LKKOI CULTtTUI-:. -. .;;, 



KaM.-rn Massachusetts, including ih,- southern part of I'apc r,,,|. ,-i,- loniieily noted lor thf 

 large number- of Leeches they contained. iin.I during tin- curly purl of this century many Leeches 

 were collected from them for mcdieinul purposes. Philadelphia is now the only large city \\heie 

 American l.eeehe- arc used 1>.\ physicians, whopnfcr them to the European for certain kinds ,,f 

 tivalmeiii. The latter Leech is the more powerful, and extracts the most I, I,,,,.!. According to 

 the statements of Philadelphia lecchers, about four American Leech.-, an- iv.|iiiivd to ilo the work 

 of one European. and the chief merit of the former arises from the fact that ihcy can lie used more 

 freely and with less danger to the patient, and can also be employed on the more delicate pails 

 of the body, where the European Leech would act too vigorously . They are especially recom- 

 mended for the re-ion about the eye, and several are sometimes used, distributed over a wider 

 space, when it is thought best not to extract the blood from a single spot by the aid of an 

 imported specimen. The American Leech does not attach itself as readily as the foreign, and often 

 several specimens have to be tried before one can be found to fasten itself. They bite much 1. 

 readily out of water than in. The bites of the two Leeches are different; that of the European 

 being deeper and more pronounced and bleeding much longer after the Leech has been detached. 

 The wound of the American Leech generally closes very soon after the Leech has been released, 

 and sometimes immediately. 



The European Leech. The European Leech belongs to a different genus from our own, Jlinulo, 

 and by some authorities is considered to constitute two distinct species, H. medicinalis, the Gray 

 I.eeeh, and II. officinalis, the Green Leech. By others the Green Leech and Gray Leech are placed 

 in the one species, H. medicinalis of Linuwus. "They are both marked, with six longitudin d 

 dorsal ferruginous stripes, the four lateral ones being interrupted or tesselated with black spots. 

 The color of the back varies from a blackish to a grayish green. The belly in the first variety is 

 of a yellowish color, free from spots, and bordered with longitudinal black stripes. In the second 

 it is of a green color, bordered and maculated with black. This Leech varies from two to four 

 inches in length. It inhabits marshes and running streams, and is abundant throughout 

 Europe." 



Prior to thirty years ago nearly all the northern countries of Europe contained Leeches, but 

 most of the supplies came from Sweden, Russia, Poland, and Hungary. The swampy regions in 

 which they lived were drained from time to time, for one reason and another, until finally vast 

 areas which had once been profitable became dried up, to the almost entire destruction of the 

 I .i-.-ches. Then, and for the first time was the extent of the injury fully realized over all Europe, 

 and strenuous efforts were made to remedy the evil. Several governments, including the French, 

 Prussian, and Hanoverian, offered premiums for successful results in leech-culture, but these 

 cllbrts were rewarded only in the former country. At present the larger share of the Leech e^ 

 used in Europe and this country come from the artificial ponds or meadows of Southern I-' ranee. 

 although many are also raised in Hungary and in other countries of Southern Europe. Paris is. 

 lln principal receiving center, whence they are sent to England, to the English colonies, and 

 the United States. The export trade to South America and the West Indies is largely carried 

 on through the United States. 



I. "i-li culture. The localities selected for leech-raising are swampy meadows, where the 

 bottom is more or less firm and solid. A certain area having been chosen, it is divided into 

 rectangular plots of different sizes by means of ditches. The breeding season is in .Innc ami 

 July. At this time water is admitted only into tin- ditches, the meadow Hats remaining dry. 

 The eggs are laid in the loose, swampy soil at the margins of the ditches, and when the young 

 creep out about six weeks, more or less, afterwards, the meadows are overflowed artificially to a 



