Sponge. 
603 
^^^^S^P^wwn^ 
SPONGE. 
Sponge is a substance of a soft, light, porous, and elastic 
nature, which is found adhering to rocks at the bottom 
of the sea, in several parts of the Mediterranean, and 
particularly near the islands of the Grecian Archipelago ; 
and which, in its natural state, is filled with animal jelly. 
The general uses of Sponge, arising from its ready 
absorption of fluids, and distension by moisture, are well 
known and of great importance. It is colled ed from 
rocks, in water five or six fathoms deep, chiefly by divers. 
When first taken from the sea, it has a strong and fishy 
smell, from the animal matter it contains, of which it is 
divested by being washed in clear water. No other pre- 
paration than this is requisite previously to its being 
packed up for exportation and sale. The growth of 
Sponge is so rapid, that it is frequently found in perfec- 
tion on rocks, from which, only two years before, it had 
been entirely cleared. 
As they are never designed to move from their places 
of abode, the surface of the Sponges is covered with innu- 
