THK ORGANS OF GENERATION. 183 



ovaries : but it still remains doubtful whether the glandular testes 

 consist of these two layers, which, however, may be assumed, from 

 the similar structure of analogous parts. 



133. 



The preceding observations apply with equal force to all sexual 

 organs. But if we contemplate their general form we shall imme- 

 diately meet with varieties which do not admit of any further generali- 

 sation, and this circumstance compels us in this place to examine more 

 closely the differences of form which the sexual organs severally 

 present. 



Propagation is, like life in general, the result of two agents acting 

 reciprocally upon each other. In the lowest forms of organisation, 

 where such a separation of the animating activities shows itself less 

 perceptibly, the propagating agents themselves cannot either appear 

 separately, we consequently there find simple germs susceptible of 

 development. By degrees an ACTIVE and a PASSIVE agent are pro- 

 duced, both of which are found at first in the same individual (snails), 

 but they soon separate into two distinct individuals, and thereby 

 constitute the essential character of such individuals. In the former, 

 luxuriant energy, universal momentum, and a continual impulse 

 towards the appeasement of internal urgent desires ; in the latter, 

 patient sufferance, quiet reserve, a tarrying for excitement, and an 

 ultimate satisfaction in the discovery, of the deficient unknown some- 

 thing. The former character is called the MALE, and the latter the 

 FEMALE. But where shall we find the differences of these two 

 characters more distinctly expressed than in the multiform insect world ? 

 The above cited distinction is here found so strongly marked 'that its 

 high significance can no longer be subjected to doubt. We shall return 

 to this subject in our physiological chapter, and it is there only that 

 it will find its true place ; we can merely indicate it here to enable us 

 to arrive at the primary difference of the sexual organs. This we have 

 now found, we have thus become acquainted with two kinds, and have 

 distinguished them as MALE and FEMALE. 



134. 



The differences of the organs of generation of both therefore lie based 

 deeply in the conditions of life. We necessarily ask, how does it become 

 evident to us ? Anatomically investigated, the character of the female 

 is the formation of the germs, that of the male secretion of sperm ; 



