than seven million leeches. The annual demand
in France was estimated in 1846 to be from twenty to thirty millions;
Paris requiring three millions a year. "I should be very sorry, papa,"
said Jack, "to walk about like the old man in the lines you quoted
just now, with bare legs in the water, making them a bait for leeches.
Ugh! it is horrible to think of; they must suck a good deal of blood
from the man's legs." 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. We ought to be
thankful for the existence of an animal which is of such immense
service to mankind. I suppose it was the appreciation of their value
in medicine that induced French ladies, about forty-five years ago, to
regard leeches with especial favour. Many people remember the
Cochin-China _mania_ and the sea-anemone _mania_, but, May, what will
young ladies say to the fact that in 1824 there existed in France a
_mania_ for leeches? The most enthusiastic admirer of Cochin fowls or
sea-anemones would never have thought of carrying her admiration of
her pets so high as to wear on her dress figures of these animals; but
we learn from a French writer that there might have been seen at that
period elegant ladies wearing dresses _a la Broussais_ on the trimming
of which were imitations of leeches! Broussais, you must know, was a
physician, no doubt a fashionable ladies' doctor, and a great patron
of leeches. "What," asked Willy, "are the leeches I often find in the
drains on the moors and in other places?" I have no doubt you often
find these kinds; there is a small leech, the commonest of all, called
_Nephelis_, whose little oval cocoons are so frequent on the under
sides of stones in the water and on water plants. I will soon find a
few cocoons; look here, under this bit of brick tile are five or six;
they now contain eggs, as I will show you, by slitting open the case
with my penknife. These gradually change to young leeches, which find
their w