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August 08, 2005
Lovin the Leeches
Very briefly, while reading a fascinating New Yorker article about leeches and their growing use in medicine, I considered marching into the leech-infested muck at the lake upstate to catch some. Leeches give you a natural local anesthetic, thin your blood, and suck it out -- it's great for headaches, black eyes, reattached fingers and toes, osteoporosis . . . and people paid big bucks for treatment a century ago. The article was so thorough and interesting that I thought, for a split second, "It's a bargain getting them for free! I should run right into the swamp! These things are amazing!" Then I remembered what they look like. Plus, I feel fine.
I wish I could link to the article, but it's long gone (it was the July 25th issue). Suffice it to say that leeches do have proven health benefits, are sophisticated little animals, and can live up to a year without a feeding. They're also disgusting, they're attracted to shadows, and they just love the bottom of our red kayak.
Posted by csageday at August 8, 2005 11:13 PM
Comments
I was reading my Grandad's account of the pharmacy business in the north of England 1922-41 and he mentions that leeches, at 1/- (shilling) a pop (quite expensive), were big sellers, particularly for the black eyes after Saturday night fighting. If you knew how to disgorge blood from the leech you could try and take it back to the chemist for a refund!
Posted by: tony at September 2, 2005 10:20 PM