The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1875-07-03
Commercial SpongeS,

Commercial Sponges.
It is sad to consider how much W,
lose in every walk of life through lacl
of a little observation. There are few
stonemasons who, like Hugh Miller, are
led to become noted biologists by no
ting and studying the beautiful fossils il
stones they chisel. A butcher may cnt
up beeves and porkers by the hundreds
or fisherman spend long life on the
shore, without noticing the most oh.
vious points of interest and instruction
in the physical structure of bis victims
and only when a paturalists calls his at.
tention to the beautiful adaptations,
which have before passed nnnoticed,
will he have his interest profoundly ex-
cited which may ever after give him a
new motive and zest in his work. The
most of lis will use sponges in an in
definite variety of ways, all our lives,
how they were formed whether they
ere plants, animals, or neither, or what
are their history and habits.
The ordinary sponges of commerce.
which we use SO extensively, have but
little resemblance to animals or plants,
and belong to a class of organic bodies
concerning the sflinities and proper
classification of which there has been
much doubt. And this doubt has led
naturslists to apply the question beg
ging appellation of zoopbytes, or plant
animals, to these aud similsr organisms.
They are now generally considered mem
bers of the animal kingdom. The parts
we use are the mere skeletons. COM
posed of a kind of horny subs ance.
The animal itself is soft, Jelly like,
amorpbous mass, which fl ids up all the
intercellular spaces, lines the tubular
canals, and forms a jet black or some.
times dark purplish skin on the out
side, covering the whole skeleton, ex-
cepting the larger openings, which pro-
ject beyond its general surface. In
this form the sponge exists in the water,
and, ont of its native element, ID hard
and glistening on the outside, and very
resembles piece of liver.
The mode of life in this low order of
which is regarded as a COM
pound animal, is very simple. end We
would be disposed to call it extremely
Sponges grow, by a kind
of lichen like root, to some foreign OBJ
ject on the sea-foor, and never move
from their position they have no
power to contract or expand their body
as a whole, or any part of it (: and they
are quite insensible to every sort of
irritation. Their only power seems to
be that of absorbing large quantities
of water, which they again yield up on
pressure without any injury to their
texture. The water, which perneates
their whole mass, and maintains q con
skeleton soft and elastic, brings to the
!. 10 fba ond food m, which tbaxy
snbsist, and carries away waste matter
from the body.
On examination of sponge skeleton,
it will be seen that the porus surface
is finer and of closer texture than the
that there are large aperturcs
Unfortunately over the sur
face, and between these arc much
finer openings, covering the complete
outer surface of the sponge. The lat
Ter are called pores, and serve as chan
nels of entrance to the water, which,
after circulating through the body by
means of the torturOus and branching
canals which make up it's inner skeleton,
passes out at the larger openings. |
These chimney-like apertures are called
but the name is a mlsnomer, for |
hey are, in reality, vents. They vary
IN number in the different species, and |
ire sometimes reduced to a single one. |
By what force the water is made to cir |
,ulate through the sponge mass is not |
known. Some have attributed |
t to vibratile ellie, planted within the |
1orus canals which, by their motion,
:reate circulation in the water. 9th
RS ascribe it to the principle of osmO-
Iis, by which membranes of all animals,
md many other porus substances trans
nit fluids and gases according to their
lensity and power to act on the trans
hitting substance.
When obtained for commercial pur.
POSES, the animal matter can be re-
moved by soaking it a long time in salt
water and THEREAFTER it is rotted by
his demonstrating it out. This leaves
he horny skeletons just as we use
hem.
The finest sponges of commerce come
rom the Mediterranean sea. Our best
path sponges are doubtless from this
ocality, but the coarser spOnges we
zee most commonly are largely from
he coast of Florida or the Bahama Is
ands. Sponges are found abundantly
n tropical waters generally, anu per
laps nowhere more abundant than in
he seas of the Australian islands,
Th~y gradually decrease in numbers
TOWARDS the colder latitudes till they
become satirely extinct. They vary
much IN shape. Some are beautifully
shaped like -ase, others are semi
cylindrical, others nearly flo. like an
open fan some are braDched nha the
opened fingers OF a hand, and are called
glove sponges, and i'll others these i
branches seem to be reduced to only |
one, which is shaped somewhat like IL
club. These different shapes may be-
long to one species, and the differences |
are due, 80 far as known, to the fact |
that the first mentioned are found in |
deep water, and they grade, in the
order described, mp to the last, which
grow in much shallower water,
Sponges are not confined to recent |
seas, though the commercial ones are |
not known to have existed earlier, be-
cause the ktratose matter furnishes
hardly favorable conditions for petri-
faction. In the Colite and chalk for
nations, sponges containing hIBty spI
cules were very abundant /; and in most
Of the earlier formations, large sponges
calcareous spIcules abound
cd. These very closely resemble corals,
and J. mista: =. by !
60.