62 NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH FRESH-WATER LEECHES. 
Luther and Gesner as “ leech.” Their reasons were that in 
Arabic writings, leeches were denoted by the words Aleca, Aletha, 
Alag, which approach the Hebrew word. The word “ Alak ” 
is used by the inhabitants of Cairo for the Leeches of the Nile. 
Other translators maintain that the Hebrew word means fate 
or destiny (37) . 3 
The ancient Hebrews and Orientals were apparently unaware 
of the use of the Medicinal Leech (27). The Greeks and Romans 
used it in medicine, and early writings abound in references. 
Themison, an eminent physician of Laodicea in Syria, who 
lived about 100 B.C., is credited with being the first to use Leeches 
for medicinal purposes. 
Brandt and Ratzeburg (8) give many references to early 
classical writings, and from these we learn that the ancients 
applied Leeches to wounds caused by rabid dogs, and in cases 
of bites and stings. Leeches were also used in cases of angina 
accompanied by dyspnoea, in hepatitis, and lumbago [Aretceus, 
Lib. ii., c. 6). Liver troubles, headaches, vertigo, epilepsy 
and piles were treated by the application of Leeches. One 
physician ( H . Mercurialis) stated that the Leech made 
such a small hole that only the thinner portion of the blood 
passed out, while the thicker parts remained behind. This 
observation is interesting, as recent researches have shown that 
the Medicinal Leech secretes a fluid which prevents the coagula¬ 
tion of blood (see p. 67). In the Saxon Glosses of the 10th century 
the word “ Sanguisuge ” is translated as Icece, liche leche, &c. 
In Chaucer’s time the word Leech also meant a physician. Dr. 
Murray says that probably the words were at one time distinct, 
but were assimilated to Icece through popular etymology. 
In Oueen Elizabeth’s time Dryden uses the word to mean 
physician :— 
“ Wise Leeches will not vain receipts obtrude, 
While growing pains pronounce the humours crude.” 
Bartholomeus Anglicus, a Minorite friar who lived in the 
early part of the 13th century, compiled an encyclopaedia en¬ 
titled De Proprietatibus Rerum. In an English translation of 
a later date we are told that 
“ The water leech sitteth upon venomous things, and therefore, when 
he shall be set to a member bycause of medicine, first he shall be wrapped 
3 Numbers within brackets refer to the Bibliography at the end of the paper. 
