The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1876-09-21
A CHAPTER ON LEECHES.
Interesting Talk with the Oldest PhIeboto


one of tho lost arts, though there ar
some practitioflers in New York CITY
In Cincinnati the veteran in this line i
old Mr.. Gafeny, with whom correspon
dent lately had this chat:
&C suppose" he observed to us in re
ply to query regarding the birthplac,
OF his geological collection, "that yol
wish to know where leeches are brough
fromp They come from the marshy
lands of Sweden, Poland and Hungary
Germany, France and Spain.
GA very good leech is also found il
Lancashire, England; and am told thai
variety, unrivaled for medical pur
poses, is obtained in Australia. 1 have
not seen any specimen of this variety,
but L know that Australian leeches arc
used in San Francisco. The Swedish
leech is the finest species of all. 1t is q
vigorous, brown leech, with belly
speckled almost exactly as some species
of snakes are speckled on the back, and
marked also by longitudinal stripes of q
pale color. Next to the Swedish leech,
that furnished by Hungary and Poland
is most highly priced.
"What do you think of the American
leech ?"
" The American leech 1 believe to be
utterly Yalueless. | have received fine
looking. specimens from Mississippi and
Pennsylgania, but found them utterly
worthless. They are far inferior even to
some European varieties of the hirudo
dccord, which cannot easily be induced
to bite unless blood be drawn to excite
them. | consider six Swedish leecbes
equal to at least one huudred OF any
American variety. The comparative
value OF a leech depends greatly upon
Its vigor, its readiness to bite and ca
pacity for sucking. When a Swedish
lecch is taken in the hand and squeezed,
it will gather itself up into a compact
Kernel, and become as hard rs q grain of
corn under the fingers.
" In Sweden they catch leeches by
throwing fresh hides into tho water, to
which hides the leechcs attach them
selves. Iu a healthy condition the
leech almost always remains at the bot
tom of its pond, occasionally burrowing
IN mud; when the mud Or water is yio-
lently disturbed, the leeches arise to
tasten upon the disturbels Of their peace.
Newly captured leeches are placed in
bags or boxes containing moist turf for
them TO burrow in, and are then ready
for expectation.
"The leech merchants in Languedoc
keep their stocks in enormous ponds.
and feed them by driving horses or cows
into these ponds, upon which unfortu-
nate animals the leeches fasten. I re-
member not long since reading of q boy
who had driven horse into one of his
employers leech ponds, according to
daily custom, and while waiting for the
leecheS to ill themselves, fell asleep,
with the greater part OF his body lying
III the shallow water Of the pond. The
leeches fastened upon him by hundreds,
and bied him to death before his
friends, who saw the horse return with.
out him, could awake or save him.
THE leeches are fed in these ponds
as preparation for their future jour
ney. In their natural state they feed on
fish and tortoises and any reptile or pis-
cotofial life that fall IN their way. They
are omnivoro-s as blood suck Eers, attack
ing inditferently cold blooded or warm
blooded creatures. A short time ago q
gentleman living on Mount auburn had
OCCASION to purchase a Dozen leeches of
the species hirudO medicinaliS, and
having used ten he placedth remaining
TWO N his aquarium. In q few days
these two leeches had killed everything
III the aquariunl-the gold and silver
fish, the juvenile alligators and even the
hard shell tortoise"
From what ports are leeches chiefly
exported 2" We asked.
Oh, from Hamburg aud Bremen. l
remember it was a common sight at the
English and Irish ports, some years ago,
TO see the decks OF newly arrived nler-
chant vessels swarming with the leeches
which had escaped from the vessels or
bags in which they had been confined.
Those exported to America are generally
full of blood, and at Rhode Island there
are immense purging ponds in which the
newly arrived leechc5 ale placed, and
left to digest their last meal. Uutil it
mas been perfectly digested they are
useless. These ponds belong to Mr..
Wltte, who does nearly all the import
ing for American leech doctors, and
he charges an extra price for the pondei
leech."
" Why is that ?"
" Because the leeches must remain at
least year in the purgipg pond. 1t
takes year for them to get rid Of one
good meal. You see, the loech can live
on almost nothing; its vitality is ab,o
lutely prodigious; it has been k4own to
1--we IN the human stomach and to make
it's home i'll the human iutostines. [ am
SO accustomed to treading upon leeches
accidentally (for they will escape every
now and them that ! can recognize the
peculiar feeling of a leech under the
sole OF heel of my boot quite as well
almost as / could under nay bare hand.
" But l never yet killed Swedish
leech by tre8ding upon il. Its muscular
power OF resisting pressure by the con
traction OF its tiny rings is absolutely
extraordinary; and it is generally quite
as lively after being trod upon as it was
before. 1t is fact, believe, pretty
widely recognized, that the vitality of
an animal is greater or less in proper
lion to the rate of its growth, Now the,
ieech grows very, very slowly, indeed"
Here Mr.. Gaieny took small Swedish
leech out of phial and placed it in tho
palm of his hand, where it contracted it.
self to the size Of a shirt stud. Then it
suddenly grew out of its own knobbed
tail, apparently the length of five inches;
the fat tail still remaining in the old
spot, the head and neck tlickering like
the tongue Of snake. Then it tried to
fasten on its owners wrist, and was
only prevented by series of taps Oh
the nose. Its back felt rough and scaly
when stroked; its belly was beautifully
specbled.
That leech is at least fifty years old,
l believe" said Mr.. Gafeny.
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