Page:Sushruta Samhita Vol 1.djvu/207

Chap.XIII.] Then having seated or laid down the patient suffering from a disease which requires the application of leeches, the seat of bleeding, if not previously ulcerated, should be roughened by dusting it over with a composition of loose earth and pulverised cowdung. Then the leeches should be taken out of their receptacles and sprinkled over with water saturated with mustard seed and pasted turmeric. Then for a moment they should be kept in a basin full of water, and after they have regained their natural vivacity and freshness, they should be applied to the affected part. Their bodies should be covered with a piece of thin and wet linen, or with a piece of white cotton. The affected part should be sprinkled over with drops of milk or blood, or slight incisions should be made into it in the event of their refusing to stick to the desired spot. Other fresh leeches should be applied even when the preceding measures should prove ineffectual. That the leeches have taken to the affected part may be inferred from the mouths of the leeches assuming the shape of a horse-shoe, and the raised and arched position of their necks after they had become attached to the seat of the disease. While sucking, the leeches should be covered with a piece of wet linen and should be constantly sprinkled over with cold water.

A sensation of itching and of a drawing pain at the seat of the application would give rise to the pre-