THE SPONGES. 543, 



Common or officinal sponge. 



demonstration of their being allied, in however 

 humble a station, to a more elevated order of 

 Beings. 



The sponges consist of an entirely ramified 

 mass of capillary tubes, supposed by many to be 

 the production of a species of worms which are 

 often found straying about their cavities. This 



v O 



jtlea is now, however, nearly exploded. Others 

 have imagined them mere vegetables. But that 

 they are possessed of a living principle seems 

 evident from the circumstance of their al- 

 ternately contracting and delating their pores, 

 and shrinking in some degrees from the touch 

 whenever examined in their native waters. From 

 their structure they are capable of absorbing nu- 

 triment, from the fluid in which they are by na- 

 ture immersed. T ne y are the most torpid of all 

 the zoophytes. The species differ very much 

 from each other both in shape and structure. 

 Some are composed of reticulated fibres or mas- 

 ses of small spines : some, as the common or ofH- 

 cinal sponge, are of no regular shape; others are 

 cup-shaped, others tubuhir, 8cc. - The officinal 

 sponge is elastic, and very full of holes : it grows 

 jnto irregular lobes of a woolly consistence, and 

 generally adheres, by a very broad base, to the 

 rocks. It is chiefly found about the islands in 

 the Mediterranean sea, where it forms a conside- 

 rable article of commerce. A variety of small 

 marine animals pierce and gnaw into its irregular 

 winding cavities. These appear on the outside, 



