ON THE HYPOTHESIS OF EVOLUTION. id 



the physical structure of man also in which the male condition is 

 the immature one. In regard to structure, the point at which 

 the relation between the sexes is that of exact parallelism, or 

 where the mature condition of the one sex accords with the unde- 

 veloped condition of the other, is when reproduction is no longer 

 accomplished by budding or gemmation, but requires distinct 

 organs. Metaphysically, this relation is to be found where dis- 

 tinct individuality of the sexes first appears ; that is, where we 

 pass from the hermaphrodite to the bisexual condition. 



But let us put the whole interpretation on this partial unde- 

 velopment of woman. 



The types or conditions of organic life which have been the 

 most prominent in the world's history— the Ganoids of the first, 

 the Dinosaurs of the second, and the Mammoths of the third 

 period— have generally died with their day. The line of succes- 

 sion has not been from them. The law of anatom.y and paleon- 

 tology is, that we must seek the point of departure of the type 

 which is to predominate in the future, at lower stages on the line, 

 in less decided forms, or in what, in scientific parlance, are called 

 generalized types. In the same way, though the adults of the 

 tailless apes are in a physical sense more highly developed than 

 their young, yet the latter far more closely resemble the human 

 species in their large facial angle and shortened jaws. 



How much significance, then, is added to the law uttered by 

 Christ ! — ^'Except ye become as little children, ye can not enter 

 the kingdom of heaven.'^ Submission of will, loving trust, con- 

 fiding faith — these belong to the child : how strange they appear 

 to the executing, commanding, reasoning man ! Are they so 

 strange to the woman ? We all know the answer. Woman is 

 nearer to the point of departure of that development which out- 

 lives time and j^eoples heaven ; and if man would find it, he must 

 retrace his steps, regain something he lost in youth, and join to 



which are embryonic in the female : the female flowers are the product of the 

 younger and more growing portions of the tree — that is, those last produced (the 

 upper limbs and new branches) — while the male flowers are produced by the older 

 or more mature portions — that is, lower limbs or more axial regions. Further, we 

 are not accustomed to regard the condition of rapid growth as that of great vigor 

 in animals, but rather ascribe that quality to maturity, after such growth has 

 ceased. 



Meehan's observations coincide with those of Thury and others on the origin 

 of sexes in animals and plants, which it appears to me admit of a similar explana- 

 tion. 



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