Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1904-10-06
FAITH IN EYE STONES
FOREIGNERS USE THEM TO REMOVE
SPECKS FROM THE EYE.

The Way the stones Travel and Do
Their Cleansing Work-They Are
CnIcareous Concretions and Are
Obtained From the Crnwfsh.
The druggist was examining dozen
small objects that looked like tiny
brown and white agate marbles split
In half when one of the men who had
bought cigars asked him what they
were.
They are eye stones," said the drug
gist, with a smile.
Great Scottv' cried the man who
was supporting the cigar case. DO
you mean to say that you keep those
thingsT
"Yes," said the druggist, and there
was a note of sadness in his voice; I'VE
keep them. We keep them because we
can't sell them.
"In a store like this" he continued
after moments Eeflection, there isn't
much demand for them, but in place
where foreigners form the majority Of
the customers these stones, like leeches,
sell like hot cakes. If you get some
thing in your eye you monkey with 1t
for awhile, and then If 1t won't come
out you go to an oculist. That's the
way it is with most people nowadays,
but the foreign born residents-the
Italians, the Hungarians, the Slavs and
Poles and some of the others-have so
much faith in the virtue of these stones
they HE themselves to drug stores and
get eye stones.
'You know and know that in these
stones themselves there is no life, but
you can't convince some of these for
eigners of that fact. They insist that
because the stones travel around In a
persons eye, or, rather, under q per
sons eyelid, they must have life
1t is true that If manor a woman,
for that matter-puts an eye stone un-
der his or her eyelid 1t will travel but
that Is not because there IS any life In
these things. 1t is due entirely to the
action of the eye. AS the eye turns 1t
moves the stone, and II Is that which
makes 1t travel When you put one
OF THESE lulllSS lIllD Noul ~ Nt llIt PlpAA1
becomes sticky from the moisture, and
as it travels 1t brushes against any
thing that may be on the eyeball. Now
If this foreign substance is a speck Of
dust or something that isn't embedded
in the ball it Will adhere to the sticky
stone and come out with It.
with some Of these foreigners there
IS nothing that is more serious than the
getting of something in their eyes and
the using of these stones. 1t Is all very
solemn to them. They seem to think
that they cannot use these stones un-
less they go TO bed and tie up their
heads. AS soon ms one of them puts
an eye stone under his eyelid he places
lot of bandages over his eye and Hes
down If the stone behaves as any self
respecting eye stone should behave, it
travels about the eyeball, making q
complete circuit and works its way
out, and If ii does its work in the prop
er way 1t brings with 1t whatever may
have been in the eye unless, as l said
before, the substance IS imbedded there,
as small pieces of steel often are. In
that case the stone won't bulge 1t, but
that fact doesn't shake the confidence
of some of these foreigners. If 1t means
anything to them, It is simply the fact
that the stone is no good and that Is
generally taken as proof that the drug
gist who sold IT Is n skin
There Is no doubt that in many
cases these stones do all that Is expect
ed Of them, but few persons aside from
the foreigners fool with them, because
there are other and quicker ways Of
getting rid of whatever there may be
In ones eyes. 1t usually takes a long
time for one of these stones to get
around an eye, and, while 1t doesn't
hurt to have Ii there, the troublesome
speck remains on the ball and keeps up
its fine work all the time that you are
waiting for the eye stone to do its stunt.
AS general thing, 1t is simple mat
ter to remove any foreign substance
from a persons eye. If you catch hold
of the eyelash and draw the lid down
and out and then roll the eye, it's dol
lars to doughnutS that you will soon be
rid of tba noin nroduriuo atom and If
that falls it is generally easy to re
move the spcck with the corner of a
handkerchief If trat doesn't work
any are sto,,a i'm, ll.nly ?, lao of much
use and in sr..h . ,,s, - v.., porsop
will 90 to an orrIf.t fa,. relief But
some of thn r,,,..,.,,r. want do that
81, I,,t
several eve STONES. ;ll I1..,. a+ said
before if fine .lfn... G.,-'. work II is
the drugojs, .nG o.t e.. ~..n.. that
are to hIomn"
"It's ycor.; and va ... .-r, of