CHAPTER YIIL 



SPONGES. 



MONG ancient na- 

 tions the sponge was 

 used as a soft and elastic 

 lining for the brazen hel- 

 mets of their soldiers, and 

 many other purposes. It 

 has long been a matter of 

 debate among naturalists 

 whether sponges should be 

 classed among the vegeta- 

 ble or animal kingdoms ^ 

 they are now generally 

 placed under the order Zoo- 

 phytCy or plant animals. 



Aristotle, the greatest of 

 ancient philosophers, who 

 was born three hundred 

 and eighty-four years 

 before Christ, de- 

 scribed the sponge as 

 a stationary or root- 

 ed animal: but 



