272 
Syrian  Sponges. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm, 
\       June,  1875 
shows  no  sign  of  oxydation  and  dissolution.  The  rubber  coating  is 
done  very  quickly  with  a  concentrated  chloroformic  solution.  The 
dipping  in  and  drying  is  repeated  several  times.  I  have  furnished  now 
all  the  burettes  used  by  my  students  with  this  simpler  contrivance 
($1.00)  and  have  found  my  expectations  more  than  realized.  The  sur- 
face of  contact  between  the  rubber  and  the  standard  solutions  is  so 
small,  that  a  deteriorating  influence  on  the  latter  could  not  be  noticed. 
I  must  acknowledge  my  obligation  to  Mr.  J.  Zentmayer,  the  well- 
known  optician  and  mechanician,  of  this  city,  for  the  practical  execu- 
tion of  my  ideas  and  for  many  valuable  suggestions  in  the  course  of  my 
experiments. — Proc.  Jmer.  Philos.  Society^  vol.  xiv^  p.  220. 
Laboratory,  Uninjersity  of  Pennsylvania. 
SYRIAN  SPONGES. 
The  latest  project  before  the  Acclimatization  Society  of  Paris  is  the 
cultivation  of  the  celebrated  Syrian  sponge  in  the  waters  of  Southern 
France,  a  valuable  and  most  useful  product,  which,  like  many  another 
gift  of  the  sea,  is  in  danger  of  extermination  through  excessive  fishing. 
The  sponge-producing  grounds  of  Syria  occur  along  the  coast,  from 
Mount  Carmel  in  the  south  to  Alexandretta  in  the  north,  the  centers 
of  production  being  Tripoli,  Ruad,  Lattakia  and  Bartroun,  on  the  coast 
of  Mount  Lebanon.  The  best  qualities  are  found  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Tripoli  and  Bartroun.  According  to  a  late  report  of  the  British 
vice-consul  at  Beyrout,  as  many  as  three  hundred  boats  are  engaged  in 
the  fishery  ;  the  annual  yield,  though  falling  off^  through  the  exhaustion 
of  the  grounds,  still  amounts  to  $100,000  to  $125,000.  The  majority 
of  the  boats  used  are  ordinary  fishing  boats,  from  eighteen  to  thirty  feet 
in  length,  three  parts  decked  over,  and  carrying  one  mast  with  an  or. 
dinary  lug  sail.  They  are  manned  by  a  crew  of  four  or  five  men,  one 
to  haul  and  the  rest  to  serve  as  divers. 
In  former  years  the  coast  was  much  frequented  by  Greek  divers  from 
the  islands  of  the  Archipelago  ;  the  number  is  now  restricted  to  five 
or  six  boats  a  year,  the  skill  of  the  Syrian  combined  with  his  better 
knowledge  of  the  fishing  grounds,  enabling  him  to  compete  successfully 
with  his  foreign  rival. 
Diving  is  practised  from  a  very  early  age  up  to  forty  years,  afte^ 
which  few  are  able  to  continue  the  pursuit  profitably.  The  depth  to 
which  the  diver  descends  varies  from  five  to  thirty  "  brasses,"  or  from 
twenty-five  to  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet.    The  time  he  is  able 
