538 GROWTH OF MAN. 



The fact of the apparent dissimilarity between the product of gemma- 

 tion and the product of generation ceases to have any force as soon as 

 we consider the former in the attitude which it really ought to occupy, 

 as not constituting a distinct individual, but merely a part, a derivative, 

 or an appendix of the product of generation ; and this view of Dr. Car- 

 penter's seems, therefore, to be the proper interpretation of the whole case. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE GROWTH OF MAN. 



Infancy. Weight and Size of the Infant. Weight and Size at subsequent Periods. Develop- 

 ment of the Intellect. Maturity of Man. Tendency to Crime. Maxima of Physical and Men- 

 tal Strength. 



Mental and Physical Decline. Mortality at different Periods of Life. Comparative Structure, 

 Functions, and Mortality of the two Sexes. 



Artificial Epochs of Life. Gradual Change in the Mental Qualities. Independent Existence of 

 the Soul. 



IN the last chapter the successive stages of embryonic development 

 were described. It was shown that at one period nutrition is solely at 

 the expense of the yolk of the ovum, which is appropriated, by a simple 

 surface-imbibition ; and that this, in due time, is succeeded by what has 

 been designated tuft nutrition. At a later period, this mode, in its turn, 

 is replaced by another, depending on a vascular arrangement, the pla- 

 infancy of centa. For a considerable period after birth a fourth system is 

 man. relied on, nourishment by milk ; and it is only by degrees, when 

 the necessary changes have been made in the digestive mechanism, the 

 teeth being cut, that the final mode of nutrition is assumed. Even after 

 this the human infant leads a dependent life, because of its own weak- 

 ness and imbecility, irrespectively of any peculiarities of our social state. 

 So far, therefore, from man not exhibiting those metamorphoses which 

 are undergone by the lower members of the animal series, he of all dis- 

 plays them in the most marked way, for they do not cease at the period 

 of birth, but reach through many subsequent years a gradual develop- 

 ment of the body, attended by a gradual change in the manifestations of 

 the mind. 



At birth, the human infant is the very representative of weakness and 

 imbecility. Though, unlike many other mammals, it opens its eyes at 

 once, it exhibits no token of visual perceptions ; though it may be sub- 

 jected to sounds or noises of various kinds, it takes no notice whatever 

 of them. This condition of inertness is followed by a condition of con- 

 fused sensation, which by degrees is succeeded by a capability of ap- 



