in 



LEET. 



tfcmbtUBg: al*o U ipaxi. **H. or viwjr b. 



to on the *pot to which 



,,aW.tfcnuioUloiii-lw.toit Th. "bteao* 

 LTt.? *4 Mm to hiwUr HMO (.on biting, and alao from 

 to ick up UM fluid, on which account they abould 

 . Th.Uaah-Aouldb.Ukcn out of thowatw. 

 for torn, tim. over a dry warm cloth ; in the 

 wher. it i* intended to apply them should be 

 ,,lh j*m (not perfurnsd) nap and water, then with water 

 i uulkor porter. It i* difficult to tuake them fix 

 _ icularspot wishwi; but a Usch-gUus will gen* 

 rally teet this, and u preferable to holding the leech in the hand. 

 WhM ttttf still rafuM to bit., slightly punoturing the part with any 



J -trunwnt. ao aa to eaiu. a litUe blood to ooae out, u a useful 



t ; or if w. pluck a father from the wing of any bird, and, 

 the eod, allow the liquid contained in it to be dropped on 



low, afterwards with 



_* *not. th. leech will bite readily. 



When the leech ha* dro ped off, it should be aeimed by the tail or 

 Tirrt.1 ,^1 Mid striped between the finger and thumb, so aa to cause 

 i* to dMun. moat uf th. blood. It ia proper to allow it to retain 

 third of the blood. Thia ia preferable to applying salt or vinegar 

 to th. month. It ahould then be placed in many successive fresh 

 water*, aad it may perbapa aurvive, and after many months be 

 again nt for uae. In winter, it ahould be put at first into tepid or 

 juke- warm water ; for though tttd-Uoodtd iteelf , ita body has been 

 filled with blood of a temperature of nearly, or perhapa above, 

 10u' Fahr. 



When no expedient ia had recourse to, in order to maintain the flow 

 of blood, it |cMraUy atop, apontaneoualy ; but in aome ease* it con- 

 tinual much longer than U proper. Where the blood ia either deficient 

 in coagulating power, aa happen* in many weak peraona, or when it i in 

 a rery alkaleawnt aUte, and the albumen in too dilute a condition, or 

 owing to th. very vascular state of the akin of children, the hiemo- 

 nhag. ia often troubleaum., and in the case of children, who do not 

 bear well the IOM of a Urge quantity of blood, sometimes fatal. The 

 object of any remedial means ia to form a coagulum, or plug, at the 

 mouth of the Uaeding veawla. A weak solution of creosote applied to 

 the part will generally eflect thu, or felt scraped from a hat, or gum in 

 powoer, or flmir, or the dust of the puff-boll (lyoo|>erHon or bovista , or 

 the application of a compress and bandage, tv ing a ligature, or touching 

 the wounds with lunar caustic. The patient should at the game time 

 dnnk a saturated solution of alum, or take dilute sulphuric acid out of 

 Try cold water. 



In. increasing scarcity of leeches renders their preservation and 

 propagation object* of primary importance. The death of a vast 

 number of leeches ia occasioned by errors in the method of keeping 

 than. Though aquatic animals, it u not enough that they be supplied 

 with water. They bmthe by their entire surface, and are accustomed 

 to change their skin every four or five days. Their body is covered, 

 Uk that of all animal* and plants which inhabit the water, by a slimy 

 or mucilaginous fluid, which not only enables them to glide through 

 th. water, but keeps an aerial stratum in close contact with their 

 respiring surface. When present in a limited degree, this mucous 

 secretion U highly serviceable to them ; in excess, it ia destruutive. 

