SEX IN LIVING FORMS 



als in whom the sexual organs are abnormally devel- 

 oped, so that they resemble those of the opposite sex, 

 though they really have but one sex, which can usually 

 be determined with certainty. Only a very few cases 

 have been observed in which both male and female 

 organs were present. 



There was recently living in Germany an individual 

 who bears the name of a woman; but learned physi- 

 cians have decided that the person is as much man as 

 woman, having the organs of both sexes. What is still 

 more curious, this person has the feelings of both sexes, 

 having loved first a man, and afterward a woman. 

 There have been observed, also, a very few instances 

 of individuals in whom the sexual organs of neither 

 sex were present. It thus appears that a person may 

 be of both sexes, or of no sex at all. 



Sex in Plants. —To one unacquainted with the 

 mysteries of plant life and growth, the idea of attach- 

 ing sexuality to plants seems very extraordinary; but 

 the botanist recognizes the fact that the distinctions of 

 sex are as clearly maintained in the vegetable as in the 

 animal kingdom. The sexual organs of the higher 

 orders of plants are flowers. That part of the flower 

 which produces seeds, answers to the female; another 

 part, which is incapable of forming seeds, answers to' 

 the male. The fertile and the sterile flowers are some- 

 times produced on separate plants. Very frequently, 

 they are produced upon separate parts of the same 

 plant, as in the oak, walnut, and many other forest 

 trees and Indian corn. In the latter plant, so familiar 

 to every one, the '' tassel" contains the male flowers, 

 and the part known as the *'silk," with the portion to 

 which it is attached,— which becomes the ear,— the fe- 

 male, or fertile flowers. In a large number of species, 



