6o HIDDEN BEAUTIES OF NATURE 



ject without noticing two other points. First with 

 regard to the sarcode or flesh of the creature. 

 It was thought to be granular jelly, but on closer 

 scrutiny it was found to be tiny animal cells, 

 each possessed of a single lash or cilium. The 

 sarcode has the power of appropriating from the 

 incurrent streams of water not only the air and 

 food it requires, but also the mineral or other 

 matter it needs for the rearing up of its frame-work. 



It is a most remarkable fact that however care- 

 fully the sarcode may be chemically analysed, that 

 of all classes of sponges is the same, the leathery, 

 the chalky, and the flinty, no difference can be 

 detected between their respective sarcodes. They 

 are invariably alike, yet there is a vast difference 

 in the work accomplished by the sarcodes of the 

 three orders. One sarcode produces a leathery or 

 keratose skeleton, another a calcareous or chalky 

 skeleton, and the third a silicious or flinty skeleton. 



The power by which the sarcodes of these three 

 orders secrete and deposit their respective skeletons 

 depends upon some mysterious principle which 

 refuses to be discovered by chemistry or the micro- 

 scope. We are forced into the belief that some 

 vital principle is at work which is not mere chemi- 

 cal action. This is life, and we must recognise 

 a power and a wisdom exerting their influence in 

 ordering the line of life in these three sarcodes 

 the sources of that power and wisdom being God 

 the author and the giver of life. 



