GENERATION. 



479 



much less, not amounting to more than four or 

 six in one hundred.* 



Malformations are said to occur more fre- 

 quently among illegitimate than legitimate chil- 

 dren ; and malformed children are more fre- 

 quently of the female sex. This, together with 

 the circumstance that illegitimate children are 

 oftenest first born, may in some degree account 

 for the greater number of females among them. 



The data upon which it has been attempted 

 to found an explanation of the cause of the 

 formation of a male or female offspring are very 

 slender indeed ; nor are we likely ever to ob- 

 tain knowledge which shall enable us to form a 

 satisfactory theory regarding the cause of the 

 determination of the sex. Some men beget 

 always male children, others always females, in 

 more than one marriage. The same seems 

 sometimes to depend on the mother. In other 

 marriages children of one sex are born for a 

 time, and subsequently those of the other ; or 

 the male and female children may alternate, 

 &c. &c. without our being able to point out any 

 circumstance which has given rise to the pro- 

 duction of one or other sex. 



Accordingly many vague opinions have been 

 entertained regarding this subject, as for exam- 

 ple the following : 



1 . That the wishes or ideas of the parents at 

 the time of conceptions may influence the sex 

 of the offspring. 



2. The nature of the food of the parents, par- 

 ticularly of the mother during pregnancy. 



3. The use of various medicines : hence the 

 numerous charms and recipes for begetting 

 children of either sex. 



4. The quantity of oxygen absorbed during 

 development. 



5. The manner in which the spermatic artery 

 is given off from the aorta, and 



6. The older and equally groundless notion 

 that male children come from the right testicle 

 or ovary, and females from the left; upon 

 which hypothesis was founded the celebrated 

 advice of Hippocrates : " Ubi femellam gene- 

 rare volet (pater) coeat, ac dextram testem obli- 

 get, quantum id tolerare poterit, sed si ma- 

 rem generare appetat, sinister testis obligandus 

 erit." 



A belief has long prevailed that the greater 

 the strength of either of the parents in propor- 

 tion to the other, the more of its own sex will 

 be generated. M. Girou de Buzaraignes has 

 paid considerable attention to the influence of 

 age, strength, mode of life, 8cc. of the parents 

 on the sex of the offspring, and has made a 

 series of experiments on the domestic animals, 

 from which, should they be confirmed, some 

 important results may be expected. 



According to M. Girou ,f male fathers among 

 the domestic animals which are either too old 

 or too young, produce with mature and healthy 

 females more female than male offspring ; while 

 female parents that are too old or too young in 

 proportion to the males bear most males. This 



France. Prussia. Hamburg. 



Boyt. Boys. Boys. Girls- 

 * Illegitimate Children ... 104- 102- 94-, lftft 



Legitimate ditto 106- 106- 105- 1 1UU 



t Sur la Generation. 



would appear to be the case in the human 

 species also from the observations of Hofacker 

 at Tubingen, and of Saddler on the English 

 peerage : the children of a husband consider- 

 ably younger than his wife being nearly in the 

 proportion of ninety sons to a hundred daugh- 

 ters ; while those of the husband considerably 

 older than the mother are in the proportion of 

 a hundred and fifty or a hundred and sixty sons 

 to a hundred daughters ; the intermediate ages 

 being found to give a proportionate scale. 



Burdach states that those women who are 

 most fruitful bear many more boys than girls, 

 as in the following examples : 



Boys. Girls. 



1st woman bore 26 6 



2nd ditto, in first marriage .... 27 3 



in second ditto 14 



3rd ditto 38 15 



According to Girou, female domestic animals 

 bear more females when well nourished and 

 left in repose than when much worked and on 

 spare diet; and it has been alleged that the 

 sexes of plants are influenced by their nourish- 

 ment or soil in which they grow ; dioecious 

 plants having seeds which propagate more 

 males in dry ground exposed to the sun, more 

 females in moist, well manured, and shady 

 ground ; monoecious plants bearing more of 

 the staminiferous or pistilliferous flowers in cor- 

 responding circumstances. 



The explanation of the cause of this variation 

 of the sex as well as of the original sexual dif- 

 ference, it has already been remarked, is beyond 

 the reach of investigation. Very interesting 

 observations have, however, brought to light 

 the different steps of the process by which the 

 generative organs of either sex are gradually 

 formed during the development of the foetus; 

 and a series of facts has thus been established 

 of great interest and importance as tending to 

 elucidate the nature of those numerous remark- 

 able malformations of the reproductive organs 

 generally comprehended under the term Her- 

 maphrodism. We refer the reader to the article 

 upon this subject, and to that of OVUM, for a 

 history of the process now alluded to, and 

 shall not do more than merely mention in this 

 place some of the more important results which 

 have been obtained. 



1st. It appears thatin the earliest stages of foetal 

 life, the sexes (or what may become afterwards 

 either male or female, that is, all the young) are 

 perfectly alike in structure. 



2nd. That there exists in all a common ma- 

 trix or rudimentary organ or set of organs, 

 which at a later period is converted by deve- 

 lopment into the male or female organs. 



3rd. That the early type of the sexual organs 

 is to be regarded as common and single, rather 

 than double, as some have considered it. 



In conclusion, we may remark that we must 

 confess ourselves equally unable to fathom the 

 nature of the original bias or determination 

 given by the parents, in consequence of which 

 a male or a female child is produced, and to 

 ascertain the manner in which any other here- 

 ditary influence, quality, or conformation is 

 transmitted from the parent to its offspring. 

 At the same time it appears not improbable 



