LEECHES 321 



3. LiGNiERES AND SpiTz. ActinobaciUose. Recueil de MUicine 

 VHtrinaire, 1903. 



4. NoCARD. ActinobaciUose der Zunge. Jahr. des Vet. Med. 

 Bei-lin, Bd. L,VI (1903), p. 695, (abstract). 



LEECHES. 



Synonyms. Summer sore ; leeching ; barsati, barsdti, bar- 

 sattee, barsalti, bausette, bursati, bursatie, burusaltee, bursatti, 

 bursaiilee, bursautie, bursaiittie, bursotlee a.nd buriisauttee. These 

 names have been derived from the Indian word bums or 

 bursat, meaning rain or rain sore, it having been supposed that 

 the malady was associated witli the rainy season. 



§ 244. Characterization. "Leeches" or "leeching" 

 is an infectious disease quite prevalent among the horse kind 

 in Florida with lesions localized on the skin or the mucosa of 

 the head. It is thought by many that this affection is identical 

 with the disease known as bursattee* in India. 



§ 245. History. Neal of Florida described this disease 

 as affecting horses and cattle. He believes it to be peculiar to 

 that section, where he states it is common and very fatal to 

 horses and mules. There are hundreds of ponds in the central 

 portion of the state around the margins of which there is 

 usually a belt of grassy prairie, water grass and water lilies. 

 Into these grassy places the horses, mules and cows often go 

 during the summer and feed all day in the water. He adds, 

 "after a varying exposure to the influence, or whatever it may 

 be called, of the 'pond,' a slight lump or elevation of the skin 

 mav be found on some part of the body that has been sub- 

 merged. To the touch it will feel as if a grain of shot were 

 lodged beneath the skin. In eight or ten days the .skin 

 sloughs off" centrally over this hard spot, leaving a bloody. 



*It seems to be true that an entirely different affection is known by 

 the same name in the northern portion of the United States. The term 

 "Leeches" is also applied to the condition following the invasion of ths 

 liver fluke {Fasciola hepatica). 



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