The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1890-10-04
THE LIFE OF A SPONGE.
ITS DEVELOPMENT FROM ARTICLES
OF PROTOPLASM.

How the Work of Nutrition Is Carried
On-PecuIiar characteristics of a Very
Common ArticIe-A Familiar Scientific
Talk by Noted Man. \
First Of all we may note that sponge,
as we know it in common life, is the
horny skeleton or framework which WIS
made by and which supported the Hv-
ing parts. These living parts consist of
minute masses of that living Jelly to
which the name of protoplasm has been
applied, This, in truth, is the universal
matter of life. 1t is the one substance
with which life everywhere is associated,
and as we see it simply i'll the sponge, so
also we behold it (only in more complex
guise) in the man.
Now the living parts of this dried
castaway sponge were found both in its
interior and on its surface. They lined
the canals that everywhere permeate the
sponge like substance, and microscopic
examination has told us great deal
about their nature. For whether found
in the canals of the sponge themselves or
imbedded in the sponge substance, the
living sponge particles are represented
each by asemi-independentm mass of proto-
plasm. So that the first view would have
you take of the sponge as n living mass is
that it is a colony and not a single unit.
1t is composed, in other words, of aggre-
gated masses of living particles which
bud out one from the other and manufac-
ture the supporting skeleton we know as
"the sponge of commerce. itself,
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE.
Under the microscope these living
sponge units appear in various guises and
shapes Some of them are formless, and,
as to shape, ever altering masses, resem.
bling that familiar animalcule Of ou1
pools we know as the ameba. The
members of the sponge colony form the
bulk of the population, They are i'm.
bedded in the sponge substance; they
wander about through the meshes of the
sponge; they seize food and flourish and
grow; and they probably give origin tC
the eggs" from which new sponges are
in due course produced.
More characteristic, however, are Ger
tain units of this living sponge colony
which live in the lining membrane of the
canals. In point of fact, sponge is :
kind of Venice, a certain proportion o
whose inhabitants, like the famous queer
of the Adriatic herself lived ON the
banks of the waterways. just as il
Venice we find provisions for the deni
zens of the city brought to the inhabi
tants by the canals, so from the water
which, as we shall see, is perpetually cir
oulating through sponge, the member
of the sponge colony receive their food.
Look at sponge fragment. You per
ceive half dozen large holes or so, eacl
opening on little emipence, as it We're
These apertures, bear in mind, we cal
oscula. They are tho exits of the spong
dominion. But q close inspection of
sponge shows that,it is riddled with fine
and smaller apertures, These latter ar
the pores, and they form the entrance
to the sponge domain. On the banks o
, the canal you may see growing plenti
! fully in summer time green sponge
, which is the common fresh water spe
cies.
Now if you drop Il living specimen o
p this species into bowl Of water, and pu
some powdered indigo into the water
3 you may note how the currents are pei
+ petually being swept in by the pores an
e out by the oscula.