V. 



The Role of Sex. 



Part I. 

 The Use of the Term Sex. 



ACCORDING to Skeat the word sex — sexiis — is derived from secare, 

 to divide. If this is true, the word " to divide " was modified to 

 express that which is divided or distinguished from something else ; 

 thus, we have the male sex or division, and the female sex or 

 division. By a further extension of the use of the word we have the 

 sexual organs, or sexual instincts, meaning those parts or qualities on 

 whose difference the division or distinction depends. Both in the 

 early use of the term and in its modern every-day application, it is 

 the difference between the sexes which is felt to be the outstanding 

 character which merits notice, and requires indication in the name 

 given. 



But biologists who have studied the lower forms, both of animal 

 and of plant life, have discovered that the simpler the organism, the 

 fewer are the characters which distinguish the sexes from each other ; 

 until forms are finally reached all the members of which are precisely 

 similar to each other and show no indication of sex — maleness or 

 femaleness. Nevertheless, these little organisms sometimes conjugate 

 with each other as a preliminary step to reproduction, and in this 

 respect resemble higher organisms where the conjugating individuals 

 are different. Thus Ulothrix produces microspores which coalesce 

 with precisely similar microspores from other individuals, and these 

 subsequently develop to adult size and character. Biologists recognise 

 that reproduction with conjugation is a character which Ulothrix 

 shares with higher animals, and they have so extended the use of the 

 term sex as to include as examples of sexual reproduction the con- 

 jugation of types precisely similar to each other; types which, like 

 Ulothrix, show no indication at all of maleness or femaleness. Thus 

 it has come about that a word, originally meaning " to divide," is 

 now, in a strictly technical sense, used to indicate " that which joins," 

 and this is one of the many instances which exist of words which 

 completely change their meaning during the gradual growth and 

 development of language. 



By this useful and perfectly justifiable extension of the term sex. 



