740 JOHN BEARD, 



When, therefore, I state, that evidences of degeneration are always 

 to be found in the development of a second form of sperm, and that 

 these and other evidences, i. e., actual experience, always and in- 

 variably point to its non-functional nature at the present time, this 

 conclusion is in accordance with the strictest canons of scientific in- 

 vestigation. The opposite view would be not only contrary to all 

 experience, but, apparently, incapable of proof. "But", it may be , 

 asked, "may not some one or other of the 250,000 species of insects 

 possess two forms of functional spermatozoa?" This is exceedingly 

 unlikely, and it would not fit in with the homogeneity of the repro- 

 ductive processes of the Metazoa as they now exist. One might as 

 well hope to meet with cases in which the polar bodies of oogenesis 

 were normal functional gametes or eggs. Neither contingency is, of 

 course, impossible, only highly improbable, for what has been in the 

 past may, so far as our very limited knowledge and intelligence 

 extend, happen again in the future. Neither occurrence would merge 

 into the miraculous, as is the case with the supposed conversion of . 

 males into hermaphrodites. We may neither limit Nature's powers, 

 nor seek to make her perform miracles. 



V. The Basis of Sex. 



Sex in its origin in the Metazoa may quite possibly have been bound 

 up with the existence and constant differentiation of four sorts of 

 functional unlike gametes. The evidences of the present existence 

 of such in certain cases seem to point in some such direction as this. 

 An origin of sex based on these facts would grant to the male the 

 property of producing and differentiating two categories of functional 

 gametes. This, however, would not be hermaphroditism. The second 

 kind would not be of the nature and character of what we term an 

 egg. These gametes may have been, and probably were, originally 

 differentiated for union with a certain sort of egg ; thus, if they were 

 S and s, the former or B-sperm may have been destined for E, the 

 latter or A-sperm for e, where E and e were the two sorts of gametes 

 of the female. 



Previous inquiries into the nature and determination of sex have 

 of necessity proved abortive from failure to grasp the essence of the 

 problem. Many of them have simply regarded it as one of the nature 

 of maleness and femininity, or as one of the origin in past time of 

 two kinds of individuals bearing these attributes. Others again have 

 concerned themselves with the causes, which during development may 