 :npo*sible for them to diminish it when it has accumulated. <>r to 

 denude IhsnaMlrat entirely of their old akin, in water only. They 

 must have some resisting body to creep over or through in order to 

 oeompUsh this object. Home leech-dealeia keep clay at the bottom of 

 th. troughs, Vud though thin is useful as a niaur.nl in which the 

 I oaa borrow in warm weather (by which they are always more 



injured than hy ol<l, if not intense ; and it i their habit to r, treat to 

 th. d<iyst waters of their native rivers or ponds in summer), it in 

 madsiiiMt* to the end. The best method teems the following reoom- 

 BModed hy Fee :- 



Into a marble or rtone trough a layer of seven inches of a mixture of 

 mo**, turf, at d charcoal of woixl ia u> be put, and some small pebbles 

 placed aloT* it ; at one extremity of the trough, and midway I etween 

 the button and the top, place a thin plate of marble p.erced with 

 Bumsfous small bole, u|>on which there should rest a stratum of moss 

 or portions of the iquiaetum puluntre, or horse-tail, firmly compressed 

 by a stratum nf pebble*. The trough to be replenished with water 

 osily so high that the moss and pebble* ahould be l>ut 

 moistened. A doth M to be kept over the mouth of the trough. 

 This is imitating aa near as possible their natural condition, and the 

 charcoal not only aids in keeping the water sweet, but appears to 

 prevent the leeches being attacked by parasitic animals, to which they 

 ar* very liable. The water should be changed about once a week, and 

 more frequently in warm weather. 



have not been observed to propagate when kept In (mall 

 of water, but in large reservoir*, having a body of turf and 

 roalM., and the aides well furnished with clay, in which to deposit the 

 OBMOS, Dr. Noble of Venailles has succeeded in procuring young 

 one*. It ha* aUo been ascertained in Krtnce that !<< ch- 

 b*n used, if rr i r natural haunt*, propagate abundantly, 



and abw bscum* ca able of U ing again applied after eight or tw.-.ve 

 months' stay in UUM oungcnial qiurtera. 



Th. gnat extent to which the trad, in leeches is carried on render* 

 U*nUuu to this subject of paramount importance. Four only of the 

 in London used to import 7,200,000 annually, and in 



Paris 3,000.000 are used. But in England the consumption of leeches 

 is nuw (I860) very greatly dimini-' 



Leeches have sometimes been swallowed ; and in Syria and other 

 places a small leech u sometimes drunk with the waters of the pools, 

 and by adhering to the throat causes great suffering. Salt or \ 

 u the best mean* of dislodging them. Besides the* Syrian loecues, 

 there is in Ceylon, the lower range of the Himalayan Hills, P.itavia, 

 :.v.l other islands a land-leech (U-c.adipHt Cei/l *iaa, BUM.) which is of 

 .i formidable nature, not from its size, " for they arc only about an 

 inch in length, and as fine as a common knitting-needle ; but capable 

 of distension till they equal a <|iiill in thickness, and attain a length of 

 nearly two inches. Their structure is so flexible that they can 

 insinuate themselves through the meshes of the finest st.nkii 



/.nt; on the feet and ankles, but ascending to the back and 

 throat, and fastening on the tenderest parts of the body. The coffee 

 planters, who live among these peeta, are obliged, in order to exclude 

 them, to envelope their legs in leech-gaiters' made of closely v. 

 cloth. The natives smear their bodies with oil, tobacco a hes, or 

 lemon-juice; the latter not only serving to stop the flow of blood, but 

 to expedite the healing of the wounds. These creatures are gregarious, 

 and make their attacks in concert, with such well directed tactic*, that 

 it is difficult to elude them." 'Ceylon,' by Sir. I. E. Teniu-nt, vol. i. 

 p. 801 of 2nd edition. In the same island, a cattle-leech (tl<t<, 



., ) is most formidable to cattle which go to drink in the ponds 

 frequented by them. They are very insidious, and their bite at tiret 



tie pain, but the consequences are often fatal. (Ibid p. 

 These are probably the same as are mentioned by Winy ( Hist. Xatur.' 

 viii. 10 ) as distressing the ehphanU. 



