The scientific age in which we live has answered a lot of questions. But it has also raised questions in the minds of a lot of people. questions and doubts concerning our heritage of faith in God. Questions that are vital to you and to me as individuals, to our nation, and to our civilization. Now, on this program, we make an honest effort to answer the questions that you send in, even though some of them get us into some pretty deep water. Here's one. It comes from a student. Says, "Dear Dr. Moon, my question is this. If God created all things and if God is perfect, why are there so many ugly creatures in nature? Well, that's a good question. And frankly, it's one that isn't too easy to answer. But part of the answer is in our point of view. Did you ever stop to consider what the animals in a zoo might think of the visitors to the zoo? It would be interesting to know, wouldn't it? Or if a flock of ducks had a beauty contest, do you suppose duck hunters would win any beauty prizes? No, I don't think so. Point of view is important. And maybe we can get a new point of view here in the laboratory. I'd like you to meet a friend of mine. His name is Lanaeus. Electrophorus Electricus Lanaeus. Here at the lab, we just call him Joe. He isn't exactly what you'd call a raving beauty, is he? But he has his points. For one thing, he's quite a swimmer. Notice the wave motion of the long vententral fin. As the waves travel toward the rear, the eel is propelled forward. Reverse, the waves travel toward the head. How about ascending and descending? Well, to ascend, he merely starts waves at the center, which go both ways. And to descend, the waves start at both ends and work toward the middle. Joe is commonly called an electric eel. But actually, it isn't an eel at all, but a fish of the carp or catfish family. Now, the eel part of his name may not be correct, but he sure came by the electric part. Honestly, there are stories of cattle, horses, even human beings being killed by the electric shock of eels just like this. In fact, along the Amazon River, ranchers have lost so many cattle that they have what they call electric eel drives. They herd the eels into shallow water and then uh they kill them with their machetes. Oh yes, they have insulated handles on the machetes. Now, of course, electrical impulses can't be seen. But if we put an electrode at each end of the tank, we can hear the electrical discharge on a loudspeaker. Now, those gentle pulses are part of the eel's radar system. In some mysterious way, he uses them to locate his food. Now, so far as we know, all adult electric eels are blind. They have heavy cataracts on their eyes. Now, eels feed on small fish, and if it weren't for this radar system, they'd starve to death. Now, when an eel locates a fish, or uh when he is disturbed, he puts out what we call the double whammy. This is a terrific shock that stuns anything in the water nearby. The only way you can describe Joe's table manners is to say that they're downright shocking. [Music] Now, the electric eel, unlike most fish, is an air breather. It must rise to the surface from time to time for air. For this reason, he can be quite comfortable out of water. Now, the vital organs of the electric eel are all in the front 10 in of his body. The rest is pure power plant flat. And believe it or not, he can generate more than 500 volts. Here we have a bank of 36 neon lamps. We'll connect these to uh our eel electrodes. Now, of course, the eel is designed to operate in water. His electrical system doesn't function too well in air. But even under these conditions, he should give us enough power to like the lights. For some reason, people seem to find it difficult to believe that a fish could put out any considerable amount of power. Even some of the folks here at the laboratory have been just a little bit skeptical about Joe's electrical prowess. And for that reason, we've asked a few of them if they wouldn't help us in an experiment. Will you have the group come in now, please? All right, Dave, you'd stand right over here, please. The rest of you just line up there. You're right over here, Mr. Humphrey. That's fine. Now, Dave, if you'll take this, please, and hold it in your right hand. Ly, you hold this one. That's fine. Now, everybody join hands. That's right. Now, you're connected in series. Now there are five of you. That means that each of you will receive just 1/5if of the total voltage of the eel. Now relax. We'll give you the low voltage tap first. You ready? >> Did you feel that? Wasn't bad, was it? >> Uh, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to have you meet a group of confirmed believers in electric eel. Thank you very much. Now, where did that electricity come from? Strange as it may seem, the eel's electric tissue is made up of cells very much like the cells that make up the nerves of our own bodies. These cells are called electropla. Here is a crude model of one of these cells. Actually, the electropla is a tiny battery 125th of an inch thick. Now in a flashlight there are three cells. Each cell generates 1 1/2 volts. Three of them in series produce the 4 1/2 volts necessary for the lamp. The EEL's battery produces 1/10enth of a volt. 10 of them in series will produce 1 volt. Well, at this rate, it would take 5,000 of these to produce the 500 volts of the eel. Well, he's got them and then