Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1869-07-31
A Sponge aud VIVA. j. +.

s'What is sponge made OFF, said
George, grasping, snufiing, and
winking under his Croton bath. No
one near could tell him
Now listen, little George, and /
will tell you what sponge is.
The very sponge which washes
your face was brought up from the
bottom of the ocean. and part of a
living animal. For a long time
sponges were supposed to be plants.
Messrs. Agassiz and Gould, in 1913,
called them SO but later obserya-
tions have decided them to be ami
mails and they are placed in the class
ProtoZoa, the class most resembling
plants.
When first found in the water their
appearance is very different from this
which you now see. This is the skele-
ton only, thepart corresponding to our
bones. When this was complete
living thing, deep down under the
ocean, it was covered all over the
outside, and filled in every one of
these holes with a soft substance
something like the white of an egg,
and this was like our flesh. 1t was
fastened tightly to a rock, and it's
color was dull blush black on the
upper side and dirty white below.
1t was formerly supposed to be a
plant, because it was always fast in
one place but for other reasons it
is decidedly an animal. All through
the mass is regular circulation,
like our blood and food. 1t has been
seento absorb nutritious matter--that
is, to eat, or rather to drink. You see
all over its surface orifices or holes /;
these communicate with each other
throughout. Into the larger OF
| these, called pores, the sea-water is
| constantly entering, and out of the
smaller ones, called vents, it is reg
ularly spouted, and it doubtless
finds in the sea-water minute ami
mails which serve it for food and in
crease its bulk.
And this strange animal produces
| others like itself. / will tell you
| how.
| From the soft part d little globule
| is seen to float off and after moving
about awhile very briskly here and
| there, as II looking for place, it
| fastens itself to some rock. Next
gradually begins to be seen the more
solid skeleton what we have here),
| the soft part increases, and so it
| grows, not very slowly, either; for
| the divers find it at the end of three
| years large enough to bring away.
| To get these sponges from the bot
| tom Of the ocean furnishes oCcupa-
ton for a great number of people.
| One thousand men are busy in the
| Grecian Archipelago alone; and
thousands besides, with many hun
dred boats are engaged in the Gulf OF
! Machri, on the Barbary coast, and
elsewhere I; 80 that in many villages
there-from May to September-the
best diving time-Only old men, wo
men, and children, can be found.
The finest kind is brought from the
Egean sea. Atdaylightin the sum-
mer time, when the weather is pleas
ant-for 1t requires smooth water
the boats with six or eight men and
one pair of oars, will leave shore
and proceed to where the water is
eight or ten or even thirty fathoms
deep, for those found in shallow water
are very inferior.
Here they stop, and the divers
hoop around his neck, and to this
fastens bag, In which the sponges
are put as they are gathered. In
very deep water the diver uses &
rope with a heavy stone to it. He
sinks the stone to the spot he intends
to reach, and this holds the rope
steady, which he uses to assist him
| self coming up again to the surface.
After being busy thus till noon
| they return to some of those pleas
ant little hooks which abound on
the shores of the archipelago to pre-
pare what they have gathered fit
| for sale.
The first thing to press out the
soft part of the animal, and then to
| bleach the remainder in the sun SC
they beat them and stamp on them
and trample them till there is no
more life left. The skeleton part is
then washed and spread in the sun
until 1T is quite clean and grows to
be this dull yellowish color: then it
is packed in bags and sent to marke eft
for sale and to all parts of Asia,
Europe and America and used mostly
for washing purposes.