CHAPTER IV 



ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE 

 INDIVIDUAL 



14. AFTER a general survey of some of the 

 fundamental characteristics of living beings, we 

 now turn our attention more especially to the 

 physiology of man, and the first question that 

 naturally presents itself is How does he, 

 as an individual, originate ? At once the 

 answer will be given that he springs from 

 parents, a mother and a father. This easy 

 answer, however, gives no information, and 

 one may be rather startled by the statement 

 that he springs from structures of micros- 

 copical dimensions, that he owes his origin 

 to the combination of an egg or ovum with 

 a body called a spermatozoon. In this 

 he resembles the great majority of living 

 things. To appreciate, however, the wonder- 

 ful story of how this comes about, it is neces- 



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