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POPXJLAE SCIENCE REVIEW. 
Among these may be mentioned Professor Owen_, who said^ 
that if a line could be drawn between the animal and vege- 
table kingdom_, the sponges should be placed upon the vege- 
table side of the line and^ acting on this conviction_, he did 
not include them in the groups enumerated in his Lectures 
on the Invertebrate Animals^,^'’ published in 1843. The learned 
author of the History of British Sponges and Litho- 
phytes^-’ (1842) does not hesitate to speak of them as ‘^^true 
Zoophytes ; but in the preface to that work he expresses 
himself with characteristic caution. The class may be said 
to occupy at present a piece of debateable land_, lying between 
the confines of the two organic kingdoms^, — too poor and 
barren to be an object of contest with the subjects of either^ 
and readily relinquished to the occupation of any eccentric 
borderer who may find his pleasure in cultivating an intimacy 
with its rude tenantry/^ These words_, from the pen of Dr. 
Johnston^ come naturally from one who was an inhabitant of 
the old border country^ and lived in the good town of Berwick- 
upon-Tweed. There he exercised the laborious profession of 
a country practitioner^ cultivating with ardour his natural 
history pursuits^ and ever making fresh accessions to his 
knowledge of the antiquarian and legendary lore of the dis- 
trict. In tracing the history of opinion as to the nature of 
sponges, we have freely availed ourselves of his labours. The 
knowledge of their organization has been greatly increased 
since the publication of his volume in 1842, and is certain to 
be much further augmented ; but the student will still gladly 
turn to the writings of Dr. Johnston for an array of facts 
collected with vast research, skilfully condensed, and arranged 
so as to admit of easy reference. Such a record, figuring the 
nature of the time deceased,^'’ appeals to our common humanity, 
and has an interest over and above the scientific facts and 
opinions which it embodies. 
Yfe do not profess at present to go into minute details regard- 
ing either the structure or physiology of sponges, and we there- 
fore pass by a valuable paper on the Anatomy of the Genus 
Tethya/’ written by Professor Huxley,* and giving promise of 
the eminence which he has since attained ; also some excellent 
communications by Mr. Carter, on the sponges in the fresh- 
water tanks at Bombay. f We do so because our space is limited, 
and we wish to quote some of Dr. Bowerbank^s observations 
on the vitality of sponges, { a subject to which some degree of 
popular interest is attached. 
* “Annals Nat. Hist,,” vol. vii. Second series, 1851, p. 370. 
t Idem, vol. xx., 1857. Third series, vol. iii., 1859. 
X “ On the Vitality of the Spongiadse.” Eeports of British Association,. 
185G-1857. The facts are embodied in his Paper in “ Trans. Eoyal Society,”' 
