THE LEECH. 



469 



will sustain is, that, when taken out, it will 

 be seen to cast a fine pellucid skin exactly of 

 the shape of the animal, after which it is as 

 alert and vigorous as before. It appears from 

 hence that the leech breathes through the 

 mouth ; and, in fact, it has a motion that seems 

 to resemble the act of respiration in more per- 

 fect animals : but concerning all this we are 

 much in the dark. 



This animal seems to differ from all others 

 in several respects : the rest of the reptile tribe 

 are brought forth from eggs ; the leech is vi- 

 viparous, and produces its young one after the 

 other, to the number of forty or fifty at a birth. 1 

 It is probable that, like the snail, each insect 

 contains the two sexes, and that it impregnates 

 and is impregnated in the same manner. The 

 young ones are chiefly found in the month of 

 July, in shallow running waters, and particu- 

 larly when they are tepified by the rays of the 

 sun. The large ones are chiefly sought after ; 

 and being put into a glass vessel filled with 

 water, they remain for months, nay, for years, 

 without taking any other subsistence. But 

 they never breed in this confinement ; and, 

 consequently, what regards that part of their 

 history still remains obscure. 



1 It was long a matter of dispute as to whether leeches 

 were produced from eggs or born alive, but it is now as- 

 certained that the ova are developed in a singular case, 

 having some resemblance to the cocoon of a silk-worm. 

 This cocoon is formed by the parent animal, and by it 

 deposited in the mud or clay which composes the bed of 

 the pool it inhabits. 



The fact of the young leech being produced from these 

 cocoons, although only latterly ascertained by naturalists, 

 was long since well known to the dealers in leeches on 

 the French coast, who avail themselves of this knowledge 

 of their habits, to multiply them for the purpose of sale. 

 It was by these means the leech-dealers of Bretagne, and 

 particularly in Finisterre, replenished the ponds in which 

 they preserved those leeches which were intended for 

 the Paris market. 



About the month of April or May, according to the 

 nature of the season, they send out labourers, provided 

 with spades and baskets, to the little muddy marshes, 

 where they are known to exist in abundance. These 

 workmen then set about removing those portions of mud 

 that are known to contain cocoons, which are afterwards 

 deposited in sheets of water previously prepared for their 

 reception; here the young leeches quit the cocoons, and 

 are allowed to remain six months, when they are re- 

 moved to larger ponds. 



In this part of the world they seldom grow 

 to above four inches ; but in America and the 

 East they are found from six to seven. The 

 pools there abound with them on such num- 

 bers that it would be dangerous bathing, if for 

 no other consideration. Our sailors and sol- 

 diers, who the last war were obliged to walk 

 in those countries through marshy grounds, 

 talk with terror of the number of leeches that 

 infested them on their march. Even in some 

 parts of Europe they increase so as to become 

 formidable. Sedelius, a German physician, 

 relates, that a girl of nine years old, who was 

 keeping sheep near the city of Bomist in Pol- 

 and, perceiving a soldier making up to her, 

 went to hide herself in a neighbouring marsh 

 among some bushes; but the number of leeches 

 was so great in that place, and they stuck to 

 her so close, that the poor creature expired 

 from the quantity of blood which she lost by 

 their united efforts. Nor is this much to be 

 wondered at, since one of those insects which, 

 when empty, generally weighs but a scruple, 

 will, when gorged, weigh more than two 

 drachms. 



When leeches are to be applied, the best 

 way is to take them from the water in which, 

 they are contained about an hour before, for 

 they thus become more voracious, and fasten 

 more readily. When saturated with blood, 

 they generally fall off of themselves ; but if it 

 be thought necessary to take them from the 

 wound, care should be used to pull them very 

 gently, or even to sprinkle them with salt if 

 they continue to adhere : for if they be plucked 

 rudely away, it most frequently happens that 

 they leave their teeth in the wound, which 

 makes a very troublesome inflammation, and 

 is often attended with danger. If they be slow 

 in fixing to the part, they are often enticed by 

 rubbing it with milk or blood, or water mixed 

 with sugar. As salt is a poison to most in- 

 sects, many people throw it upon the leech 

 when it. has dropped from the wound, by which 

 means it disgorges the blood it has swallowed, 

 and it is then kept for repeated application. 

 They seldom, however, stick alter this opera- 

 tion ; and as the price is but small, fresh leeches 

 should always be applied whenever such ap- 

 plication is thought necessarv. 



