April 27, 1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
867 
but occurring in greatest abundance among tbe lower 
forms of animal life. They are constantly in motion 
while the creature lives, and even continue to move for 
’Some time after life has become extinct. The cause of 
this motion is attributed to waves in the protoplasm to 
which the cilia are attached. Dr. Grant believes that 
-such cilia exist in all sponges, though from their minute¬ 
ness in certain species, we have not yet been able to dis¬ 
cover their presence. 
A living sponge may thus be fitly described as a 
"large and populous city, all honey-combed over with in¬ 
numerable streets and lanes, and whose protoplasmic 
inhabitants ever sit, like Eastern shopkeepers, out doors, 
and make their living by picking up whatever treasure 
fortune may put in their way. Nor are they totally un¬ 
provided with instruments for seizing their prey. In 
common with the Amoeba, they have the power of sending 
-out prolongations of their own substance, known as 
pseudopodia, or false feet; and casting these across the 
watery channel, they lie in wait for the unfortunate 
animalcule that has just been allured by the ever-wav¬ 
ing cilia to enter in at the outside pore, heedless of the 
.-shattered remains of fellow animalcules that are being 
•constantly ejected from the neighbouring osculum. 
With regard to their mode of propagation, the parent 
sponge throws off little masses of protoplasm, which are 
taken xip by the current passing along the canals, and 
-sent out into the world of waters through the oscula. 
They float about in the water by means of cilia, specially 
developed for this stage of their existence, and for some 
time show considerable activity. Their appetite at this 
season also appears to be enormous. On this point, Mr. 
.Carter, of Bombay, furnishes us with some interesting 
.particulars. In one case “he saw one of these proteans 
-approach a gelatinous body, something like a sluggish 
or dead one of its kind, and equal to itself in size, and 
Raving lengthened itself out so as to encircle it, send 
processes over and under it from both sides, which 
uniting with each other, at last ended in a complete ap¬ 
proximation of the opposite folds of the cell wall 
throughout their whole extent, and in the enclosure of 
the object within the duplicature. Even while the pro¬ 
tean was thus spreading out its substance into a mere 
film to surround so lai-ge an object, a tubular prolonga¬ 
tion was sent out by it in another direction to seize and 
.•enclose in the same way a large germ which was lying 
near it. After having secured both objects, the protean 
pursued its course rather more slowly than before, but 
still shooting out its dentiform processes with much ac¬ 
tivity. It took about three-quarters of an hour to per¬ 
form these two acts.” Mr. Dallas, in his work on 
Natural History, also states : “ That not unfrequently 
.combats take place between two of these singular 
.creatures, when, if the size of the combatants be nearly 
equal, they merely twist about for a short time and then 
;separate, but if there be any great disparity in bulk, the 
.larger one swallows up his antagonist without remorse.” 
.After leading this roaming life for a while, they gra¬ 
dually lose their cilia, settle down and get attached to 
some object at the bottom, where they begin to build up 
-their skeletons, and assume the form of sponges. 
(To be continued.') 
OLIBANUM. 
At a recent meeting of the Botanical Society of Edin¬ 
burgh, Professor Balfour read the following extract from 
a letter received by Mr. Anderson-Henry from Colonel 
Playfair, dated Algiers, December 20th, 1870:—“When I 
was at Aden, Sir William Hooker wrote to me to say, that 
the tree which produced the Luban maitee, or olibanum of 
the east coast of Africa, was quite unknown to science, 
and he asked me to try and solve the enigma. It was 
Relieved to be a Boswellia, certainly not B. thurijera of 
Mutis, and that was all that was known of it. The 
north-east comer of Africa, around Cape Guardafui, 
where it was obtained, had rarely been visited by Euro¬ 
peans, never by naturalists; and it was some time ere 
I was able to get there. However, a report reached us 
that two men-of-war’s crews had been murdered on that 
coast, and I was sent to investigate the affair in a man- 
of-war. During my stay on that coast, I directed my par¬ 
ticular attention to the gum and resin-producing plants 
for which it is celebrated (it is the Thurifem regio of the 
ancients). I collected six species, which I sent home in 
a dried state to Kew, and Sir William Hooker pro¬ 
nounced them all new to botany. Amongst these was 
the Luban maitee, or true olibanum, the most wonderful 
plant it was ever my fortune to fall in with. It grows 
on not otd of the polished limestone rock by a sort of 
intumescence at the base, like a boy’s sucker fnot a fibre 
seems to penetrate the soil. The district is almost rain¬ 
less, yet the tree exudes its fragrant gum in immense 
quantities. It was not the season to obtain seed, so I 
did what I could by bringing away live plants, some of 
which I sent to Dr. Birdwood at the Victoria Gardens, 
Bombay, and some I planted on the hills at Aden in as 
nearly their natural condition as I could. Of these, a 
number succeeded; and they have at length flowered 
and seeded. A very small quantity of the seed reached 
me from Aden a day or two ago ; and this I share equally 
between Hooker, you, and myself. The problem will be 
to get it to grow. It will require, of course, great heat; 
but in its native climate it gets very little moisture. I 
also send you a small specimen of the gum produced by 
the tree, which I actually gathered myself on the spot, 
and have kept by me ever since. It bears a great re¬ 
semblance to the gum dammar of commerce.” 
COTTON SEEDS. 
BY HORATIO N. FRASER. 
From the time when cotton was first cultivated in the 
United States until within a few years, the lint or fibre was 
the only part used either in medicine or the arts; the 
seed, or all that part not used for re-planting, was con¬ 
sidered as having no value, and was looked on only as 
an incumbrance. Since these seeds weighed nearly 
twice as much as the part formerly used, it became the 
subject of thinking men’s experiments—how they could 
be turned to some use; and the results of these experi¬ 
ments have lead to the discovery and subsequent usage 
of the various products obtained therefrom. 
A chemical analysis of the seeds demonstrated that a 
large percentage of a fixed oil could be produced from 
them, and not only that, but that the kernel might be 
advantageously used for food for animals. This latter 
was tried some years ago, but led to bad results ; for even 
the best gins which were invented could not separate the 
lint entirely from the seeds to which it adhered, conse¬ 
quently this insoluble matter, with the hulls, formed 
hard masses in the stomach, and produced even fatal 
effects from the irritation of the membranes of the intes¬ 
tines. But, to obviate this, hullers have been made 
which decorticate, or remove the hull, with the adhering- 
lint, entirely from the kernel. This is almost an in¬ 
valuable invention for the planter; for, when we consider 
the millions of pounds of cotton which are annually 
produced in the Southern States, and also that the weight 
of seed is double the weight of the other portion, then 
we may be able to estimate the value of these seeds, 
when turned into nutritious food for stock. 
Since small Fullers have been introduced on many of 
the plantations, the planters are enabled to hull their 
own seeds. These are thrown into the top of the hullers, 
and first come in contact with knives, which cut the 
hull; then they are passed through sieves, by whi cli 
process the kernel and hulls are separated. The kernel 
is divided into two portions; the first is that part which 
has been broken or cut by the knives; this is ground to 
make the meal used for feeding, and constitutes one- 
