88 WHAT IS LIFE ? 



contents of the Ovarium l during the greater part of 

 life ; certain of the Ovisacs or Graanan vesicles, 2 and 

 their contents, successively arriving at maturity, whilst 

 others degenerate and die. According to the valuable 

 inquiries of Dr. Ritchie, it appears that even during 

 the period of childhood, there is a continual rupture of 

 the ovisacs and discharge of ova, at the surface of the 

 ovarium. 3 . . . At the period of puberty, the stroma of 

 the ovaries is crowded with ovisacs, which are still so 

 minute, that in the ox (according to Dr. Barry's compu- 

 tation) a cubic inch would contain 200 millions of 

 them." 4 



Now we are obtaining some faint ideas of the power of 

 the individual to reproduce its kind. Keeping in mind 

 that during the child-bearing life of the individual, these 



1 The Ovarium is the specialist's term for the sack of eggs the 

 human roe. 



2 That is the cavities of the ovarium in which the eg'g or eggs 

 are placed as seeds are placed in a pod. There is, however, this 

 difference with seeds : there is a small stem connecting each with the 

 pod. Eggs are generally free in the cavity, the ovisacs. 



3 " A moment's consideration, however, will show that in most 

 cases the organism does not wholly die. Some of the cells usually 

 escape from the bondage of the body as reproductive elements, as, 

 in fact, Protozoa once more. The majority of these may indeed be 

 lost ; eggs which do not meet with male elements perish, and the 

 latter have even less power of independent vitality. But when the 

 ova are fertilised, and proceed to develop into other individuals, it is 

 plain that the parent organisms have not wholly died, since two 

 of their cells have united to start afresh as new plants or animals. 

 In other words, what is new in the multicellular organism, namely r 

 the ' body,' does indeed die, bat the reproductive elements, which 

 correspond to the Protozoa, live on." (" The Evolution of Sex,' r 

 Professor Geddes and J. A. Thomson, 1889, p. 261.) 



4 Carpenter's " Principles of Human Physiology," 9th edition, 

 1881, p. 876. 



