The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1910-05-02
HOW EYEsTONEs ACT
Their Movements When Placed
In Lime Juice or Vinegar.
HAVE APPEARANCE OF LIFE.

Their Motion 10 Caused By carbonic
Acid Gas Evolved BY Contact With
the Liquid Acid-Ths Cleansing Proc
sss In Journey Over the eyebail.
The druggist took small bottle
from a dra wer and emptied from 1t
few tiny objects that booked like nat.
round bits of polished bone. he pick
Cd up one and handed II over for IN
spection. One side of 1t was marked
with numerous conceutric grooves
: That fsaB eyestone,r sid the drug
gist. He poured q tablespoonful or so
Of liquid out OF bottle into a saucer
like dish and diluted 1t with water.
"And this" said he. IFS a weak solu-
ton of lime Juice" The druggist took
one Of the eyestones and placed II in
the solution. Presently 1t began to
move as II it were alive. It made it's
way slowly about In different direc-
tons In the liquid IN mysterious
manner
''That strange movement Of the eye
stone" said the druggist. when plac-
ed in a weak solution of lime Juice or
vinegar has given rise among ignorant
and superstitious people to the notion
that II has life and that 1t loves vine
gar and loves to swim In It above all
things. But there Is no more life I'm an
eyestone than there is In a paving
stone. 1t is composed of calcareous
material and when placed In the solu-
tons uamed is made to move about by
carbonic acid gas. which Is evolved by
contact with the liquid acid.
'These little stones and all genuine
eyestones once were the front doors;
so to speak. Of the shells of little
molluscous animal that lives along the
South American east coasts. The shell
of that little creature Is univalve.
This calcareous formation Is Oh the
tip end of the mollusk. and when IL
draws itself into its shell 20 escape
danger or go to sleep the end. Of
course, Is the last part that Is drawn
into the cavity or mouth of the SHE'LL
where it fits so closely and is so bard
that 1t affords perfect protection to
the animal against its enemies from
without
1.-The natives collect these little mol
lusks in large numbers for no other
purpose than to secure the eyestones.
as we call them, and they hold them
In great awe. believing them TO pos
sess supernatural attributes: Sailors
on the vessels engaged In the fruit
trade with those regions obtain the
stones from the natives and bring
them here for sale to the wholesale
druggists. and there was a time when
the demand for them generally was
quite large.
There is nothing better to remove
foreign substances from the eye than
one of these South American eye
stones. which use is what gives them
their name. Many people think that
before using them 1t is necessary 10
put them In vinegar to give them
life,' but il is not necessary at all
The stone is inserted at one corner OF
the eye. with the grooved side next 10
the lid The pressure of the eyebail
forces ii to move about in the eve. and
the grooves collect the foreign matter
and retain il. After making a thor
ough circuit of the eye the stone will
come out at the corner next TO the
nose. No Inconvenience is caused by
its presence
There are other eyestones. In the
head Of our common crawtisb there
are two little bones. just back of and
beneath the eyes. which resemble the
South American eyestones. about the
only difference being that they arr
smooth all over instead of eTooved OF
one side These crawtish bones are
known as eyestones and are used a:
such In the west. but they have Dont
of the virtues of the real eyestODe
Their proper name is crab stones. II
Poland and parts of Russia quite
trade Is found in the collecting O
these crab stones. The craw6sh arr
taken and buried In deep pits, wher'
they are left to die and rot The refus
is then washed and the stones ar
picked out. They are not used 4
those countries as eyestoues. bur ar
taken internally. faith in their benea
cent stomachic properties being greaa