The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1886-09-10
THE EYe-sToNE.
A Curious Little Bono That Does
Useful Work, and Acts as
II 1t Were Alive.

II 1t Were Auyc.
Eyes, we keep eye-stones, said an
uptown 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 mako
q business of collecting them on their
~oyages Did you ever see an eye
stone?"
NO" said the reporter. "But they
are found in tho stomachs of craytish,
believe"
''Then your belief is about as far
wrong rs it 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, fat
pieces of polished bone. Emptying a
few of the pieces on the counter, he
picked one up and handed it to the re-
porter to examine. There was nothing
notable about the little bone except
that one side was composed of numer-
GUS concentric grooves.
THAT is an eye-stone," said the
druggist, pouring some liquid out of a
bottle on to smooth plate and diluting
il with water, land this is weak So
luton 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 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 paving-stone. 1t is composed of
calcareous material, and when placed
in the solution named is made to move
about by carbolic 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
she'll is univalve. This calcarcous
formation OH the tip end of the little
animal, and when he draws himself in
to his shell to escape danger or go to
sleep, the end, of course, is the last
part of him that is drawn into the cavi-
ty or mouth of the shell, where it fits
SO closely and is SO hard that it affords
perfect protection to the animal against
enemies from without. The native in
habtants 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
the head of the craytish, Just back 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 in the cray
fish 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 corrective of the stomach.
'There is nothing better to remove
foreign substances from the eye than
one of these South American eye-stones.
Before using them many people think
it necessary to put them in vinegar 'to
give them life, but it is not necessary.
The stone is inserted at one corner OF
the eye, with the grooved side next tc
the lid. The pressure of the eyeball
forces it to move about in the eye, and
the grooves collect the foreign matter
and retain it. After making thorough
circuit of the eye the stone will come
out ut the corner next the nose Nc
inconvenience is caused by its presence
in the eye. ''-Ne,O York San.