^54 
REMARKS  ON  LEECHES. 
instead  of,  as  heretofore,  depending  upon  Europe  for  our  wines, 
to  supply  from  our  own  over-abundant  product,  those  foreign 
districts  wherein  the  culture  of  the  vine  has  already  become  un- 
profitable, and  is  dying  out  from  disease.  We  may  also  rea- 
sonably expect  the  influence  of  capital,  increasing  experience 
and  active  competition,  will  every  year  tend  to  enhance  the 
quality,  medicinal  value,  and  cheapen  this  already  so  important 
a  member  of  our  national  products  Peninsular  and  Indepen- 
dent Medical  Journal.  July,  1858. 
REMARKS  ON  LEECHES. 
By  Frederick  Stearns. 
A  constant  supply  of  healthy  and  vigorous  foreign  varieties  of 
these  animals  is  considered,  by  practitioners  in  those  districts 
where  they  can  be  afforded  cheaply,  to  be  an  invaluable  aid  in 
practice.  The  cheapening  of  them  in  this  country,  where  they 
have  hitherto  borne  so  high  a  price,  we  must  consider  no  small 
benefit  to  community.  To  the  enterprise  and  experience  of  Mr. 
Witte,  of  New  York,  (prominent  in  that  market  for  the  past 
twenty-five  years,  as  an  importer  of  leeches,)  is  due  the  credit 
for  first  accomplishing  the  above  benefits,  as  he  now  offers, 
through  his  own  house  and  of  those  of  his  agent3,  fresh  and 
healthy  Swedish  and  Hungarian  Leeches,  at  prices  which  will 
bring  them  within  the  reach  of  all  requiring  their  aid. 
In  view  of  an  increased  use  of  leeches  in  the  interior,  where 
they  are  now  employed  to  a  limited  extent  only,  it  has  been  sug- 
gested to  us  to  state,  for  the  benefit  of  our  readers  who  may  not 
be  familiar  with  their  use,  the  most  practicable  methods  of  pre- 
serving and  applying  them. 
Leeches  are  sent  out  by  dealers  usually  in  boxes  filled  with 
marsh-sod  and  clay.  It  is  best  that  they  should  be  kept  in  this ; 
all  the  care  they  then  require,  is  to  occasionally  moisten  the 
earth,  and  remove  the  dead  or  sickly  leeches,  if  there  be  any. 
The  box  should  be  kept  in  a  moderately  cool  cellar.  If  more 
convenient  to  keep  them  in  water,  a  suitable  jar  should  be  pro- 
vided, in  the  cover  of  which  are  fine  perforations,  to  allow  of  a 
circulation  of  air.  Rain  water  should  be  employed,  and  changed 
daily  in  summer,  though  less  often  will  answer  in  winter,  always 
