THE BLOOD-SUCKING LEECHES.
1355
<le St . a j' 11 ' baring the summer months.
q l j(:s three epidemic disorders.
"Hh°ti Ll;Cri0N AND Commerce 0F Leeches. —Leeches may be caught^ le hand, or by a kind of net (described by Derheims), or by thelier e UeiS S°hig into the ponds with naked feet, to which the leeches ad-tHep ’ ? r lj y baits, especially the liver of animals. The two latterRath 0<iS are objectionable,—one because it is not free from danger to thethe Clers ’ ar) h the other because the bait is apt to injure the health of1 A || nin| al. An interesting and graphic account of the leech fishery atth e , ren ne, and of the miserable appearance of the fisherman who collectsh ajj , eec hes, by allowing them to attach themselves to his legs and feet,Pan C - en Published in the Gazette des Hopitaux. A translation of this/j! 18 given in Macculloch’s Diet , of Commerce.
(h an , ? nr . leches are imported from Hamburgh. The Hamburgh dealersof J , le ’ r supplies from the Ukraine . “ Having exhausted all the lakes
i v ^lbr- * -
uie now rolling
pe, the
gradually and implacably eastward, carrying
'all
b
4ath , . ^ ^ ., ....
an d desolation among the leeches in their course—sweeping^ em , till now they have got as far as Pultava , the pools andabout which are yielding them great captures.” (Bremner, Ex-he n \ ^ n ^ er ' lor of Russia , vol. ii. p. 408,1839.)
les are sometimes imported in bags, but more usually in smallto a j S ’. ea ch holding about 2000, the head being made of stout canvasgl a2 the air. The best vessels for preserving these animals are un-po s brown pans or wooden tubs. The dealers have a notion (and
a correct one) that the leaden glazing is injurious. These panstai n °e very little more than half filled with soft water (pond, river, orSUpp w ater). This does not require changing so often as is commonlyOr Q.? SC( b In very hot weather, or when the water has become bloody,°tlie r U rW ^ Sft muc h discoloured, it should be changed every day or so ;4 summer every four or five days or a week ; in winter, once
Tl) ' * s believed, by large dealers, to be sufficient,i "'as con sumption of leeches must be enormous. Some years ago it1 0no te< ^ biat four principal dealers in London imported, on the average,
t>. lon° ln °uthly, or 7,200,000 annually (Price, Treat.bffit'.q' o()q'' bhe (Cows d'Hist. Nat. t. i. p. 21) say:
on Sanguisuct.it is estimated
of p a ' , .' JU b,000 are annually consumed in Paris ; and as the populationis to that of the whole of France as one is to thirty-three, itfol-•tlig.ii a b uidependently of exportation, 100,000,000 are consumed an-\\ v -.^bich is equivalent to three leeches annually for each person,^"ll'li " e es bmate the average price at fifty francs per thousand, we"ticle aVe b* 0 enormous sum of five millions of francs paid for this one]\j 0 0l1 r materia medica.”
itis 0v 0t biting. —Having fixed on a suitable spot, the animal applies^te • a , bisk, and firmly fixes it (at first, perhaps, by atmospheric pres-"ith bten by intimate contact), so that the anterior end forms an anglethe s p le °ther portions of the body. The three cartilaginous jaws bearingS, u} > teeth are now stiffened and protruded through the tri-radiatehy a a gainst the skin, which they perforate, not at once, but gradually,de „ Savv -like motion. Dr. Johnson {Treat, p. 112), says, “ Ihejaws1 ‘ hif.p 1 ’ 1 '' 0 ' 1 from side to side in an oblique directionand adds,1 action may be seen by presenting to the leech a coagulum of