Leech (medicine)

“ Zacutus Lusitanus tells of a person who died in two days from the effects of a leech which was inadvertently introduced into the nasal fossa, and there is a somewhat similar case of a military pharmacist, a member of the French army in Spain, who drank some water from a pitcher and exhibited, about a half hour afterward, a persistent hemorrhage from the nose. ”

“ Recent authors still continue to advise the application of leeches to the anus in order to deplete the portal circulation,45 but it is a decided objection to this remedy that the fluid stools irritate the leech-bites and cause much discomfort. Sinapisms or turpentine stupes may be of some service apart from the relief which they give to pain. Blisters might be more generally used than they are when the tenderness on pressure is confined to the colon. In intense inflammation they should always be tried. ”

“ One word of seasonable and prudent advice hath done that good that many sermons would not have done.”
4. As he went on pounding and preparing his well-approved pill, the (at the bottom of his heart) kind old leech talked encouragingly to the mother and to her sick son, and said: “Come, come; after all, do not he too much cast down. Had we lived in the days of the old medicine, I would have been compounding a purge out of the blood of a goat, and the ashes of an heifer, and the juice of hyssop. But I have a far better medicine under my hands here. ”

“ On one end of its worm-like body is a large sucker by which the animal fastens itself to the ground, and at the other end is a smaller sucker, in the middle of which is a chitinous mouth that makes a triangular puncture. As items of materia medica, leeches were described in dispensatories, or compilations of medicaments, and sold by apothecaries, both to physicians and directly to patients. The species most commonly used for bleeding was Hirudo medicinalis, indigenous to the streams and swamps of Central and Northern Europe, and known in commerce as the Swedish or German leech. ”

“ It is bad policy to remove leeches forcibly in spite of the temptation to do so. The application of salt or tobacco juice makes them drop off, and the wounds are less severe, but few persons have the patience to wait after discovering a leech. ”

“ There is nothing like being used to a thing, and when you remember that many people derive their whole support from the leeches they gather, you will not wonder that they do not fear a few leech bites. I do not suppose they lose much blood; no doubt the gatherers pick them up pretty quickly and put them into their collecting cases; besides the chief flow of blood from a leech-bite occurs after the leech has been removed; the flow is encouraged by the application of warm fomentations, but the cold water of a pool would stop the flow of blood in the case of the man's legs. ”

“ In very many cases, the strength is from the first to be supported by all possible means, by nourishing diet, by the exhibition of wine, quinine, and other tonics; more particularly in old people—in constitutions debilitated by disease—in unhealthy situations, and when the fever is of a typhoid kind. Bleeding by leeches is not admissible, for the leech-bites prove a source of irritation, and are liable to suppurate; erysipelas has often been produced by leeching. ”

“ In the walls of the pharynx and the neighbouring parts are numerous large unicellular glands which secrete an anti-coaguline fluid which prevents the blood of the host clotting, so that even when the leech moves its mouth to another point the triradiate puncture continues to ooze. The same anti-coaguline secretion no doubt prevents the blood coagulating [141] in the enormous crop of the leech in which this meal of blood is stored. Opportunities for a meal presumably occur but seldom in nature, and the leech is the ‘boa-constrictor’ of the invertebrate world. ”

“ In the cases which recently came under Mr. Masterman’s observation, the leeches were attached to the epiglottis, the nasal cavities, and perhaps most commonly of all to the larynx of their host. When they have been attached to the anterior part of the mouth, or any other easily accessible position, their host or their host’s friends naturally remove them, and such cases do not come to the hospital for treatment.
The effect of the presence of this leech (L. nilotica) on the human being is to produce constant small haemorrhages from the mouth or nose. ”

“ If, as is often the case, there is any difficulty in making them bite, the skin should be pricked at the desired spot with the point of a sterilized needle, and the leech will then attach itself without further trouble. ”

“ It is very difficult to obtain any kind of boot or puttee which will keep these creatures at bay, and the traveller in these countries should be provided with a solution of salt or weak acid which, on application, causes the leeches to loose their hold. It is a mistake to try and drag them off the skin, as parts of their biting apparatus are apt to be left behind and set up inflammation and suppuration. Tincture of iodine should be applied to the site of a leech bite. ”

“ Leeches are supposed to abstract about two drachms of blood, or six leeches draw about an ounce; but this is independent of the bleeding after they have come off, and more blood generally flows then than during the time they are sucking. The total amount of blood drawn and subsequently lost by each leech-bite, is nearly half an ounce.
846. After Leeches Come Away
After leeches come away, encourage the bleeding by flannels dipped in hot water and wrung out dry, and then apply a warm spongiopiline poultice. ”

“ Dr. R. J. Drummond, who has had experience of these land-leeches in Ceylon, has told me that the bite is often septic and that it often leads to a serious abscess which is long in healing. He recommends pushing a match, which has been dipped into carbolic acid, well home into the sinus made by the leech’s head.
When winter approaches the leeches die down with extraordinary rapidity, and the species ‘carry on’ over the cold-weather period in the form of eggs laid in cocoons on the ground, under leaves, or other débris. ”

“ The leech cuts or burns, and the patient cries, yet has he no mercy on the other's moaning, for if the leech desist from his craft, then will the wounded perish. So also God cures the sins of his chosen with divers diseases; and though it be wearisome to the sufferer, yet will the good Leech cure him to everlasting health. ”

“ They are, in these and other districts, so plentiful in the autumn that almost every mule and almost every horse the tourist comes across is bleeding from its mouth or from its nose, for this species of leech is by no means only a human parasite. ”

