The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-02-27
A RUpuMRNTARY HH.
IA. Said to Once H.v. Had . Third e

Nan Said to Once Have Had . Third Eye
"There is kind Of lizard found in
Virginia and Maryland that has thres
eyes--one of them on the top Of his
head said man OF science the other
dsy 10 q representative of the Star. "It
Is generally supposed that they are
very rare, but, on the contrary. they
are quite common. You can find plenty
of them il 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 a third eye, though it has become
rudimentary through disuse."
Where Ia itp"
"Just in the middle of your head, as
nearly as its location can be described
of hand. Anatomists know it as the
'pineal gland bus it is actually an eye
that has become rudimentary. Place
the tip Of your finger just before the
bridge of your nose and on the level
with your eyes. Directly behind that
point about five inches, at the base of
which the ancients used to imagine was
u
of the soul. Its structure has lost all
resemblance to that of an eye, but you
can find it retaining more of its original
development liz some turtles and other
reptiles. WITH them, this gland has
still, though in she middle OF the head,
an actual eye s4cket, an optic nerve
connecting with the visual tract OF the
brain, and even she pigmentary inner
A. - Oh ~ l.
to absorb light. There is no retina,
but it is an eye for all that In the case
of the lizard mentioned this pineal
eye actually appears at the top Of the
head and is useful for seeing with.
There is quite a number Of rudi-
mentary organs in the human body
which have become so because nature
has no longer any use OF them. For ex-
ample, there is the thyroid gland in the
neck, the only usefulness of which seems
to be in occasioning the disease known
as goitre. People in Savoy and the Ty'
rol are worse afflicted with this com.
plant. 1t is supposed that the water
they drink. derived from the melting OF
the glaciers of the Alps, causes the ny
pertrophy of the tvroid gland, the re-
suit of which, is an enormous swelling.
to have a baqlike appendagc dangling
down as far as the waist. There is no
known cure for the trouble after it has
got we'll started, though the swelling
NAV be trihe reduced by injections
into its substance. 1t is a very curious
fact that if human being or any other
animal is deprived of this apparently
useless gland by cutting it out, there
Il. Il
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 being appears to be to oc-
casion what is known as 'AddisOn's
disease in cases where it gets of order.
In such cases, which are happily rare,
the skin Of the body loses its natural
color and becomes muddy brown hue.
The capsule is presumably the remains
of what was once q sccretOry organ.
''Then then there is a mysterious
'vermiform appendix attached to the
small intestine. Once in while an ao-
pie seed or some such thing gets into it,
and causes and inflammation. Until with
in the last four or five years such cases
were always fatal, but now they are
lEudIEJ cGFcu Wy CuILluS OpSu GHo
stomach and removing the appendix.
Until very recently operations requir-
ing the cutting open body in this way
Invariably resulted in death, for the
reason that germs could not be prevent
ed from getting into the wound and
creating subsequent Inflammation. But
the psychologists have taught, through
their researches, how such germs may
be killed by spraying with antiseptic
solutions. The vermiform appendix
has considerable usefulness among the
lower animals. With the COW and 9TH
ar beasts that chew the cud is a large
SIC attached to the stomach, and utiliz-
ed as storage reservoir for food that
is not needed for immediate cOnsump-
ton. Star.