102 OF REPRODUCTION. 



by M. Mayer, with the philosophical jargon of the German schools, 

 teach us nothing in relation to the intimate nature of this work, which 

 is as extraordinary as it is curious. 



SECTION 3. 



Of Conception. 



260. When the union of the germs is effected in the interior, the 

 new product resulting therefrom is commonly retained, or arrested in 

 some part of the sexual system. But this phenomenon constitutes 

 what is properly called conception. It is evidently distinct from 

 fecundation; for wherever the latter is effected exteriorly to the 

 animal, as in fishes and many reptiles, conception cannot be truly 

 said to exist, while in the higher classes it always does exist. At a 

 first view, it might seem useless to make a distinct phenomenon of 

 it, and that it might without inconvenience be confounded with ges- 

 tation; but upon a closer inspection we are easily convinced of the 

 contrary. Indeed the ophidians and birds have no gestation, and 

 yet they have a conception. Conception, therefore, comprehends 

 what takes place between the instant of vivification, and the moment 

 when the fecundated germ begins to be developed; whether it at- 

 taches itself for this purpose to some point of the generative pas- 

 sages, or whether it has to be expelled in order to undergo the pro- 

 cess of incubation exteriorly. 



