GLASS SPONGE GLAUBER 29 to this compound animal, as the microscopic structure of the threads is perfectly character- istic of sponge spicules ; their silicious charac- ter shows that they are not formed by polyps ; the sponge mass at the upper end consists of an elegant tissue of dense masses of very short si- licious spicules, forming a kind of felt ; the ter- minal sponge is more or less cup-shaped, with an open conical central cav- ity. All but Dr. Bower- bank admit a parasite, the question being wheth- er the polyp is a para- site on the sponge, or the sponge a parasite on the polyp. The characters of hyalonema will be best understood from the an- nexed figure. H. mira- lile or Sieboldi is found in the seas around Japan, near Yokohama ; H. Lu- sitanicum was found by Prof. Bocage of Lisbon off the coast of Portu- gal ; II. ~boreale, accord- ing to Wyville Thomp- son not belonging to this genus but to a corticate type, was found by Prof. Loven on the coast of Norway ; and this or an allied species has late- ly been dredged on the northern part of our own coast. Other glass sponges are ffoltenia, figured in the "American Natural- ist" for July, 1873, and pheronema and rossella, figured in the " Popular Science Monthly " for September, 1873. Where men like Gray, Bow- erbank, Brandt, and Schultze entertain such different opinions, after the examination of hun- dreds of specimens, du- ring a period of nearly 40 years, it is certainly very difficult to decide whether hyalonema be wholly a sponge, or which, if either, the sponge or the polyp, ia the parasite. Dr. Leidy, in the "American Natu- ralist" for March, 1870, alludes to a specimen, very much like one in the possession of the writer of this article, in which the fascicle ap- pears to have been withdrawn from the sponge and lain for some time in the sea ; a shark's egg is also attached near the top, and the tendrils of others are partially imbedded in the crust, which has no warty elevations ; this seems to favor Dr. Bowerbank's opinion that the whole is a sponge, and that the crust is not made by a polyp. GLASTONBURY, a market town and parish of Somersetshire, England, 25 m. S. W. of Bath ; pop. in 1871, 3,670. The town occupies a pen- insula, formerly an island (Avalon), in the river Brue. It derives its interest and im- portance almost wholly from its ruins, promi- nent among which are those of a famous Bene- dictine abbey, founded, it is said, by St. Augus- tin in 605, rebuilt in great splendor about a century later, and enriched by the liberality of successive princes until the time of Ethelred I. It suffered from the Danes, and before the conquest, when the Normans robbed it of both wealth and influence, had gained considerable importance and celebrity. Its half ruined walls were rebuilt by Stephen and Henry II., and its abbot was honored with a mitre and a seat among the barons in parliament. At one time it was annexed to the see of Wells, the incum- bent of which was called bishop of Glaston- bury. On the suppression of monasteries by Henry VIII. it enjoyed a revenue of 3,508 13*. 4d. In 1539 Richard Whiting, the last abbot, for refusing to surrender the abbey to the king, was hanged in his robes on Torhill with two of his monks. The abbey ruins, con- sisting of portions of the church, the chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea, and a building called the abbot's kitchen, are comprised in a quad- rangle of 60 acres, which was once encom- passed by a high wall. A reputation for sanc- tity clung to Glastonbury long after the refor- mation, and as late as 1751 10,000 invalids flocked hither in a single month, to drink from a spring said to cause miraculous cures. GLATZ, a town of Prussia, in the province of Silesia, on the left bank of the Neisse, 52 m. S. W. of Breslau ; pop. in 1871, 11,541. The town is defended by an old citadel, a modern fortress, and other works. It manufactures cotton fabrics, leather, and hosiery, and has a Roman Catholic gymnasium, a hospital, infir- mary, and barracks. It was fortified as early as the llth century, and has sustained numer- ous sieges. It was taken in the beginning of the thirty years' war by the Protestants, capit- ulated in 1622 to the imperial troops, and in 1742 to the Prussians. The territory of Glatz was made a county of the empire in the latter part of the 15th century by the emperor Fred- erick III., and subsequently formed a part of the Austrian dominions, until occupied by Frederick the Great in 1742. A part of the Sudetic mountains is often designated by the name of Glatzer Gebirge. GLAUBER, Johann Rudolf, a German chemist, born in Karlstadt in 1604, died in Amsterdam in 1668. He was a physician and alchemist, boasted of wonderful secrets, and was called the Paracelsus of his age. He passed his life
