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BEST   MEANS  TO  PRESERVE  LEECHES  HEALTHY. 
cation  of  it  to  the  skin;  by  retaining  the  moisture  of  the  skin  it 
will  favor  the  action  of  the  oil. 
THE  BEST  MEANS  TO  PRESERVE  LEECHES  HEALTHY. 
By  Gustavus  Schuller. 
The  apothecaries  in  Moldavia  are,  according  to  the  sanitary 
laws,  compelled  to  keep  constantly  a  stock  of  at  least  300  healthy 
and  serviceable  leeches.  But,  particularly  as  the  hots  ummer  months 
are  the  most  prejudicial  season  for  these  animals,  it  often  happens 
that  in  the  time  of  the  greatest  need  no  leeches  are  to  be  obtained. 
Amongst  the  various  means  which  have  been  recommended  to 
keep  leeches  healthy,  and  to  restore  the  sick  ones,  good  wTell-burnt 
wood  charcoal  has  proved,  according  to  my  experience,  to  be  the 
best,  as  shown  by  the  following  experiment.  I  washed  the  char- 
coal well  three  or  four  times  with  fresh  spring  water,  to  separate 
the  adhering  ashes,  and  then  laid  it,  while  wet,  and  without  breaking 
it  smaller,  in  a  large  glass  cylinder  ;  put  the  sick  leeches,  recently 
washed,  into  this  cylinder,  but  did  not  give  them  any  more  water, 
as  enough  was  to  be  found  in  the  w?ashed  charcoal.  The  glass  was 
tied  over  with  a  piece  of  linen  and  placed  in  a  cellar,  where  for 
five  days  the  leeches  were  resigned  to  their  fate. 
After  this  period  I  found  the  leeches,  to  my  satisfaction,  per- 
fectly well.  They  were  quite  in  a  condition  to  be  used,  which  wTas 
not  the  case  in  their  sick  condition. 
For  two  years  I  have  treated  my  leeches  in  this  way,  and  always 
retained  them  healthy  and  serviceable.  The  number  of  deaths 
amongst  them  has  been  very  small.  The  only  precaution  I  ob- 
serve is  to  place  all  my  leeches  for  eight  days  in  summer  on  recently 
washed  charcoal,  and  for  two  weeks  in  winter.  The  method  is  a 
cheap  one,  and  one  easy  of  execution. — Buchners  Repertorium, 
from  Annals  of  Pharm.,  for  Aug.  1852. 
CASTOR  OIL  SOAP. 
Stuncke  states  that  castor  oil  soponifies  readily  with  alkalies, 
and  gives  with  soda  a  solid  white  soap,  which,  in  the  form  of  pills, 
is  a  certain  and  agreeable  purgative. — Arch,  der  Pharm.,  and 
Ami.  Pharm. 
