1891.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 67 



immense but the suppl}^ of food is very slight ; the union of the two 

 brings the activity of the spermatozoon to supplement the inertia of the 

 ovum, w^hile the nutritive matter of the ovum supplies food to permit the 

 activity which the spermatozoon excites. The generative products are 

 not the only portions of the organism which partake of these character- 

 istics, but they are true in many ways of the organism at large. The 

 superior activity and aggressiveness of males is well known, their great 

 excitability in times of sexual function, and the passivity of the female. 

 The high coloration of males, the development of sundry cutaneous 

 structures, such as horns in the male deer at the breeding season and 

 many other sexual characters, are attributed to the high physiological 

 activity of the creature, and taken as evidence of a much more excitable 

 nature on the part of the male. The history of the spermatozoa is that 

 of elements similar in origin with ova, but so active that one may say 

 they had no time to grow and accumulate any nutritive material. Em- 

 bryos up to a certain stage may be said to be sexless. It seems to be a 

 general law that if at this time they be fed in certain ways, they will 

 become male or female. The bees know this, and can, by feeding 

 worker embryos, make them become fertile females or queens. The 

 well-fed larvae thus tend to passivity. Tadpoles can be experimented 

 upon and their sex predetermined by the way they are nourished ; 

 those well fed become females, while under-nutrition produces males. 

 In the human race in times of war when means of subsistence are scanty 

 and mothers are less well nourished on the average, the majority of 

 births ai"e of males, whereas in times of peace the balance is the other 

 way. Nutrition is not to be regarded as the sole factor predetermining 

 sex, but probably an important one, and these facts show that it is cor- 

 rect to regard the female sex at large as well nourished and passive, and 

 the male as less so and active. 



The authors explain sex thus : The protoplasmic activity is either 

 anabolic (constructive) or katabolic (destructive) , and the sex of any 

 organism is the result in it of pi-eponderant anabolism or katabolism. 

 The dimorphism or difference of sex is then the result of preponder- 

 ant constructive activities in one individual and preponderant destruc- 

 tive activities in another. All intermediate degrees are to be seen as 

 very effeminate men (inactive physically and mentally) and very mas- 

 culine women (active physically and mentally) , intensely female women 

 and intensely male men ; so that in some the preponderance of anabol- 

 ism is large, in others it is slight. Sexuality is thus based on proto- 

 plasmic activities, and is the result of certain balances of activities, 

 and sex finds a meaning in terms of protoplasmic physiology. This 

 dimorphism of sex furnishes the vehicle through which has been evolved 

 diversity of form, and natural selection has seized upon it through 

 the conservative passivity of the female to propagate a race of resemb- 

 ling members, through the radical experimenting activity of the male 

 to reach out and found new and advancing types. 



Dec. 26, 1890. 



Obituary. — Dr. Henry V. Hull died March 37, 1890, at Coeymans, 

 N. Y., from acute lung difficulty. Although but 38 years of age, he 

 was already a physician of established reputation. He was a member 

 of the N. Y. State Microscopical Society, and connected with the 

 County Medical Society. He practised medicine in Coeymans, but 

 afterwards in Schenectady, where he remained until a few months ago. 



