Permutations of Sex 



regulate is the dimensions of the home. When 

 the rooms are small, the males abound and 

 the females tend to disappear. With gen- 

 erous quarters, the converse would not take 

 place. I should obtain females and after- 

 wards an equal number of males, confined in 

 small cells which, in case of need, would be 

 bounded by numerous partitions. The factor 

 of space does not enter into the question here. 

 What artifice can we then employ to provoke 

 this second permutation? So far, I can think 

 of nothing that is worth attempting. 



It is time to conclude. Leading a retired 

 life, in the solitude of a village, having quite 

 enough to do with patiently and obscurely 

 ploughing my humble furrow, I know little 

 about modern scientific views. In my young 

 days, I had a passionate longing for books 

 and found it difficult to procure them; to-day, 

 when I could almost have them if I wanted, 

 I am ceasing to wish for them. It is what 

 usually happens as life goes on. I do not 

 therefore know what may have been done in 

 the direction whither this study of the sexes 

 has led us. If I am stating propositions that 

 are really new or at least more comprehensive 

 than the propositions already known, my 



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