142 THE RIDDLE OF THE UNIVERSE. 



of itself to destroy the myth of the immortality of the 

 soul, to which we shall return later on. It suffices, too, 

 for the destruction of the still prevalent superstition 

 that man owes his personal existence to the favour 

 of God. Its origin is rather to be attributed solely 

 to the "eros" of his parents, to that powerful 

 impulse that is common to all polycellular animals 

 and plants, and leads to their nuptial union. But the 

 essential point in this physiological process is not the 

 " embrace," as was formerly supposed, or the amorous- 

 ness connected therewith ; it is simply the introduc- 

 tion of the spermatozoa into the vagina. This is the 

 sole means, in the land-dwelling animals, by which 

 the fertilising element can reach the released ova 

 (which usually takes place in the uterus in man). 

 In the case of the lower aquatic animals (fishes, 

 mussels, medusse, etc.) the mature sexual elements 

 on both sides are simply discharged into the water, 

 and their union is left to chance ; they have no real 

 copulation, and so they show none of those higher 

 psychic " erotic " functions which play so conspicuous 

 a part in the life of the higher animals. Hence it is, 

 also, that all the lower non- copulating animals are 

 wanting in those interesting organs which Darwin 

 has called " secondary sexual characters," and which 

 are the outcome of sexual selection : such are the 

 beard of man, the antlers of the stag, the beautiful 

 plumage of the bird of paradise and of so many other 

 birds, together with other distinctions of the male, 

 which are absent in the female. 



Among the above theses as to the physiology of con- 

 ception, the inheritance of the psychic qualities of the 

 two parents is of particular importance for psycho, 

 logical purposes. It is well known that every child 



