A varnish and medicinal oil are made from amber. It is obtained by diving and also by digging it out of the sands. SPONGES. Sponges have become so necessary to cleanliness and comfort that nearly all are familiar with them, but not every one knows just where they grow, how obtained, and how prepared for the market. They are found on the Florida coasts, the Bahamas, the Mediterranean and Red seas, and among the islands of the Grecian Archipelago, The best sponges of commerce are those of the Mediterranean and West Indian seas. The former are called Turkey sponges, and are found on the Tripoli coast. Smyrna is the great market in Euorpe, while in this country Key West is the headquarters. They are valued according to the softness, elasticity and degree of fineness. The Turkey sponges, called “cups" bring the highest price. "Toilets" next, then "toilet backs" "carriage sponges" and "brown turkey." The two last mentioned are coarse and rough-fibered, and consequently cheap. The West India sponges number eight or nine varieties, the "glove," "reef,” and "sheepwool" being the best. The inhabitants of the Greek islands make it a business to obtain sponges by diving, and are trained to it from infancy. They sometimes "spear" them, but that process often tears them. When they are taken from the water they have a disgusting odor, and are covered with a slimy, gelatinous matter which is removed by frequent washing. They are then placed in heaps under heavy stones, so that they may become hard and dry. They are afterwards beaten to reduce the mineral matter with which they are filled, to a powder, which is removed by again washing. It is a curious fact that they are heavier after they are washed and all impurities removed than when taken from the water. Sponges serve a variety of purposes in medicine and art. A Frenchman discovered a process by which cloth or a sort of felt can be manufactured from sponges. For this, the Florida varieties are largely used. Certain species can be spun into yarn, for weaving, and others are used for stuffing mattresses, furniture and cushions. Sponges are insoluble in hot or cold water, alcohol, ether, ammonia, and indeed few chemicals effect them. The strongest acids and alkalis act on them slowly because of their great resistance. They are bleached by immersing them in acids. It has been found that sponges contain a fatty matter that yields carbon, hydrogen, iodine, sulphur, phosphorus, magnesia and various other gases and substances. Surgeons chemists and physicians find them indispensable. PROGRESS OF MARATIME DISCOVERY. omplishing in ten Navigation among nations of antiquity was in a rude and imperfect state. The barometer, full of peril. The compass was unknown-unless to the Chinese-and repare for them; only guides were the sun and stars when skies were clear, but when skies through it, the dark, mariners were at the mercy of the waves. Their tempest-tossed s were sometimes driven back whence they came, or claimed by the angry as its own. stin connection through the and all sorts The Phoenicians are the first great maritime nation mentioned in histor mariners of Their love of power and wealth overcame their fear of the waters, and the navigated the Indian Ocean as early as the Thirteenth century, B. C. In ther safety. Twelfth century B. C., they founded colonies on the Atlantic coast. They Alexextended their commerce to the British Isles, and in the Ninth century had the reached the summit of power and supremacy. In the Sixth century B. C., they ower circumnavigated Africa. This was the date of the passage of the first Greek on a navigators through the Straits of Gibraltar. Tyre was the seat of maritime man power, and thither the Phoenicians carried all the treasures they found or stole. ¶, and She retained her position until conquered by Alexander the Great, 332 B. C. ithead The discoveries of the Greeks, and later on of their conquerors, the Romans, did not materially if at all, increase the limits of the earth as known to the Phoenicians. Although the discovery of the Arcadian Islands is attributed to in the Julius Agricola, the conqueror of Britain, who sailed around Scotland 1800 The years ago, there can be no doubt but those islands were known to the Phoenig, heavy cians. Their policy was narrow and selfish. They were unwilling any one If it be should learn their secrets, especially that of