42 
GLASS SPONGES. 
release. ‘‘ Not an hour longer,” says one, 
and another with wearied complaint ex- 
claims ; “ God, in letting me remain so long 
upon the earth, seems actually to have for- 
gotten me.” 
But we have returned to the starting-point 
of our investigations. Can great age be 
secured by human endeavor ? Probably 
not. The European and the negro, the 
Chinese and the American, the civilized 
man and the savage, the rich and the poor, 
the dweller in cities and he that lives in the 
country, differing so much from one another 
in some respects, all resemble one another 
in having the same allotment of time to pass 
from birth to death ; and the variations of 
climate, food and conveniences, seem to 
have but little to do with the prolongation 
of life. Abnormal instances of longevity are 
doubtless the result of a certain bodily and 
mental predisposition to great age. The man 
that lives long probably possesses strong nat- 
ural powers of restoration and healing. These 
depend more or less for their fulfillment upon 
a tranquil life^ an absence of irritability^ and a 
contented disposition. And let there be added 
to these a firm reliance on the mercy and wis- 
dom of that Divine Power “ in whose hands 
our breath is, and whose are all our ways.” 
For the original portraits from which the 
illustrations of this paper are taken we are 
indebted to the following sources : — Old 
Parr, “The World of Wonders;” Parr’s 
Cottage in Shropshire, and Countess of 
Desmond, “ Chambers’s Book of Days ; ” 
Henry Jenkins, “ Bailey’s Records of Lon- 
gevity ; ” Peter Garden, the “ New Wonder- 
ful Magazine;” John Rovin and wife, and 
Peter Zartan,“ Kirby’s Wonderful Museum ; ” 
Count Waldeck, the “ London Illustrated 
News.” The portrait of Frederick Lahrbush 
is from a photograph taken in 1875. 
Missouri c - . “n* 
^^jEORGE ENGELmaNN k Fvr:ii?S 
GLASS SPONGES. 
The distinction which our present knowl- 
edge enables us to make between the hum- 
blest forms of animal and vegetable life is a 
functional, rather than a chemical or a sensi- 
ble one. It lies in what they do, rather than 
in what they are. The lowest representa- 
tives of both kingdoms are included under 
the same general term. Protozoon and pro- 
tophyte are alike called protoplasm, and ap- 
pear to possess the same intrinsic qualities. 
The practical difference between animal 
and vegetable life consists in their respective 
powers of assimilation. Plants take in as nu- 
triment the inorganic elements of earth and 
air ; by the subtle chemistry of nature, in her 
dark and silent laboratory underground, the 
lifeless minerals of the earth are wrought 
into living tissues, endowed with the capac- 
ity for growth and reproduction. Except in 
the Fungi, this transmutation, of inorganic into 
organic matter is believed to be accomplish- 
ed, only under the controlling influence of 
light. Animal vitality is sustained only by 
the material thus transmuted ; all the solid 
nutriment necessary for the maintenance of 
animal life must have been converted into 
vegetable, or reconverted into animal tissue 
before it can fulfill its purpose. Man, sur- 
rounded by all the wealth of inorganic na- 
ture, would perish if there were not every- 
where about him millions of busy little al- 
chemists unceasingly at work day and night, 
Botanical 
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