BEGINNINGS OF THE NEXT GENERATION 109 



to hold all the nourishment that will be needed for months 

 of growth within a shell. For such cases nature has its 

 third device. 



3. Instead of surrounding the germ cell with the white of 

 an egg for moisture and food, instead of supplying a shell 

 to keep the moisture in and to protect the whole from harm, 

 instead of sending the germ cell away from the body to develop 

 by outside heat, nature sees to it that the fertilized cell stays 

 within the body in a soft covering of its own. Here it is both 

 warm and moist. Here it develops until it is able to continue 

 its growth in the outside world. This, then, is the prenatal 

 life history of all mammals, including man ; and while each 

 creature develops before birth, the wonders of life and of 

 growth reveal themselves. 



Dr. Minot's facts about growth read like a fairy tale. A 

 few of these facts are given in the n'ext chapter. 



