284 MAN --AN ADAPTIVE MECHANISM 



tion. Yet, in the school of natural selection there have 

 been evolved mechanisms of protection against all 

 these menaces mechanisms for the arrest of hem- 

 orrhage through uterine contractions and through 

 facilitated clotting, and mechanisms in the tissues of 

 the genital tract and genital organs for protection 

 against infection. In its excellent endowment with 

 mechanisms of protection against the hazards incident 

 to its function the genital tract is analogous to the gall 

 bladder and the urinary bladder which are protected 

 against communication with infected territories. 



Thus, in the fundamental processes of courtship, 

 conception, pregnancy, birth and the rearing of the 

 young do we find a series of wonderful adaptations by 

 means of which the species effects survival. 



