220 From Matter to Man. 



and mechanical processes, alike in man and the lower 

 animals as well as in vegetals and minerals. The 

 generation of a human ovule in a human ovary re- 

 sembles fundamentally in all essential particulars the 

 isolation or fission of an amoeba, the budding of a 

 coral, the fructification of a fungus, or the petrifaction 

 of a crystal. In all cases organic generation merely 

 consists of the isolation of a cell, or concrete fragment 

 of matter, embodying the fundamental character, con- 

 stitution, and essence of the organism ; a process 

 simple enough in natural operations when we remem- 

 ber that minerals are only infinite aggregations of 

 mineral molecules, vegetals infinite aggregations of 

 vegetal cells, and animals infinite aggregations of 

 animal cells. 



Further, while the conversion of mineral molecules 

 into crystals is due merely to their aggregation in a 

 suitable solution under suitable conditions, the con- 

 version of vegetal and animal cells into ovules or 

 eggs only happens from their more specialised 

 aggregation in that interesting chamber of the 

 organism, the ovary ; a modification of growth as 

 natural as the metamorphosis of leaves into flowers 

 and fruit. The mechanical nature of the operation, 

 too, is strikingly evinced in the immense number of 

 ovules and eggs generated by various animals. 

 Witness the daily issue of 80,000 from that organic 

 egg-manufactory, the termite queen, swollen out of 

 all proportion with over-feeding ; the million and a 

 half laid by the queen-bee, and the quintillion de- 



