On supporting science journalism
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How many associations of joy and sorrow are conjured up by t hat one word, but we are not going to be sentimental, so we shall stick to the science of them. They are a peculiar limpid fluid secreted by the lacrymal or crying glands, and are intended to preserve the transparency of the cornea of the eye by keeping it moist, and removing foreign substances. In man the passions excite their flow, but it is questionable if they are so caused in the lower animals. Their specific gravity is somewhat greater than that of water, and they contain common salt and free soda, they change vegetable blues to green, in one hundred parts there are only four of solid matter, one of which is salt, the rest being mucus, which separates in flakes when alcohol is poured on them.
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