20 THE PRESENT CONDITION 



from whence all but an inappreciable fraction of its sub- 

 stance iltmonstrably originated, so that the actual wander- 

 Ings of matii-r are as i -. markahlc as the transmigrations of 

 the soul fabled by Indian tradition. But before death fias 

 in the one sex or the other, and in fact in both, 



i products or parts of the organism have been set 

 in parts of the organisms of the two sexes have 



into contact with one another, and from that con- 

 ^n, from that union which then takes place, there 



s the formation of a new being. At stated times the 

 , from a particular part of the interior of her body, 

 called the ovary, gets rid of a minute particle of matter 

 comparable in all essential respects with that which we 

 called a cell a little while since, which cell contains a kind 

 of nucleus in its centre, surrounded by a clear space and 

 by a viscid mass of protein substance (Fig. 2) ; and though 

 it is different in appearance from the eggs which we are 

 mostly acquainted with, it is really an egg. After a 

 time this minute particle of matter, which may only be 



!1 fraction of a grain in weight, undergoes a series 

 of changes, wonderful, complex changes. Finally, upon 

 its surface there is fashioned a little elevation, which 

 afterwards beccmes divided and marked by a groove. 

 The lateral boundaries of the groove extend upwards and 

 downwards, and at length give rise to a double tube. In 

 the upper smaller tube the spinal marrow and brain are 

 fashioned ; in the lower, the alimentary canal and heart, 

 and at length two pairs of buds shoot out at the sides of 

 the body, which are the rudiments of the limbs. In fact 

 a true drawing of a section of the embryo in this state would 

 in all rsMiitial respects resemble that diagram of a horse 

 reduced to its simplest expression, which I first placed 

 before you (Fig. 1). 



Slowly and gradually these changes take place. The 



of the body, at first, can be broken up into " cells," 



*hi<! <In one place metamorphosed into muscle, 



place into gristle and bone, in another 



place into fibrous tissue, and in another into hair ; every 



la-coming gradually and slowly fashioned, as if there 

 ; k in each of these complex structures 



that we have meniiom <1. This embryo, as it is called, then 



i lions. I should tell you that there 



is a time when the embryos of neither dog, nor horse, nor 



isc, nor monkey, nor man, can be distinguished by any 



