158 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



filament, as was first described by Kolliker. The spermato- 

 zoon escapes into the interior of the mother cell by the 

 rupture of its development' cell. Others are in like manner 

 set free, and they arrange themselves in a parcel, which may 

 ultimately consist of a vast number of separate spermatozoa, 

 with all the heads arranged in one direction, and the tails in 

 the opposite one." 



Professor Kolliker has arrived at the conclusion that the 

 spermatozoa are not developed in the nuclei of the cells, but 

 from them. The nucleus becomes of an oval form, and one 

 extremity is elongated to form the tail. 



It is thus seen that the spermatozoon is a living unit which 

 originates from within the cell, and appears to be developed 

 from the nucleus, which, as we have before stated, seems to 

 be the one element of all cells which concerns itself with their 

 production ; and as is shown by those cases of cells at emission 

 being developed into the spermatic filament in the female 

 passages, there is a developmental power inherent in the cell 

 after it has become detached from the basement-membrane, 

 or, in other words, has changed its appearance but little from 

 the ordinary epithelium. The production of these cells seems 

 to be somehow analogically allied with the process of gem- 

 mation, as in the ideal sperm-cell and the ideal bud. We 

 have, at first, a separation from the parent, and, secondly, 

 may have the evolving of apparatus to be used in reproduc- 

 tion. At this point the resemblance seems to be lost, as in 

 the spermatic element there is absolutely required, so far as 

 we know, that there shall be a meeting and union with 

 another cell to complete the new life, while in the gemmation 

 process, the spore itself, as in the female, may develop itself 

 into a structure containing organs from which the new gem- 

 mation originates. 



This spermatic-cell is allied with the other cells of the 

 body, as with the whole body it has been formed through the 

 successive development of cells, — simple until after fecun- 

 dation. It apparently is primarily an epithelial cell, and it is 

 only as the body within which it is found attains age, or, as 

 is probable, it is only after cell has reproduced cell for many 

 generations, transmitting its own likeness each time with the 

 accumulated and accumulating variations, that the spermatic 



