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LEECH LEEDS 311 ally. Leeches afford the least painful and in many cases the only practicable means of local depletion, and are precious instruments in the hands of the physician. They will generally bite eagerly, and will draw from a quarter of an ounce to an ounce of blood, according to the vigor and size of the animal and the vasculari- ty of the part to which it is applied ; when full they drop off, though they will sometimes con- tinue to draw after their tails are cut off ; the application of a little salt will make them drop at any time ; bathing the part with warm water will increase the quantity of blood lost. When gorged with blood, digestion may not be com- pleted for many months ; hence it is customary to strip them by drawing the body between the fingers from the tail to the head, the little that remains serving to keep them in good con- dition for a long time, if they be kept in clean and frequently changed water. Full leeches are liable to disease and to induce it in others, and should be kept by themselves, not to be used until they have regained their activity; as they often change the slimy coat on their skin, they require moss and roots to draw themselves through in order to keep healthy. In the rare cases in which leech bites bleed too long, the flow may be arrested by pressure, alum solution, caustic, or a superficial suture. The application of leeches requires some skill and attention, and is often usefully placed in the hands of special practitioners, both male and female. The horse leech (hcemopis, Sav.) is a larger species, differ- ing principally by the oval and slightly toothed jaws ; it will not attack man, and it is doubtful if it attaches itself to horses and other ani- mals; it devours oth- er worms, swallowing them whole. The leech family is a large one, and can be studied only in special treatises, of which a long list is given in the chapter on anne- lids in Siebold's " Com- parative Anatomy. 11 LEECH, John, an Eng- lish artist, born in Lon- don about 181V, died Oct. 29, 1864. He was educated at the Char- terhouse, and soon after the establishment of "Punch" brought him- self into notice by his humorous illustrations for that serial. Several thousand sketches, illustrating the politics, fashions, and follies of the day, testify to the industry of his pencil and the fertility of his invention ; and the greater part of these, though hastily thrown off, have artistic merit as well as humor, the draw- ing and expression being in most cases excel- lent. The social extravagances of England never found a more apt or kindly delineator ; but in sporting scenes, particularly those in which the horse is introduced, he was pre- eminent. He was connected with " Punch " almost from its establishment, and from time to time he published collections of his pictorial contributions to its columns, entitled " Pic- tures of Life and Character, from the Portfolio of Mr. Punch," each containing 500 woodcuts. He illustrated several of Albert Smith's novels, the "Comic History of England," &c., and published under his own name, " The Eising Generation, a Series of Twelve Drawings on Stone " (1848), and other works. LEEDS, a N. E. county of Ontario, Canada, on the N. bank of the river St. Lawrence, near Lake Ontario; area, 895 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 35,302. It has a rough, hilly surface, diversi- fied by a number of small lakes in which rise Cataraqui and Eideau rivers. The soil is gen- erally fertile. Wheat, oats, potatoes, Indian corn, peas, "buckwheat, and rye are the princi- pal productions. It is traversed by the Grand Trunk and the Brockville and Ottawa railroad. Capital, Brockville. LEEDS) a municipal and parliamentary bor- ough of the West riding of Yorkshire, Eng- land, situated on both sides, but chiefly on the left, of the navigable river Aire, 22 m. W. S. W. of York and 206 m. by railway N. K W. of London; pop. in 1851, 172,270; in 1871, Town Hall, Leeds. 259,212. Its site was probably at one time a Eoman station ; its mediaeval name (Loidis) is Saxon. As a manufacturing town it dates back only to the 1 6th century. The principal and best part of Leeds stands on the slope of a hill N. of the Aire. Most of the town is irregu- larly built, with narrow and crooked streets ; but in the centre and west the streets are wide and handsome, being lined with modern build-