304 LECTURE VII. 



this specific excitation, tliej become siir- 

 prizingly retentive of life ; and though 

 its actions are often suspended by adverse 

 circumstances for a great length of time, 

 nevertheless they afterwards may begin to 

 build up the very curious structures of 

 plants and animals, endowing also each 

 structure with its appropriate degree and 

 function of vitality. Some speculators in- 

 deed have imagined that the primordium 

 vitae originated in the male ; an opinion 

 that involves in it much absurdity, which I 

 shall not attempt to expose. It seems re- 

 futable by the former argument. The sti- 

 mulating substance is a secretion ; and we 

 cannot suppose that any thing which is or- 

 ganic can be at once secreted; — it must 

 be built up. I beg leave to remind you, 

 Gentlemen, that it is not my intention to 

 dispute about Mr. Hunter's opinions, but 

 merely to display them. 



If the male merely prepares a stimulus, it 

 is requisite that it should possess powers of 

 peculiar excitation, and that the ovum 

 should be endowed with a corresponding 



