Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-02-20
CRUELTY no sPoNeEs.
serisus Dsusss Arsusss 10 re osscsse" ~
setsnsine rsssssssy.
lIondon Tclcxrsph.I

A scientific professor Of New South
Wales congratuIates himself upon hav-
ing discovered the nervous system y
Of sponges; but il is not easy to deter
mine on what grounds the congrssuIa-
ton is based. II had been hoped that
sponges had no nervous system. In
deed. naturalists. with a consideration
for popular sentiment which Is all too
frequently wanting IN them, had been
careful to conceal the fact that these
poor adjuncts of the tub possessed
nerve: and even il they knew OF them,
said nothing. In order to disguise their
amiable withholding Of the facts they
had got into the habit Of telling US
that spongcs were multicellular animals
in which the sndodermal layer charac-
teristically consists partly or wholly
Of flagellated collared cells. "in .
word" said these well-intentioned sa-
wants, they are metazos." Aftcr this
nobody could really have any very deli
cate scruples about washing his face
with one, for the description applies al
most as exactly TO honeycomb bath
towel as to sponge. and il would have
been an exceptional squcamishness that
objected TO soaping faggcllated col
Jared cell. The line of scropulousness
has to be drawn somewhere, and, a.
most sublunary things are metszoa,"
there was not much to choose, IN the
way Of humanity OF regard for tho
things feelings, between the nail-brush
and sponge. Beside. as every child
who has paid proper attention to Mrs.
Mangnall. of piolls memory, is aware.
the sponge. as the ordinary bather
knows, is only the skeleton Of the origi-
nal object, or of a whole colony Of OBJ
jects. Its bodily stuff was carefully
removed when being prepared for mar
ket. and nothing but a framework Of
material resembling flannel, which these
poor animals are content to call their
skeletons, was left. Finally it has been
diligently explained to the public that
even this outer she'll was really nSt so
much the covering of bodies as dwell
ings. SO that scnSitiyeness with regard
to their use was obviously reduced TO
minimum. Readers Of Rabelais" "
NAV remember how Pantagrucl ate
lettuce leaf in the wrinkles of which
some poor friarS had taken refuge.
He rinscd the salad so as 10 re-
move any considerable impurities that
might be upon it, but he did not notice
the monks and swallowed them. Yet
the giant was quite innocent of any un-
kind intention toward the cowling fugi-
tiveS-mdccd. his subsequent conduct
with regard to them goes to prove that
be was most amicably disposed in favor
of their order. When. therefore. a man
takes up a handful of sponge AMI
souses his face with It. he need not feel
uncomfortable about the inconvenience
he is causing. for he is so much larger
than the creatures he uses that the 0nus
of establishing their identity must really
be left 10 them. Otherwise We Shoald
have TO 90 on apologizing forever if We
once committed ourselves to the lnvesti-
CATION of microscopic grievances.
1t becomes. however, avery different
matter when professors begin to speak
of nervous systems, for if sponges have
nervous systems they are, obviously,
liable to b. shocked. When the elderly
passenger meets with n railway acci-
dent the company hrs always to take
into calculation the shock given TO his
nervous system. and if counsel for the
defence are to he believed it is aston
ishng how many serious criminals de-
serve sympathy rather than punishment
on account Of the same calamity. Con-
sidering, therefore, the importance Of
nerves. it becomes question how far
We are justified in subjecting sponges
to their present treatment. In order
TO increase the supply they are cut up
into little pieces about an inch square,
and "dibbled ont into rows as IL
they were cabbages. They are planted,
in fact. like vegetables. and the growth
is so steady and rapid as to make deep
sea gardening very profitable. Tho
artificial sponges are always regularly
globular, and therefore preferable 10 tho
irrcgularly-shaped creatures that have
matured in freedom. But is this sponge
farming moral: Are we justified IN
cutting up creatures with nervous sys-
... .,,I,. a NIB .,.I Al
ing them down in the sea-mudy For a
long time the prevailing ideas about this
class of beast--lor We may as well call
it a beast as anything else--were 'li-
yided between the vegetable and ami
NAL theories. and the botanst and
the zoologist made very fair
fight of it. until one day a pa
tient observer. examining through q
powerful microscope bit Of sponge in
watch-glass, saw that the thing was
drawing in the water and ejecting it
again, and that the particles Of matter
it swallowed were quite different from
those it returned. The tiny fragment,
in fact, turned into range Of mimic
volcanoes and whirlpools, the former
casting out streams of debris, the latter
sucking down everything that floated
near it. The impetuosity Of the pro-
cess, the furious rapidity Of the torrents
as they hurled out from the cavities
masses Of Opaque matter, was not de-
preciated by the fact Of the phenomena
transpiring in the limited area ofa watch
glass, and the spectator describes the
scene in terms that would have
befitted the most terrific terrestrial con-
vulsions, such a. the earthquake Of Lis
bon or the destruction Of Pompeii.
After this discovery rapid steps were
made. and eventually the botanists were
compelled to concede the complicated
organism to the biologists, and, so "a
speak, throw up the sponge. There
still, however, remained to be decided
the curious point as to how much Of th,
thing could be called alive. That, as q
whole, it was living, there was ns
longer any doubt; but where did th,
animate part of it begin and where end
Nor. unless this Australian professor
has thrown any new light upon tn.
point, can the controversy be consid
| cred To be by any means settled vet