(Johnson On the Sedi ; Brandt and Katzeburg, Gttreve 



DantrU-itiff der Thiere ; and Mr. Pereira's Mat. McJ.) 



LEET is the precinct or district within the cognisance or subject to 

 the jurisdiction of a court-leet. Sometime* the Urm is used to d 

 the court itself, the full style of which is " the court leet and view of 

 frank-pledge." The court-leet U also called n law-day, aa being the 

 ordinary tribunal. 



I. Origin of the Court-leet. 



One of the least improbable derivations of the word " leet " seemt to 

 b that which deduces lath and leet from the Anglo-Saxon ' lathian," 

 or " gelathian," to assemble ; both lath and leet indicating, under 

 different modifications, a district within which the free male resiauU 

 (residents) or iudwellers assembled at stated times, u well lor prepa- 

 ration for military defence as for purposes of police and criminal juris- 

 diction. Of the first of these object* scarcely any trace eiisu in the 

 modern leet The title of the court as a " view of ir:mk-p' 

 point* to its former importance under the extensive system ol police 

 introduced or |>erfected by King Alfred, which repaired that ah 

 uieu above twelve years of age should be received into a dooem, 

 tailing, called in Yorkshire and other parts oi the norti, 

 tale" (number, tale, or (</.v of ten men), and forming a society 

 leas than ten friliorgs or freeborruw* (freemen), each of nhoui was to 

 be Inn-hut that is, pledge or security for the good conduct of the 

 others. So the German " burge." pledge or surety (fidejussor/, appears 

 to be derived from the verb " borg.ii," to give or tike ou credit. In 

 this senie, in the ' Kr.iuklin's Tale,' Chaucer has, " Have here my faith 

 to borwe ; " and in the Squire's Tale,' " St John to borwe." 



In the ballad of ' The UUiug in the Northi' preserved in Percy's 

 ' Roliquus of Ancient Poetry,' Lady Northumberland, proposing U) her 

 busUtnl to place herself in" the hands of Queen Kliiabeth, u u surety 

 or hostage for his submission, says, " Thy laithful borrow I will be." 



\\ hen a party was accused of a crime, his tithing was to produce 

 him within 31 days, or pay the legal mulct for the otlciiee, uuleas they 

 proved on oath that no others of the tithing were implicated m the 

 crime, aiukengaged to produce him as soon aa he could be foui.d. For 

 great crimes tho offeuder was expelled from the tithing, upon which he 

 became an outlaw. 



The duty of inspecting a decennary or tithing was called a view of 

 frank- pledge, the freoborrows having received from their Norman 

 C.. M ,J, 1,-i'oix the designation well known in Normandy of frank-pledge*. 

 The prim ipul 01 i-Mmt of those irccborrows, and as such the person 

 first sworn, who was denominated the tithing man, sometimis th* 

 headborough or chief pledge, sometime* the borsholder or borsalder 

 (borhea-alder, or senior or ruler of the pledges), and sometimes the 

 reeve, was in an especial manner responsible for the good conduct of 

 each of hi* co-pledgea, aad appears to have had an authority am. 

 to that itill exercised by the con-table, an officer elected by the i 

 fur the preservation of the jwace within the district constituting the 

 i lung, or constablewick. This officer is in many pluses cdM 

 the headboioiigh. which designation, as well as those of borsholdor and 

 tithing man, m 'frequently used by the legislature as synonytnou 



,blc. It i- : .it nil the frank-plenges wcie num- 



bered according to rank or seniority, as in places where more than two 

 couilublei) are n- |iiiiecl, the third oilicer is culli-d lli tlnrdborough. 

 BlaclutoUu, misled by the s..md, sup|>oses headlwrouxh to Le the chief 

 | K r*in . .rouxli. This derivation will remind the 



readers of ' liudibra* ' of the " wooden bastile " (stocks), which 



" N -tic arc abtr to break thorough, , 



Until they're freed by arf of ttrnufh." 



