The Leech.
The Leech has, from a very early age, been used as a means of letting blood; but, among the old Romans, it had medicinal uses such as we know not of now. It was used as a hair dye. Pliny gives two receipts for making it, and it must have been powerful stuff, if we can believe his authority:—“Leeches left to putrify for forty days in red wine, stain the hair black. Others, again, recommend one sextarius of leeches to be left to putrefy the same number of days in a leaden vessel, with two sextarii of vinegar, the hair to be well rubbed with the mixture in the sun. According to Sornatius this preparation is, naturally, so penetrating, that if females, when they apply it, do not take the precaution of keeping some oil in the mouth, the teeth, even, will become blackened thereby.”
Olaus Magnus gives us the accompanying picture of the luxurious man in his arm-chair by the river-side, catching his own leeches, and suffering from gnats; and also
his far more prudent friend, who makes the experiment on the vile body of his horse, and thus saves his own blood; but he gives us no account of its habits and customs.