126 Life and Love. 



The egg cradles all life. In the lower life it is 

 frankly exposed to view, but in the mammal, and 

 in a few inferior forms, as among certain fishes, 

 this is not the case. The existence of the egg-cell 

 of the mammal is discovered only upon the closest 

 search and observation. 



Like the bird's ovaries, the ovaries of the mam- 

 mal lie deep within the body-cavity, one on either 

 side, but foreseeing the excessive caution to be 

 exercised in producing this most complex of all 

 life, the oviducts do not enter the intestine as in 

 the lower forms of life, but isolate themselves 

 entirely from surrounding parts, having a separate 

 exit of their own. 



The size of the egg is not in proportion to the size 

 of the animal, but quite the contrary. The eggs 

 of some of the lower forms of life, as the starfish, 

 are enormous compared with those of the largest 

 mammal. The egg-cell of a deer or of a cow is 

 hardly as large as the smallest sweet-pea seed. 



In short, the egg-cell of the elephant would 

 hardly turn the balance against that of a moth. 

 Yet the moth will produce a few score of these 

 large eggs, which hasten to mature in a few months, 

 while the elephant will live sixteen or twenty years 

 before producing any offspring, and will have but 

 a few descendants in the course of a long life. 



The development of mammalian life is slow and 

 elaborate. As a rule, the larger the animal, the 

 slower the development and the fewer the off- 