“ They experience the greatest torture if they happen to swallow, while drinking, a horseleech, an animal which people are beginning, I find, to call almost universally a “blood-sucker.” The leech fastens upon the wind-pipe, and produces intolerable pain.
The skin of the back is extremely hard, that of the belly is softer. They are not covered with any kind of bristles, nor does the slender tail furnish them with any protection from the annoyance of flies; for vast as these animals are, they suffer greatly from them. Their skin is reticulated, and invites these insects by the odor it exhales. ”

“ Foot-stumps and bristles are entirely absent, and progression is effected by means of suckers, one at each end. They effect a looping movement, but the animal can also swim by undulations of its body. The freshwater leech is a bloodsucking parasite. The mouth is situated in the middle of the front sucker, which serves to fix the animal to its victim. Three saw-edged jaws are then brought into play, a three-rayed cut being made, and a fluid poured out which prevents the blood from clotting. ”

“ When leeches are applied to a part, it should be thoroughly freed from down or hair by shaving, and all liniments, &c., carefully and effectually cleaned away by washing.
3302. If the leech is hungry it will soon bite, but sometimes [571] great difficulty is experienced in getting them to fasten on. When this is the case, roll the leech into a little porter, or moisten the surface with a little blood, or milk, or sugar and water. ”

“ Hirudina medicinalis puts forth a claim for special attention on the ground of services rendered to mankind. The whole of the family live by sucking the blood of other animals; and for this purpose the mouth of the leech is furnished with a number of strong horny teeth, by which they cut through the skin. In the common leech three rows of teeth exist, arranged in a triangular, or rather triradiate form, a structure that accounts for the peculiar appearance of leech bites. The most interesting part of the anatomy of the leech to microscopists is certainly the structure of the mouth (Fig. 380) . ”

“ An actual hole is left in the skin, which does not heal over for some little time. And a great deal of blood is generally taken by the leech itself, which will go on sucking away until its body is stretched out to at least double its former size. ”

“ In the live animal the body can be greatly elongated and narrowed or much shortened and broadened. It is composed of many segments (not as many as there are cross-lines however; each segment is transversely annulated) , and bears at each end on the ventral surface a sucker, the one at the posterior end being the larger. These suckers enable the leech to cling firmly to other animals. The mouth is at the front end of the body on the ventral surface and is provided with sharp jaws. Leeches live mostly on the blood of other animals which they suck from the body. ”

“ The use of leeches in medicine is to diminish the accumulation of blood in any particular part of the body. This they do by fixing themselves to the spot, forming a hole with three sharp teeth which are situated triangularly in their mouth, and sucking the blood through the wound. When they have drawn sufficient, they are easily loosened by putting upon them a small quantity of salt, pepper, or vinegar. ”

“ By dipping the face in cold water they could generally be persuaded to show themselves. In one instance the leech dropped out spontaneously. In another— an American naturalist who had been travelling much in the interior of Formosa, and who had suffered from severe headache and profound anæmia, the results of repeated epistaxis— I succeeded in removing the leech by attaching through a speculum a spring forceps to its hinder end, and afterwards injecting salt and water. ”

“ Everything was food for the leech, but there was always the possibility of choking. The energy poured over it, drenched it, battered it, and the leech grew frantically, trying to contain the titanic dose. Still small, it quickly reached its overload limit. The strained cells, filled to satiation, were given more and more food. The strangling body built new cells at lightning speed. And—
It held. The energy was controlled, stimulating further growth. More cells took over the load, sucking in the food. ”

“ The blood which the Leech sucks out of the wound it makes supplies it with nutriment for so great a period of time, that a Leech, after having been satisfied with blood, has been known to live three years without{541} any food. ”

“ A hook may be found useful in dealing with round, friable, foreign bodies; and in some cases the mechanical spoon or safety-pin closer may be used to advantage. The foreign body is then brought close to, but not crushed against the tube mouth.
[174] Removal of animal objects from the tracheobronchial tree is readily accomplished with the side-curved forceps. Leeches are not uncommon intruders in European countries. Small insects are usually coughed out. Worms and larvae may be found. Cocaine or salt solution will cause a leech to loosen its hold. ”

“ All leeches are very extensile and can contract the body to a plump, pear-shaped form, or extend it to a long and worm-like shape. They frequently progress after the fashion of a “looper” caterpillar, attaching themselves alternately by the anterior and the posterior sucker. Others swim with eel-like curves through the water, while one land-leech, at any rate, moves in a gliding way like a land Planarian, and leaves, also like the Planarian, a slimy trail behind it. Leeches are usually olive green to brown in colour, darker patches and spots being scattered over a paler ground. ”

“ O'Donnell asked, "if it keeps on eating?"
"I have no idea what its growth-limits are," Micheals said. "Its growth may be limited only by its food source."
"You mean it could continue to grow probably forever?"
"It could possibly grow as long as it had something to feed on."
"This is really a challenge," O'Donnell said. "That leech can't be totally impervious to force."
"It seems to be. I suggest you get some physicists in here. Some biologists also. Have them figure out a way of nullifying it."
The general put out his cigarette. "Professor, I cannot wait while scientists wrangle. ”

“ One of the characteristics of nineteenth-century technology was the attempt to replace natural materials and processes by imitations and mechanisms. Considering the properties of the natural leech, it is no wonder that very early in the nineteenth century inventors began to seek a mechanical substitute. The disadvantages of the leech were many. [Pg 37] Wrote one inventor of an artificial leech:
In the first place the appearance of the animal is repulsive and disgusting, and delicate and sensitive persons find it difficult to overcome their repugnance to contact with the cold and slimy reptile. ”

“ Now the name is familiar to everybody, because, in the first place it pertains to a monstrous leech which inhabits tropical waters; fastens on to whatever has sentient life, and never lets go until the last drop of blood is sucked out, and the victim topples into the arms of death. ”