The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1886-09-11
THE EYE STONE.
The Useful Work Done by IL Curious ant
Lively Little Bone.

IL u
Lively Little Bone.
''Yes, we keep eye stoncs,' said an
uptown druggist, "but we don't have Il
call for one once in five years. Yet
there must be quite demand for them.
for wholesale dealers purchase all that
are brought them by sailors who make
81 bus ness of collecting them on Their
voyages. Did you ever see an eye
stonep"
''No," said the reporter. ''But they
arc found in the stomach of crayfsh, |
believe
Then your belief is about as far
wrong as 1T could be- said the drug
gist, as he took small bottle from IL
drawer. 1t was half full of what seemed
to be very small, round, flat pieces of
polished bone. Emptying few of the
pieces on the counter he picked one up
and handed it to the reporter to examine.
There was nothing notable about the
little bone except that one side was COM
posed of numerous concentric grooves.
That is an eye stonc." said the drug
gist, pouring some liquid out of Il bottle
on Il smooth plate and diluting it with
water '.And this is weak solution of
lime juice"
The druggist took one of the eve
stones and put it into the solution.
Presently the stone began to move as if
it We're alive. 1t made its way slowly
about in different directions in the liquid
in Il mysterious manner.
That strange movement of the eye
stone when placed in II weak solution of
lime juice or vinegar has giyen rise
among ignorant and superstitious peo-
pie to the notion that II has life, and
that it loves vinegar, and loves to swim
in it above all things. But there is no
more life in an eye stone than there Is
in a paving stone. 1t rs composed of
calcareous material and when placed
in the solutions named IS made to move
about by carbonic acid gas, which is
evolved by the contact with the liquid
acid. These little stones and all genu-
inc eye stones once were the front doors
to the shells of little molluscous ami
nal that lives along the Venezuelan and
other South American coasts. The shell
is II univalve. This calcareous forma-
ton is on the tip end of the little ami
NAL, and when he draws himself into
mo oHNil w CoNupS " VI ~ w SitCD,
the end, of course. is the last part of him
that is drawn into the cavity or mouth
of The shell. where it fits so closely and
is so hard that ii affords perfect protec-
ton to the animal against enemies from
without. The native inhabitants collect
the eye stones in large quantities, and
regard them with great awe. Sailors
engaged on the fruit trading vessels that
visit these regions obtain the stones and
fetch them to New York for sale to the
Wholesale druggists.
"There are two little bones found in
thn head of the craysh, just back OF
ana beneath the eyes, which resemble
the eye stone, except that they are
smooth all over. These are called eye
stones, aud are used as such in Ohio
and other Western States, but they have
none OF the virtues of the real eye stone.
The proper name for the stone found in
the crayfish is crab stones. In Poland
and parts of Russia quite trade is
done in collecting crab stones. The
crayfsh are buried in deep pits, and
loft there until they rot. The refuse is
then washed and the stones are picked
out. They are used in many parts OF
Europe as u corrective of the stomach.
Thee is nothing better to remove
foreign substances from tho eye than
one Of these Sodth American eye