46 SPERMATIC PARTICLES. 



as the first grand expression of impregnation, and most certain it is, that no fecun- 

 dated ovum goes on to the formation of the embrjo, without first experiencing these 

 chano-es. But, on the other hand, later and more extended inquiries in this wide 

 field have shown that it occurs to a certain extent without fecundation. 



Late morphological inquiries have shown the complete analogy existing between 

 cells and ova, and that these same segmentary changes occur, to a certain extent, 

 not only in the unimpregnated ovum, but in individual non-organic cells.* I have 

 observed it with the ova of many fishes, before they have left the female, and there- 

 fore before impregnation. I have also observed its many heterogenous pathological cells, 

 such as those of cancer, pus, &:c. But, however this may be, there appears to be this 

 difference, that in the one case they are purely abortive in their character, the segmenta- 

 tion rarely going on beyond twice, and here ceasing, whereas in the impregnated 

 ovum these changes have a definite end, which is accomplished by the appearance of 

 the new being. And it is the furtherance of this process, for this end, that char- 

 acterizes the ovum from a cell, in regard to morphological changes. 



Wherever it occurs in cells, it is only among the higher individual species, and 

 may be considered an index of vitality, having no end except the production of its 

 own species. While in the ovum and sperm-cells, the vitalizing process is more finely 

 marked, and the cells lose their individuality by a metamorphosis into higher form 

 or forms. And perhaps one of the best evidences that such segmentation to a definite 

 end lies at the bottom of the primitive development of all new individual beings, 

 is the fact that it occurs most extensively in those portions of the embryo that afford 

 the hio^hest expressions of the animal as such, viz. the nervous system. 



Let us now take a survey of the whole matter, and the true relations of the sexes. 

 With nearly all the processes of life, the male bears the marks of a higher physi- 

 olo<^ical being than the female. All those functions that are characteristic of an 

 individual isolated being are with him more finely pronounced than with her. His 

 energies tend to vitalizing and animalizing processes, hers to a development of his 

 by processes of a more vegetative nature. Although, in the reproductive process, the 

 one sex is the counterpart of the other, and without each of no avail ; yet I think it may 

 be affirmed that the male exercises the higher function, and is the grand moving agent 

 of the whole process. After the sperm-cell is produced, there occur, from forces innate, 



* This phenomenon has been quite extensively observed among vegetables. Vid. Prof. Hugo von Mohl, 

 Vermischle Schriften, p. 362, et seq. Also by Griesbach, Weigman's Archiv, 1834. See, in addition, the 

 works of Nageli, Karl Miiller, Schaffner, &c. 



