COMPARISON BETWEEN ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 
243 
The sponge also belongs to this class of strange animal substances *, 
it consists of a fibrous mass, containing a jelly-like substance, 
which when touched, discovers a slight sensation, the only sign of 
life manifested by it. There are many species of sponge; those 
most valued in the arts are found in the Mediterranean sea and In¬ 
dian ocean. Some grow upon rocks, and are found covering the 
interior of submarine caves. The Spongia parasitica is seen grow¬ 
ing upon the back and legs of a species of crab; sometimes as ma- 
my as forty individual sponges extend themselves over the crab, 
impeding the motion, of its joints, spreading like a cloak over its back, 
or forming for its head grotesque and towering ornaments, from 
which the poor crab vainly attempts to disencumber itself. 
Some species of the sponge grow to a very large size; one has 
been found in the East Indies in the form of a cup, capable of con¬ 
taining ten gallons of water. The fibrous part of the sponge is the 
skeleton of the animal; the large apertures (see fig. 158, 5,) serve to 
carry out fluids from within; while the water by which the animal 
is nourished, is imbibed by minute pores: this continual circulation 
of water is one of the most importantfunctions of the living sponge. 
These animals resemble plants in their manner of producing 
others; they form a species of germ, like the bud growing upon 
the stalk; this falls off from the stem, and becomes a perfect animal. 
If a part of one of these animals is separated from the rest, it will 
itself be as perfect a living animal as was the whole before. A poly¬ 
pus can be divided into as many animals as it contains atoms; 
some of this order are very properly called hydras, (many-headed.) 
Besides these, there is another order of animal substances, infusoria , 
which appear like a homogeneous mass, having no appearance of 
any limbs whatever; these are either angular, oval, or globular. 
LECTURE XL V II. 
COMPARISON BETWEEN ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 
In our last lecture, after a glance upwards to the heavenly bodies, 
we returned to our globe, and considered its various substances; 
here we found two classes of bodies, inorganized and organized 
substances ; the former including minerals, the latter embracing the 
animal and vegetable kingdoms. We then took a brief view of the 
animal creation. 
At the head of the animal kingdom, we found man, sufficiently 
resembling brute animals in his material frame to constitute part of 
an extensive.class, embracing the ape, elephant, and dog; yet be¬ 
tween the lowest degree of intelligence in the human race, and the 
highest faculties of brutes, there is a line of distinction marked by the 
hand of the Almighty, in characters too obvious for doubt. God said, 
“Let us make man in our own image, and he breathed into him the 
breath of life, and man became a living soul.” 
Some writers have attempted to show that man differs only from 
the inferior order of animals in possessing a greater variety of in¬ 
stincts. But however wonderful may appear the instinctive percep¬ 
tion of brutes, they are destitute of reason, and incapable of being 
Sponge—Manner in which these animals are reproduced—Recapitulation—Man at 
the he4Q of the animal kingdom—Row resembling inferior animals. 
