354 Leech-lore. 



verse axis, and of 16"'6 for the conjugate axis/' Mr. Lassell 

 proceeds to remark that observations on this nebula are ex- 

 tremely difficult, and that it was only when the fine climate of 

 Malta afforded him a night of unusual clearness, and permitted 

 the employment of a power of 1480, that its details were re- 

 vealed. He concludes thus : " I confess I was strongly im- 

 pressed with the appearance of this marvel, situated, without 

 doubt, at the extreme limit of the regions accessible to our in- 

 vestigation, and affording reason to believe that the heavens 

 that are invisible to us are peopled with systems more splendid 

 than any which we are permitted to contemplate." 



LEECH-LORE. 



BY THE EEV. W. HOUGHTON, M.A., F.L.S. 



Op the four orders which, according to Cuvier and Milne Ed- 

 wards, form the extensive division know to naturalists by the 

 term Annelida, that of the Suctorice most directly affects man 

 either for good or evil. The various species that belong to the 

 other three groups, viz., the Dorsibrancliiatee, the Tubicolos, and 

 the Terricolce are only for the most part of indirect consequence 

 to him, but with the leech, which belongs to the first-named 

 group, man is directly concerned, and acknowledges this an- 

 nelid either as a benefit or a pest; for while the medicinal 

 leech has a strong claim upon our consideration on the grounds 

 of the important services which it renders ; there are others, 

 such as the land-leech of Ceylon, and the horse-leech of Europe, 

 which are often the cause of serious mischief. 



Under the term leech is generally understood the animal of 

 that name which is used in medicine, or rather, we should say, 

 the two or three varieties thus employed ; but the word is far 

 more inclusive, and applies to other genera besides that to which 

 the medicinal leech belongs. 



Who was the discoverer of the useful art of bleeding by 

 leeches ? Themison, the founder of the ancient medical sect 

 of the Methodici, and an eminent physician of Laodicea, in 

 Syria (b.c. circ. 100), has the credit of being the first to make 

 use of leeches.* The ancient Hebrews, and Orientals generally, 

 do not appear to have been acquainted with the art, and even 

 at this day the medicinal use of this annelid is unknown to the 

 people of Syria ; but that the art was practised by the later 

 Greeks and Romans there is abundant evidence to show. We 

 content ourselves, however, with one quotation from Oppian, 

 * Casl. Aurel. De Mori. Chron. i. 1, p. 286. 



