Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-09-02
THE EYE STONE.
The Useful Work Done by Curious al
Lively Little Bone.

The Useful Work Done by Curious and
Lively Little Bone.
"Yes. we keep eye stones" said an
up town druggist, ''but we don't have q
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
a business of collecting them on their
voyages. Did you ever see an eye
stone?'
NO" said the reporter. ''But they
are found in the stomach of crayfish, |
believe
Then your belief is about as far
wrong as 1t could be- said the drug
gist, as he took small bottle from a
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 stone,' said the drug
gist, pouring some liquid out of bottle
on a smooth plate and diluting it with
water. and this is Il weak solution of
lime juice"
The druggist took one of the eye
stones and put it into the solution.
Presently the stone began to move as if
it were alive. 1t made its way slowly
about in different directions in the liquid
in a mysterious manner.
THAT strange movement of the eye
stone when placed in weak solution of
lime juice or vinegar has given rise
among ignorant and superstitious peo-
pie to the notion that it 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 Il paving stone. 1t IS 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 monuscous ami
NAL that lives along the Venezuelan and
other South American coasts. The shell
is a univalve. This calcareous forma-
ton is on the tip end of the little ami
NAL. and when he draws himself into
his shell to escape danger or 90 to sleep,
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 it affords perfect protec-
ton to the animal against enemies from
without. The native inhabitants collect
the eve 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
the head of the crayfish, just back of
and beneath the eyes, which resemble
the eve stone, except that they are
smooth all over. These are called eye
stones, and 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 a trade is
done in collecting crab stones. The
craytlsh are buried in deep pits, and
left there until they rot. The refuse is
then washed and the stones are picked
out. They are used in many parts of
Europe as corrective of the stomach.
There is nothing better to remove
foreign substances from the eve than
one of these South American eye