some. An eel like Joe here probably has 250,000 electric cells. Connect them in series, 5,000 of them, and you have the 500 volts. The rest of them are connected in parallel to build up the current capacity. Now, each one of these tiny batteries has an electronic switch controlled by a signal sent along the nerve fiber connected to it. When an eel wants to shock something, it throws hundreds of thousands of switches all at once just by thinking about it. But what to me is even more amazing is that when Joe's battery is run down, he can recharge them, all of them, in just a thousandth of a second. That's quite a power plant, isn't it? The eel's electrical system is composed of three main parts. The first is called the large electric organ. This is the source of the eel's main voltage. Now, the function of this organ called the organ of Hunter is still somewhat of a mystery, although scientists believe that in some way it works with the large organ in producing the double whammy. This organ called the bundle of socks is to me the most wonderful. It has been definitely identified as the source of those mysterious radar pulses. In other words, this is the power plant for the eel's radar transmitter. Now, of course, a radar system must have a receiver. Also, do you notice those pits located in rows along the front part of the eel? The other night I was in New York City talking with Dr. Christopher Coats, director of the New York Zological Society. Dr. Coats is the world's foremost authority on electric eels. He performed an experiment recently that seems to indicate that those pits are a definite part of the eels radar receiving system. Now, if Joe is willing to cooperate, we can perform a similar experiment here. The problem is to render Joe's radar system temporarily inoperative. Now, if we paint these pits with an insulating liquid, and if these pits have anything to do with the radar apparatus, Joe will find it very difficult to locate a fish. Oh, he won't go hungry. This is a liquid that will wash off very rapidly. All right. So, let's go back into your tank. That's right. Come on out now. Like a good fellow. Now, we want to give him a good supply of fish. All right, Joe is surrounded by his favorite delicacy, baby trout. But for the next few moments, at least, those fish are just as safe as if there weren't an electric eel within a thousand miles. You see, Joe's radar is on the blink. Oh, his uh transmitter is working. All right. He's still putting out those radar pulses. Actually, it's his receiver that's not operating. Now, let's think for just a moment about what that means. To a certain extent, we can locate objects with our ears. We can tell roughly the direction from which a sound is coming. But you know, if I were blindfolded, I'd sure hate to try to catch a greased pig simply by listening to its squeal. But uh this problem compared to Joe's is relatively simple. You see, sound travels, 1100 ft per second in air. But Joe's radar pulses travel at the speed of light, 186,000 m per second. This means that an electric eels radar system must be able to interpret time difference that is less than 1 billionth of a second. This is so amazing as to be almost beyond belief. Well, Joe, you're quite a fellow. You may not win any beauty contests, but you've given us a lot to think about. And I hope a new point of view. You know, I'm not certain that we've gotten to the bottom of that first question yet. I think there's something more important than Joe's good looks involved. Let's go back and look at that question again. Maybe we overlook the important part. If God created all things and if God is perfect, why are there so many ugly creatures in nature? If God created all things, you know, that's a question in itself. Sometimes you can best answer a question by asking one. So, let's put it this way. If God didn't create all things, if God didn't create all things, where did Joe get his radar? Where did the electric eel get those hundreds of thousands of tiny batteries with their electronic switches and all the nerve fibers that are connecting them? In fact, where did electricity come from or life itself? So far as I know, the only answer is in the first 10 words of this book. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. In the beginning, God. You know, if you have trouble explaining the world around us, starting with God as a creator, just try explaining the world without God. If we go far enough seeking the answer to any question, eventually we'll reach the place where God is the only answer. Now, here's another question. Dear sir, it seems to me that the Christian faith is unscientific. The scientific method demands that we approach a subject without bias or preconceived ideas. But Christianity begins with a demand that we believe in a god we have never seen. How do you reconcile these facts? Now, in problems of this kind, there is a real danger in oversimplification. both in asking the question and in answering it. Some time ago, a gentleman came up to me and said, "Uh, Mr. Moon, I'd like to ask you a question. Do you believe there is a God?" I said, "Yes, I do." Then, with the air of one who had settled all the problems of the universe, he said, "Show him to me." Well, I said, "I'd like to ask you a question. Do you believe that you have brains?" He said, "Why, yes." And then, borrowing his same gesture, I