The Arizona sentinel., 1886-09-18
THE EYE STONE.
The Useful Work Done by Curious and
 Lively Little Bone.

The Useful Work Done by Curious and Lively Little Bone.
 "Yes, we keep eye stones," said an uptown druggist, but we don't have a 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 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 j.
 Then your belief is about as far wrong as It could be-" said the drug 2 st, as he took a small bottle from a drawer. It was half full of what seemed to be very small, round, flat pieces of polished bone. Emptying a 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 con- posed of numerous concentric grooves.
 That is an eye stone, " said the drug gist, pouring some liquid out of a bottle on a smooth plate and diluting it with water. And this is a 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. It 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 a 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 a paving stone. It 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 w tn tbe liquid acid. These little stones and all genu- inc eye stones once were the front doors to tie shells of a little molluscous ani mal 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 ani- maj. and when he draws himself into his shell to escape danger or go 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 eye 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 trade is done in collecting crab stones. The crayfish 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 a corrective of the stomach. |
 '.The is nothing better to remove foreign substances from the eye than | one of these South American eye