Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1910-04-29
HOW EYESTONES ACT
THEIR MOVEMENTS WHEN PLACED
IN LIME-JUICE OR VINEGAR.

THEIR MOVEMENTS WHEN PLACED
IN LIME-JUICE OR VINEGAR.
Have Appearance of Life-Their Motion Is
Caused by carbonic Acid Gas Evolved by
Contact With the Liquid Acid - The
Cleansing Process Is a Journey Over the
Eyeball.
New York Press
The druggist took a small bottle
from a drawer and emptied from it a
few tiny objects that looked like fat
round bits of polished bone. He
picked up one and handed it over
for inspection. One side of it was
marked with numerous concentric
grooves.
That is an eye stone," said the
druggist. He poured tablespoonful
of liquid out Of a bottle into q saucer
like dish and diluted it with water.
And this" said he, "is a weak
solution of lime juice" The drug
gist took one of the eyestone and
placed it in the solution. Presently
it began to move as if it was alive.
II made its way slowly about in diff
ferent directions in the liquid in a
mysterious manner.
That strange movement of the
eyestone, said the druggist. when
placed in a week solution of lime
juice or vinegar has given rise among
ignorant and superstitious people to
the notion that it has life and that
it loves vinegar and loves to swim in
it above anything. But there is no
more life in a eyestone than there is
in q paving stone. 1t is composed OF
calcareous material and when placed
in the solutions named is made to
moveabout by carbolic acid gas, which
is evolved by contract with the liquid
acid.
These little stones and all genuine
eyestones once were the front doors,
so to speak, of the shells of a little
molluscous animal that lives along
the South American east coasts. The
shell Of the little creature is a un-
ivalve. This calcareous is on the
tip end of the mollusk, and when it
draws itself into its shell to escape
danger or 60 to sleep the end, oil
course. is the last part that is drawn
into the cavity or mouth of the shell,
where it fits so closely and so hard
that it affords perfect protection to
the animals against its enemies from
without.
THE natives collect these little
mollusks in large numbers for NO
other purpose than toSecure the eye
stones, as we call them, and they
hold them in great awe, believing
them to possess supernatural attri.
butes. Sailors on the vessels en-.
gagged in the fruit trade with those
regions obtain the stones from the
natives and bring them here for sale
to the wholesale druggist, and there
was time when the demand for them
generally was quite large.
There is nothing better to re.
move foreign substances from the eye
than one of these South American
eyestones, which use is what gives
them their name. Many people think
that before using them it is neces.
sary to put them in vinegar to give
them life, but it is not necessary al
all. The stone inserted at one corner OF
the eye, with the grooved side next
to the lid, the pressure of the eye
ball forces it to move about in the
eye, and the grooves collect the for
eign matter and retain it. After
making q thorough 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 the common crawfish
there are two little bones, just back
of and beneath the eyes, which re-
semble the South American eye
stones, about the only difference be-
ing that they are smooth all over in
stead Of grtpvtd OH one side. These
crawfiSh bones are known as eye
stones and are used as such in the
West, but they have few of the vir-
tues of the real eyestone. Their
proper name is crab stones. In PO-
land and parts of Russia quite a
trade is found in the collecting oil
these crab stones. The crawfish are
taken and buried in deep pits. where
they are left to dry and rot. The
refuse is then washed and the stones
are picked out. They are not used
in those countries as eyestones, but
are taken internally, faith in their
benofcent stomachic properties be.
ing great"
Mist Pudding.