ii4 THE CREATION OF MATTER 



ing, and dividing, and multiplying their kind, we intro- 

 duce additional contingencies. There might have been 

 cells formed without the power of feeding and growing. 

 They might have fed, and swelled, and remained one, or 

 burst into useless fragments. In the midst of countless 

 possibilities, it is very wonderful that the atoms should 

 be so constituted, and the forces in the molecules so 

 balanced, as in all respects to be favourable for producing 

 the results that lead to consequences of the grandest 

 nature. 



Egg-cells. In these we have a third advance and 

 the greatest. In them the molecules have shown that 

 they have in them the power of crowning their 

 triumphant march, of producing organisations of the 

 greatest complexity. Ordinary cells are builders, these 

 are architects and master-builders. Ordinary cells are 

 soldiers, these are generals, raising and marshalling 

 armies. Other cells are individuals, doing what lieth 

 to their hand. These are kings, producing, varying, 

 giving law to and determining the operations of the 

 millions of their children. They consist of protoplasm 

 and a nucleus. The protoplasm is called the yelk, the 

 nucleus, the germinal vesicle. These are the essential 

 parts. In animals the egg of the female generally grows 

 by the addition of protoplasm, or egg yelk, and is 

 surrounded by a protecting membrane, and in birds by 

 a calcareous shell. It is one of the largest cells, not 

 being really one cell. The male sperm cell, on the other 

 hand, is one of the smallest. It has an exceedingly 

 small body, with an oblong nucleus and a comparatively 

 long vibrating filament attached to it. It is characterised 

 by a very peculiar quick movement called the spermatozoic 

 movement. 



Sperm ovules and egg-cells unite and form a parent 