crossing the English Channel. tescape, One of their merchantmen in the Fifth century B. C., perceiving he was followed by a Greek vessel, ran his ship on the rocks to lure the Greeks to destruction, chine," and was liberally rewarded by the Government on his return to Tyre. The jler, a cause The nations of the Mediterranean were the great navigators until about the Twelfth or Thirteenth century. Then the Portuguese and Spaniards stepped n the forward and became the great discoverers. Prince Henry of Portugal had one grand aim to increase the limits of the earth. He fitted up one fleet after fervoir. another, and lived to see his mariners add Cape Bajado in 1412, and Porto d comSanto in 1418. In 1433 they succeeded in circumnavigating Cape Bajado, and after which discoveries followed each other rapidly, and in 1447 the limits were he can extended to the Cape de Verde Islands and the Azores. They crossed the line in 1471, when the error of the Greeks, that the heat of a vertical sun made the equatorial regions uninhabitable to man, was clearly demonstrated. The real importance of maritime discovery was felt when the ocean became the great highway of modern civilization in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth cen d rise to ss. He y be but y of the ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. Books-lighthouses erected in the great sea of time.-WHIPPLE. Books are the food of youth, the delight of old age; the ornament of prosperity, the refuge and comfort of adversity; a delight at home, and no hinderance abroad; companions by night, in travelling, in the country.-CICERO. EDITED BY CHARLES E BOLTON. PUBLISHED BY THE CLEVELAND EDUCATIONAL BUREAU. 1883. Copyright, 1883, by Charles E. Bolton. SATURDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 22, 1883. FIFTH ENTERTAINMENT. MUSICAL PRELUDE, from 6:40 to 7:15. BY THE EDUCATIONAL BUREAU ORCHESTRA. BY THE AUDIENCE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC, Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; CHORUS.-Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, SPECIAL NOTICES.-Sixth Entertainment, Saturday Evening, January 5th, HoN. WM. PARSONS (the favorite Irish orator). SUBJECT: "The Heroes of the Homeric Age." Wide-awake Holiday Travels through Europe, with Mr. C. E. Bolton. 325 Beautiful Illustrations. Four Matinees for the Children at the People's Tabernacle, at 2:30 P.M. Monday, Dec. 24, "The British Isles of To-Day." Wednesday, Dec. 26, "From the Polar Sea to Paris" Thursday, Dec. 27, "Through Germany and Russia to Constantinople." Monday, Dec. 31, "Over the Alps to Rome." Germania Orchestra. Admission to Four Entertainments, 25 Cents. Tickets for Sale by the Ushers this evening. THERE is no certainty like ignorance.-Richter. A DROP of ink may make a million think.-Byron. MARRIED in haste, we repent at leisure.—Congreve. Two eyes, two ears, but only one mouth.-German Maxims. It is only the vulgar who are always fancying themselves insulted.-Stanhope. LOVE's like the measles, all the worse when it comes late in life.-Douglas Jerrold. IT is inaccurate to say that a man leads a bad life. It is the bad life that leads him. OF greatness, Sydney Smith said: "There is but one method, and that is hard labor." LOVE in marriage should be the accomplishment of a beautiful dream, and not, as it too often is, the end.--Alphonse Karr. Its my belief that when woman was made, jewels were invented only to make her the more mischevous.-Douglas Jerrold. AMONG all the many kinds of first love, that which begins in childish companionship is the strongest and most enduring.-George Eliot. "No," said Mrs. Parvenu, "We haven't seen Irving yet, but we have all his books in our library, and I went to Sunnyside on the Hudson two years ago." MILKMAN (to small boy): "Tell your mother she'll have to pay ready money for milk after this. I ain't going to chalk up any more.' SMALL BOY! "What are you going to use instead of chalk, Mr. Grange?" A RICH, but ignorant lady, in speaking of a friend, said: "He is a paragram of politeness.' "Excuse me," said a wag; "but do you not mean a paralellogram?" "Of course I do. How could I have made such a mistake? ' "HAVE you brought your gimlet with you?" "Hush, Johnny," said Mrs. Yerger. "What do you mean?" asked the visitor. "I don't mean nuffin: except I heard Pa say you were coming up this evening to bore us all." |