Of What Sponges Consist

Tbc common washing ppooge is sti 1 considered by uiany naturalista aa u vegetable species, and in fact most people look upoa it as a vegetable growt'ü. Still, it seemsnow to ba definitely established that it belongs to thoss low forma of aaimalculie that are comprised under the term znophytes. "Will you make U9 believe," here you exclaim, "that this fibrous network, in which one is unable to detcot tho least indioation of anythiog that remiuds us of animal life, is not a raoss orsomothing like it ?" Exactly so. However, thu sponge which you use daüy io y ablulions, and whiob forms one of Ihe most iadispensabla articlcs of the toilet, is uot the animal as it lives and thrives, but ooly its horny substance, its skelcton, if you like to cali it fo. When cut loose from the submarine rooks on wbieh it id found at considerable depih, the sponge presenta itself to jou as a black, jelly like mas?, whioh, when left in the air for only a few days, will give oíF a most disagreeable smuli, originating from the gelatinous part ín ques ion. In the natural sponge, you have notoGe single individual beforo you, but a regular colony of animálculo). The elasiic, horn-like net-work of your toilet table is then impregnatcd to its inuermost pruts with sliuiy eubatance that is penetrated throughout by fino capilisry tubes, not visible to the naked eye. Upou examining this curious being further, exceediugly fine cilia (eyelashee) will be discovcred. They project around the entráñeos of tho poren, and by their motion produce a current which, io passing through the numberl'jss tubes, leaves behind whatever they may need as food. The horny net-work is probably only their eecretiou, like tho house of the snail. But that the sponge is of animal origin is dow proven by tho discovery of spermatozoa and embryos ■o the interior, as we!l as by the composition of the fibrous elastio part itself, which contains ono of the coustituents of filk and the spider's web. In order to prepare it for use, it is first left in air for a short time, until tho gelatinous part is decomposed, tben the mats is washed in hot water, and aftcrward in a bath of diluta muriatic acid. The toilet sponges ure bleached by means of chlorine and hyposulphite of soda. The so-called wax eponges, that aro used by doctors for dressing ulcers, are purified sponges dipped into fluid was, and then pressod between hot plates. Thfl Freuch and Austrian Governments have lately commenced to rear sponges artificially - the former on the shoros of the Mediterranean, the latter on the coast of Dalmatia. The cultivation is said to be perfeotly succes?ful, and to yield largo