The morning call., 1891-01-02
MANKIND:S THIRD EYE.
1t Is Near the Center of the Head and 1
in Innocuous Desuetude.

1t Is Near the Center of the Head and Is
:: in Innocuous Desuetude.
There is ii kind of lizard found in Viz
ginia and Maryland that has three eyes-one
of them on the topOf bis head" said man
of science the other day to a representative
of the Star. Tits generally supposed that
they are very rare but, o. the contrary,
they are quite common. You can find
plenty of them if you take the trouble to
look They are green and about three
inches long
Are there any other animals in the world
that have three eyeS?"
Lots. For example, you yourself have Il
third eys, though II has become rudimentary
through disuSe." ::
Where is liz"
lust in the middle ofyour head, as nearly
as It's location can be described pff-hand.
ANTAGONISTS know it as the 'pineal gland
but It is actually an eye that has become
rudlmentary. Place tie tip. of your finger
Just above the bridge of your nose and on
the level with your eyes. Directly behind
that point about i've Inches. at the base of
the brain, is this gland / speak of, which the
apcientS used TO imagine was the center of
| consciousness and the seat OF the soul. Its
| structure has lost all resemblance to that of
an eye, but you can find ii retaining more of
| Its original development in some turtles and
| other reptiles With them this gland has
| stli, though In the middle of the head. an
| actual eye-socket, an optic nerve connecting
WIN the visual tract of the brain, and even
ine pigmentary inner coat, the object of
when IN all eyes is TO absorb light. There
Is no reilna, but II IS an eye for all that. In
the case OF the lizard l mentioned, this pineal
eye actually appears at the top of the head
aud is useful for seeing with.
There are quite a number of rudmen-
tary organs IN the human body which have
become so because nature has no longer any
use for them; For example, there is the
thyroid gland in the n ok, the only useful
| ness OF which seems to be n occaSioung the
| disease known as goitre. People in Savoy
| and the Iyrol are worst afflicted with this
| complaint. 1t is supposed that the water
| they drink, derived from the melting Of the
| glaciers of the Alps causes The hypertrophy
of the thyroid gland, the result of which is
an enormous swelling, so that sometimes the
unfortunate comes to have a bag-llke appen-
dage hanging down as far as the waist.
There Is no known cure for the trouble fter
II has got well started, though the swelling
may be tribe reduced by injections into It's
substance. 1t Is a very curious fact that if a
human being or any other animal is deprived
OF this apparently useless gland by cutting
IL out, there always follows a general degen-
eTallon OF all the tissues of the body
Another seemingly useless organ is the
'supra-renal capsule attached to each of the
kidneys. Its only purpose in human be-
ing appears TO be to occasion what is known
as Addison 5 disease in cases where 1t gets
"ut VI Oiut Ia SUCH cases, which are HAD
PLY rare, the skin of the body loses its nat
ural color and becomes of muddy brown
| hue. This capsule is presumably the re-
mains OF what was once a secretory organ
Then there is the mysterious vermiform
appendix attached to the small intestine
once IN while an apple seed or some such
substance gets into it and causes intlamma-
lion. Until within the last four or FIVE
years such cases were always fatal, but now
they are usually cured by cutting open the
stomach and removing the appendix Until
very recently operations requiring the cut
tlng open OF the body in this way almost in-
Yarlably resulted i'll death, for the reason
that germs could not be prevented from get
ting into the wound and creating subse-
quent inflammation. But the bacteriol0-
gists have taught, through their researches.
now such germs may be killed by spraying
Win antiseptic solutions. The vermiforin
aphendlx has considerable usefulness among
b file lower animals. With the cow and other
attoopot tn ,l Snew the cud it is large sacl
attached TO the stem ach, and is utiIiIsd as
storage reservoir for food that is nct-nea d. q
Tor Immediate consumption w ashi ne1.ea
Star. :"'AihS gun