458 



LEECH, JOHN. 



way by its mandibles, gnawing the woody sub- 

 stance or other hard bodies which it meets 

 with in its course. Analogous perforations are 

 made by the mandibles of the Callidium san- 

 guineum. The reporters add : 



" If it is probable that it is always with their 

 mandibles that coleopterous as well as hymen- 

 opterous insects thus attack lead or other 

 hard bodies, it is not well established that it is 

 always the desire of liberty which prompts 

 them so to act. Indeed, in some cases, coleop- 

 terous insects have been seen to gnaw the 

 exterior of similar bodies." 



Eeference was made to a paper by Antonio 

 Berti on the perforation of leaden pipes by an 

 insect named Apate humeralis. 



Scheurer-Kestner, in 1861, communicated to 

 the French Academy a notice of the erosion by 

 an insect of the sheet lead of a new sulphuric 

 acid chamber. The creature was caught in the 

 act of escaping through the lead, having been 

 imprisoned between it and a wooden sup- 

 port. 



Perhaps the most interesting and important 

 case of insect erosion is that of stereotype 

 metal, which was communicated in 1843 by M. 

 du Boys to the Agricultural Society of Limoges. 

 Specimens riddled with holes were shown in 

 illustration. 



LEECH, Jonsr, an English artist and humor- 

 ist, born in London in 1817, died there October 

 29th, 1864. At an unusually early age he was 

 placed in the Charterhouse school, where he 

 remained eight years, having as schoolmates 

 Thackeray and others, subsequently distin- 

 guished in many ways. Upon leaving school, 

 in accordance with the wishes of his friends, he 

 commenced the study of medicine and surgery 

 in St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Although re- 

 maining there long enough to be qualified for a 

 doctor, he evinced no liking for the profession, 

 and, yielding finally to his own inclinations 

 toward art, essayed to draw on wood for publi- 

 cation. The establishment of " Punch " about 

 this time afforded an opportunity for the dis- 

 play of his ability, and thenceforth, until his 

 death, his name and genius are inseparably con- 

 nected with that periodical. It is an unques- 

 tionable fact, indeed, that " Punch " owes no 

 slight degree of its reputation to the humorous 

 and satirical, but ever kindly, pencil of Leech. 

 As an illustrator of "Punch," he looked into 

 every phase of life having ludicrous associa- 

 tions, travelled over many parts of Europe, and 

 his note-book, which was his never-failing com- 

 panion, recorded every characteristic face, and 

 every bit of composition, humor, or effect, 

 which he encountered, or which was suggested 

 to him. These notes often supplied themes, 

 or were used as occasion required, and the fer- 

 tile memory of the artist brought them forth. 

 Several thousand sketches, illustrating the poli- 

 tics, fashions, and follies of the day, testify to 

 tho industry of lite pencil and the fertility of 

 his invention ; and' the greater part of these, 

 though hastily thrown off, have high artistic 



merit as well as humor. In all his earliet 

 sketches the humor is paramount, and is ex- 

 pressed by means of that exaggeration of draw- 

 ing and character which distinguish the mere 

 caricaturist; but he gradually advanced to a 

 higher level, and at the time of his death 

 was in the full maturity of his powers. In one 

 aspect he takes rank above all contemporary 

 English artists, for he rescued his generation 

 from oblivion. " A collection of his works," 

 says a recent writer, " will be for our children's 

 children a record of our customs, our habits, 

 our fashions, our social relations, and even our 

 figures of speech. We shall speak again and 

 again through him to those who shall come 

 after us ; and in this view his versatility and 

 the multitude of his productions leave little 

 room for the regret that has sometimes been 

 expressed, that such rare faculties should not 

 have found a worthier medium for expression 

 than rough woodcuts in the pages of ' Punch.' " 

 He did not deal more happily with men and 

 women than with landscape, and some of his 

 backgrounds are replete with incident, light, 

 and shade, and even color in fact, are true pic- 

 tures in the best sense of the word. He owed 

 this result to his large as well as intricate knowl- 

 edge of effect and detail ; and whether he illus- 

 trated a street incident, a hunting field, or a 

 sporting scene, there was a graphic power and 

 a truthfulness in the design which impressed 

 the beholder quite as much as the humor. He 

 was in reality a part of much that he depicted, 

 being fond of fishing, riding, and athletic sports, 

 and capable of adapting himself to almost every 

 state of society in which circumstances might 

 place him. No one having knowledge of horse- 

 flesh can have failed to perceive how happily 

 he delineated horses of every condition, from the 

 thoroughbred to the knock-kneed, broken-down 

 hack, and in all possible attitudes ; how careful 

 were his studies of the anatomy of the animal, 

 and how truthful his details of its surroundings. 

 A similar habit of accuracy of detail was car- 

 ried into all his pictorial efforts. Leech was 

 not of a naturally vigorous constitution, and his 

 ceaseless labors as an illustrator began of late 

 years to tell upon him, until finally his whole 

 nervous system fell into a state of extreme irri- 

 tability, so that, at times, the slightest noise 

 caused him great suffering. He was about to 

 enjoy a period of much needed rest, which 

 might have prolonged his life many years, when 

 he was suddenly cut off by death. Apart from 

 his numerous designs for "Punch," several 

 series of which have appeared in separate pub- 

 lications, he illustrated the " Comic History of 

 England," the " Ingoldsby Legends," several of 

 Albert Smith's novels, and a variety of minor 

 works. He even experimented in oils, with a 

 view of producing a gallery of painted designs 

 from " Punch ; " but his efforts in that direc- 

 tion were not considered happy. As an author 

 he was known to his contemporaries by an oc- 

 casional paper in the periodical to which his 

 designs imparted such interest. For his picto- 



