Jean-Baptiste Sarlandière's Mechanical Leeches (1817–1825): An Early Response in the Netherlands to a Shortage of Leeches

Abstract

At the end of the eighteenth century there was a rapidly growing demand for leeches in Europe. Western European and Central European freshwater species had been mainly used until then but now more and more different species were introduced.1 England imported large numbers from Eastern Europe and the Levant, and Pondicherry in Southern India was an important centre for the shipment of these animals whose application was considered a mild form of bloodletting.2 In the autumn of 1825 the Algemeene Konst- en Letterbode, a Dutch weekly journal, drew attention to a shortage, informing its readers that large numbers, kept for medical purposes, had died without an apparent cause,3 possibly through an unknown infective agent. It also printed information by a German pharmacist from Kassel on the proper method of keeping leeches alive as long as possible in large aquaria, by including water plants.4 One solution to the problem had already been invented—the artificial leech of Jean-Baptiste Sarlandiere. At their annual general meeting, held on 21 May 1821, the officers of the Dutch Society of Sciences (Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen, founded in 1752), on learning of Sarlandiere's invention through Martinus van Marum, the Society's secretary, decided to hold a competition on its serviceability.5 They were persuaded by the increasing demand for leeches, as well as by the fascinating and promising aspects and originality of Sarlandiere's invention. At the time, the Dutch Society of Sciences was one of the leading scientific societies in the world with a long and reputable tradition in the fields of science and technology. Through the annual programme, which was translated into French before being sent to the many foreign members of the Society, as well as to the various affiliated scientific societies like those of London, Paris, Edinburgh, Vienna, Berlin, St Petersburg, Turin and Washington, Sarlandiere was informed about the contest involving his bdellometre or artificial leech, as he called it.6 However, it was probably not until early 1825 that he decided to enter this competition.