S FONG E.
Isfanj, Isfanjah, . ARAD. Mua.badul, . .
Tsok•tsa-ya, . . Beam. Spugna, IT Ilai-jung, . . . Cum. Uniwatta , JAP Sliwui-p au•myen, „ Halimpongia, . . LAT.
. „ Bunga-karang, . MALAY.
Svamp, . . . DAN., Sly. Abar-murdah, . l'Eas.
Spons, . . . . DUT. Esponja, . . PoL., St..
Esponge, . . . . Fa. Sunglier, . . . TcRK. SChwamm, . . . GER.
There are several genera of sponge animals, which na.turalists arrange under the class Porifera, Spongia, Spongilla, Ilalichondria. There are many species both in fresh and in sea waters, but that used for economic purposes is from Spongia offieinalis, L., of the Mediterranean, known as Turkey sponge, and the IV. India or Bahama sponge, from Spongia usta.
The substance used as sponge is traversed by many canals, the pores of which open out on the surface. The canals, in life, are lined with a soft gelatinous matter up to the opening of the pores, and the pores are kept open by numerous siliceous or calcareous spicula, needle-like bodies. Whilst the animal is alive, the water, entering into the sponge by the pores, circulates in the canals, and is finally expelled through the larger orifices.
The sponges used in Europe are known in commerce as the fine Syrian, fine Archipelago, fine hard or Grecian, white sponge, gelatine sponge, brown sponge of Barbary, also called Marseilles or Turkey sponge, the kpongia corn munis of naturalists, which is fi.shed on the coast of Tunis, and used for cleaning rooms, and the sponge of Salonica.
Turkey sponge, the Spongia officinalis of Linnmus, of the natural order Spongive, is the peculiar skeleton, whole, and is produced in southern and eastern seas, though imported into Great Britaiu from Turkey. The imports are in ca.ses, each containing about 500 sponges of various sizes, averaging in value about 35s. per pound. The finer kind, suitable for toilet use, is found in the I,evant,—the best on the coast of Northern Syria, near Tripoli, and secondaryqualities among the Greek isles. These are either globular or of a cup-like form, with fine pores, and are not easily torn. They arc got by divers, who plunge from a boat many fathoms down, with a heavy stone tied to a rope for siuking ; the man snatches the sponges, puts them into a net fastened to his waist, and is then hauled up. Some of the Greeks, instead of diving, throw short harpoons attached to a cord, having first spied their prey at the bottom through a tin tube with a glass bottom immersed below the surface waves.
The sponges of the coasts of Asia Minor and Syria are dived for by the people of Calymnos, Chali, Spite, and other islands near Rhodes, from May to October. In 3lay a little fleet of caiques sets sztil front Calymnos, manned by the greater part of the able-bodied of the male population, and they return in the autumn, and sell to their richer townsmen who trade in sponges; and these are despatched to Trieste, Syria, or Smyrna. A diver can descend to 30 fathoms, and remain for three miuutes. A caustic fluid at the root of the sponge is apt to cause ulcers. They are.cleaned and dried in the fields, and then filled with sand to ensure equality of sales.- Numerous species are known, with soft porous bodies, traversed by tortuous canals, but the officinal sponge is imported from the Mediterranean and Red Sea ; some of the coarser kinds from the West Indies. Those of the British seas would probably answer equally well for burning. 1Vhen collected, sponge
contains numerous small fragments of corals and ininute shells ; from these it must be freed before it can be used. Sponge is composed of gelatine and coagulated albumen. When burnt, its ashes give carbon and some silex, carbonate and phos phate of lime, carbonate of soda, chloride and iodide of sodium, bromide of magnesia, with a little oxide of iron.
Coarse, soft, flat sponges, with large pores and great orifices in them, cotne from the Bahamas and Floridm A small schooner, towing several little boats, with two men in each, passes slowly over the sponge ground. One man sculls, the other squats, hanging over the boat's side, with his head in a bucket, the bottom of which is of glass. Through this he looks down into the deep, still water, and sees the sponges lying 20 or SO feet below. Then, assisted by the other man, lie aims a stroke with a three-pronged hooking-fork at the end of a long pole. The sponge is grappled and lifted into the boat. When the boats have loaded the vessel, the sponges lying on board, covered with a gelatinous mass, from which oozes a slime of disgusting odour, give forth a very disagree able smell ; but the auhnal soon dies. The sponges are laid out in the sand that this putrefy ing outer substance may rot off, after which they are roughly .cleaned and scraped, pressed, and packed in bales. Much further washing is required, and a chemical process of bleaching. American sponges being so inferior to those of the Mediterranean, it has been sought to utilize them for the stuffing of cushions and mattresses, or for the felting of hats and winter coats, but with poor success.
Sponge is gathered from the rocks of Vizaga patain at about 12 feet below the sea.
Assistant-Surgeon Carter, of the Bombay army, described four species of fresh-water sponges in the tanks of BomItay. They are attached to float ing bodies, or on the inclined and under surfaces of the rocks, never at the bottom, and sometimes so high up as to be covered with water only for three or four months.
In the Sea of Japan, a very remarkable sponge (the Hyalonema) is met with. It is a bundle of spicules, like threads of glass, which seem artificially tied together, and on the surface of which is invariably found a polyp of the genus Polythoa.
The remarkable hooked, branched, or star like spiculm in many sponges are believed to have the function chiefly of rendering them unpalat able to other creatures.
The sponge - making aninaal, like some other zoophytes, can be multiplied by cutting it in pieces, leaving each piece to live and grow by itself. It is stated by Dr. Oscar Schmidt, of the University.of Gratz, that in thibe years, at a cost of.£8, 8s., 4000 sponges can be raised, worth £16, which would seem to be a profitable industry.— Phipson ; Carter. See Venus Glass Flower. SPONIA ORIENTALIS. Roxb.
Papyrus spbwrica, Kcempf. I Celtis oriental's, Roxh. Cbicolee, . . . BENG. I MOVIE cbettu, . . TEL. Jeebun, . . . . „ I Budu manu, . . . „ A small erect tree of Ceylon, the Coromandel coast, common along the foot of the ghats, occur ring in the Kenneri forests, Salsette, in Nepal, Bengal, Sylhet, and Assam. The under bark consists of numerous reticulated fibres, and forms a natural cloth used by the Garo race, and its leaves are used for polishing horn.—Roxb.; Voigt ; Flor. Andh.; Mr. DT. Jacob.