THE LEECH. 319

a saw, and these, by the action of a muscle, cut into the
skin. The leech has eight or ten simple eyes, which may
be seen with a magnifying-glass, looking like a semicir-
cular row of black points above the mouth. There are two
species used in the medical art, which are chiefly brought
from France, Spain, Sweden, and Hungary.

The Horse Leech (Hirudo sanguisuga) is of a more de-
pressed form than the common species; the head and tail
are slender; the body thick, of a dusky colour above, and
yellowish-green beneath. It lives in pools and stagnant
water. This is supposed to be the species referred to in
Job xxx., in that singular expression, “The horse-leech
hath two daughters, crying, Give, give ;” probably intending
to describe its insatiable thirst for blood, which would excite
no feeling but disgust and aversion in the East, as the use
to which we apply the leech being unknown, the natives
are only acquainted with it as a destroyer of their valuable
horses and other animals, by fastening under their tongues
when they drink. Some writers have endeavoured to ex-
plain this text allegorically, and it is not improbable that
the original meaning is somewhat different from our ver-
sion, though, as a type of rapacity, the horse-leech would
not be at all unlikely to occur to the mind of an oriental.