46 THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST. October, issi. 
in the ponds during the summer is three feet ; in winter time 
the depth of water is increased, to avoid freezing. 
The leeches are fed every six months on fresh blood placed 
in thin linen bags, which are suspended in the water. The 
leeches, as soon as they smell the blood, assemble from all 
parts of the pond, and attaching themselves to the outside of 
the bag suck the dissolving coagulated blood through the 
linen. Digestion proceeds very slowly with the leech, during 
which time the blood remaining undigested in the stomach of 
the leech is in a fluid state as if just taken in. The excremen- 
tal deposits are of a grass-green colour. The best substance 
for packing leeches in is the peat of their natural ponds made 
into a stiff mud. Water containing tannin, tanic acid, lime, 
salt, or brackish water must be guarded against always ; iron 
is not objectionable, but is an advantage in small quan- 
tities. 
The demand for leeches in the last few years has somewhat 
fallen off in the Eastern and Southern States. The Western 
States and California are now the heaviest buyers. Mr. 
Witte’s sales alone average a thousand a day. The number of 
leeches imported into the United States amounts to about 
thirty thousand yearly. 
The custom of stripping and salting leeches, to cause them 
to disgorge after having been applied, has passed away, as many 
well established cases have occurred of infectious diseases 
having been communicated on the application of the same 
leech to a seQond party. A very popular error exists that a 
leech when applied takes only the bad blood (whatever that 
may be) and rejects the good ; this is a mistake. With a leech 
blood is blood, be it the cold blood of a fish or the warm blood 
of a human being, no matter how diseased that human being 
may be. So long as blood is not tainted or putrid the leech 
will thrive on it. A friend of mine, who was the proprietor 
of a large leech-breeding establishment atthefoot of the Hartz 
Mountains, when wishing to feed his leeches was in the habit 
of hiring poor labourers, at six cents per day, to stand in the 
water for half an hour nearly up to their thighs that the 
leeches might obtain a full gorging of human blood. 
In the marshy lands of Roumania the wild leeches are cap- 
tured by means of men entering the water and allowing the 
wild leeches to fasten on to their naked bodies. The leech 
fisher then strip them off after reaching the shore. 
QUACK MEDICINE. 
At Warwick recently Henry Norman, called a cheap jack, who 
travels from town to town, was brought up on remand, charged 
with having obtained Is. by false pretences from John Magee, 
a valet, of Yardley-terrace, Warwick, on the 26th August. The 
evidence taken at the previous examination was read over. 
On the day named Inspector Hall visited the prisoner’s pavilion, 
where two or three hundred persons were assembled. Prisoner 
produced a Chinese tea-chest, which he proceeded to break 
open. Then he descanted on the wonderful genius of the 
Chinese, and producing from the chest the bottles, which were 
carefully packed in sawdust, said — “These have come all the 
way from China.” They contained, he said, “Chinese mala- 
chite,” a great medicine, which was a specific for rheumatism, 
shortness of breath, and various other maladies. He said he 
would give them “ a treat for that night only,” and would sell 
it at Is. a bottle. Then he sold a number of bottles, and 
Magee, who suffered from tightness in the chest, bought one, 
which he subsequently handed to the police. He had been 
unable to test its efficacy, as his wife refused to allow him to 
take it. Henry Watts, of Coventry, who had been in the 
prisoner’s employ about seven weeks, and, according to his 
own story, left voluntarily, because he could not stand the 
prisoner’s “swindling,” stated the prisoner made the “mala- 
chite” himself, and packed it so as to pretend it had just 
arrived from China, and labelled it up as if it bore the Govern- 
ment stamp. It was made of “ Chili pods, aniseed, cloves, 
cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and black sugar.” The cost would 
be only about a farthing a bottle, and prisoner would sometimes 
sell 1200 or 1300 bottles. Mr. Hugo Young, Midland Circuit, 
in addressing the bench for the defence, contended that the 
accused was entitled to call his medicine Chinese malachite, 
the same as any concoctor of medicine gave them distinctive 
names. Magee never heard the alleged statement, but thought 
the malachite was a patent medicine, and bore the Government 
stamp, and consequently was not thus deceived. The bench 
at once dismissed the case without comment. The result was 
received with immense cheering, repeated outside the court. — 
Morning Post. 