said, "Show them to me." Well, now probably we were both guilty of oversimplification. You know, somehow I can't help but feel that there's more evidence in the world that there's a god than there is that that fellow has brains. Back to the letter. Maybe we have some oversimplification in the question. Speaks of the scientific method. Now, it's not easy to describe the scientific method in a single sentence. Whole volumes have been written on the subject. Here's one. It's called the principles of science. Described as a treatise on logic and the scientific method. There are chapters on deductive reasoning, disjunctive proposition, indirect method of inference, induction, combinations, permutations, theory of probability, philosophy of inductive inference, units, standards of measurement. To say the least, the scientific method is quite complicated. I suppose we could describe it roughly by saying that first we uh approach the facts without bias, without prejudice. As a second step, we develop a theory that seems adequate to explain those facts. And then the third step, we examine the theory. We test it in the light of knowledge that's been established in other realms of scientific investigation. You know, on the surface, it would seem that there's just no room for faith or belief in the scientific method. Perhaps this is the reason why some are so loud in their demands that we give up our faith in God is unscientific. But, you know, I'm not at all sure that faith is unscientific. If a mathematician were to start without a pretty good bias in favor of the general idea that 2 * 2 equals 4, he wouldn't get very far, would he? or if a physicist or a chemist didn't have faith in natural law, his accomplishments would be quite meager. Recently, I spent several months over in the Middle East. During the time I was there, I made two trips down into Egypt. Both occasions, I visited the Great Pyramids of Giza. Now, I didn't happen to meet the gentleman who built those pyramids. I understand they haven't been around for several thousand years. But the fact that I hadn't seen them did not uh cause me to develop the theory that uh they didn't exist. That the pyramids uh just happened. That those great blocks of stone all just happened to be the right size and the right shape. That they arranged themselves in that form purely by accident. If I developed such a theory, you wouldn't think I was very scientific, would you? No, I'm not certain at all that faith is unscientific. If we take an object that we say is heavier than air and drop it, it falls to the floor. We don't argue about it. We say that's the law of gravity. This book now tells us that uh faith is the law of man's relationship to God. Well, you say, "But you can test that with the book." I dare you to test this. I dare you to try the scientific method in regard to your relationship to the God that made you. Approach the facts and the evidence without bias, without preconceived ideas, and then make an honest test. You'll have your answer. It'll be far more convincing than any answer that I or anyone else could ever give you. Now, I hope we have time for just one more question. Says, "Dear Dr. Moon, I have several friends who are religious. While I respect their sincerity, I find them rather smug and unreasonable in their faith. Should we not keep an open mind on every subject? Well, I think the answer is yes. We should keep an open mind on every subject, certainly until we get the facts. Of course, I don't think that the writer of this letter would have any objection to firm convictions, so long as those convictions were wellounded. Do you remember those people in the laboratory a minute ago that had that shocking experience with the electric eel? I imagine that just about now they have a very strong bias in favor of the general idea that electric eels can shock people. Well, they may not trust me again for a while, but I'll guarantee this. They'll be confirmed believers in electric eels the rest of their lives because of the reality of a personal experience. Now, these friends of yours, you say they seem smug and unreasonable in their faith. Have you ever considered this? Maybe they seem smug and unreasonable merely because they are thoroughly convinced because of the reality of a personal experience with God. An experience which you may not have had. Maybe their minds seem closed merely because once they were truly opened. Now, we've chosen these particular questions for a very special reason. It's because these questions were once very real to me. As long as I can remember, I've had a consuming interest in science. And as I got a smattering of knowledge and few scientific fields, I began to doubt, wondering even if there was a God. I was continually torn between doubt and faith. Finally, I got to the place where I I felt I just had to know. And at that time I prayed this prayer. Oh, it was a confused prayer. I know that. But I said, "God, if there be a God, I've got to know. And if believing is the way to know, I'm willing to believe." And then I made this promise. I said, "God, if this doesn't work, if this doesn't change my life, I'll spend my life just as far away from a church and a Bible as I can get. But if it does work, I'll spend my life telling others about it. That's why I'm telling you. It's because he that believeth on us have everlasting life.