40 Life and Love. 



In the male fish are found sacs similar to the 

 ovaries of the female, containing the tiny sperm- 

 cells, so tiny that they cannot be seen without the 

 aid of the microscope. 



They are mixed with a milky fluid substance, 

 also secreted by the sperm-sac, so that the whole 

 sperm-sac is not unlike the ovary in size and 

 consistency. 



This fluid is well named the fertilizing fluid, con- 

 taining, as it does, the sperm, or fertilizing, cells. 



The reproductive cells at certain seasons of the 

 year ripen, and the fish arc then ready to perform 

 their reproductive functions. 



The ripe egg-cells have stored up within them 

 an incredible amount of vitality, for in each is 

 almost the possibility of becoming a perfect fish ; 

 they are thrilling with life and unexpressed power, 

 and the presence of these life-cells imparts a 

 strange and powerful magnetism to every cell in 

 the fish's body, as the presence of a strong mag- 

 net affects every particle of iron in its neighbor- 

 hood. 



In the male fish the microscopic sperm-cells are 

 also ripe and thrilling with life, and they send their 

 message pulsing through the whole fish-body. 



The male and female, thus powerfully charged 

 with opposite attractions, are irresistibly drawn, the 

 one to the other. 



As is the case with other charged bodies, this 

 excessive accumulation of a particular kind of force 