PLANTS IN THEIR RELATION TO HEALTH. 
(A lecture delivered by Mu. C. R. Blackett before the Av . s - 
tralian Health Society.) 
One of the most characteristic and satisfactory movements of 
the present day is that which is so energetically supported by 
health societies. In former days, in consequence of the general 
ignorance of all classes of the people of the physical sciences, 
more particularly chemistry and physiology, little or no atten- 
tion was paid to the physical laws by which the universe is 
governed. In the days of our ancestors such questions as 
drainage, sewage disposal, ventilation, purity of air, tree 
planting, forest conservation, suitability of clothing and diet, 
were not thought of much importance ; certainly very little 
interest was manifested in such subjects, concerning which 
very imperfect and often extremely erroneous notions were 
entertained. 
It had, however, long been known that residents in the 
country districts enjoyed better health, and a longer average 
duration of life, and a greater immunity from many diseases, 
than inhabitants of cities ; that crowded centres of population 
were much less salubrious generally. The poet Cowper said — 
God made the country, man made the town. 
It is now well known that much of the disease which afflicts 
mankind is preventible; and although, notwithstanding our 
greater scientific knowledge, there is much to puzzle us, and 
often baffle our most earnest and intelligent efforts, yet a 
great advance has been made in matters relating to the proper 
methods for preserving health and preventing disease ; and 
when we consider the importance of the science of sanitation, 
in its bearing upon the physical and moral well-being of the 
people, we cannot employ ourselves better than in availing 
ourselves of every addition to our knowledge, and applying it 
immediately in active efforts towards the improvement of the 
health of our population ; for, as Lord Derby observes, “ Don’t 
fancy that the mischief done by disease spreading through the 
community is to be measured by the number of deaths that 
ensue ; that is the least part of the result. As in battle the 
killed bear a small proportion to the wounded, it is not 
merely by the crowded hospitals, the frequent funerals, the 
destitution of families, or the increased pressure of public 
burdens that you may test the suffering of a nation over which 
sickness has passed. The real and lasting injury lies in the 
deterioration of the race ; in the seeds of disease transmitted 
to future generations ; in the degeneracy and decay which are 
never detected till the evil is irreparable, and even then the 
cause remains often undiscovered.” Our national vigour and 
energy, our social and domestic well-being and happiness, our 
progress generally, depends upon a wise attention and obe- 
dience to those universal, inexorable, and beneficent laws 
by which the life of the animal is regulated. 
The relation which exists between the animal and vegetable 
world is one of surpassing interest, and a clear conception of 
the mutual adaptations involved in that relationship is of great 
utility. We shall see that the two great kingdoms of nature 
existing upon the earth, living upon the soil, and in the atmo- 
sphere, are involved in one ceaseless and mutually dependent 
revolution. The soil, the animal, the plant, every atom, has 
its fate determined by fixed and unerring laws. 
The visible universe is made up of matter and force, equally 
indestructible. “ The amount of force which is in operation in 
the earth (and probably in the solar system) is as definite as 
that of the material elements through which its existence is 
made known to us.” 
E.g., a pound of charcoal when burned in air combines with 
2§ lbs. of oxygen, and produces 3| lbs. of anhydrous car- 
bonic acid. This chemical combination is attended with the 
extrication of a definite amount of heat ; and if it be applied 
without loss, is sufficient to convert 12£ lbs. of water at 15° C. 
(59° F.) into steam at 100° C. (212° F.). Associated with each 
pound of charcoal there must be, therefore, a certain 
amount of energy or force, which is brought into action when 
the charcoal is burnt ; in the same way, when phosphorus, sul- 
phur, hydrogen, zinc, and copper, &c., are burnt or oxydised. 
(The lecturer here conducted several illustrative experiments.) 
Further, there is no such thing as destruction of force — ex. gr ., 
Joule’s Law of the J\J echanical Equivalent of Heat. The 
carefully conducted experiments of Dr. Joule show that the 
actual quantity of heat developed by friction is dependent 
simply upon the amount of force expended, without regard to 
the nature of the substances rubbed together. He found, as a 
mean of forty closely concordant experiments, that when 
water was agitated by means of a horizontal brass paddle 
wheel, made to revolve by the descent of a known weight, 
