130 Life and Love. 



cell having hastened along the oviduct to meet 

 it. 



Having been fertilized, the egg-cell is not sent 

 into the outer world, but remains to grow and 

 develop in its living nest, in this womb, that, like 

 a loving mother, nourishes and protects it. 



This home of the egg, lined with soft, silken 

 walls all embroidered with veins of crimson, and 

 softer than any bird's nest, warmer than any sum- 

 mer ground, is the consummate device of the 

 world's upper forms of life. 



In this temple of the feminine world the higher 

 life is perfected. Here it finds a place of peace 

 and growth, leisure and safety to construct those 

 marvellous tissues which make its body. Thus is 

 the womb defined by one of nature's lovers: — 



" Looking abroad at the operations of Nature, we 

 see an immense variety of devices. Nature works 

 with such skill that man consumes a lifetime in 

 finding out her riddles. The gem is concealed in 

 an almost indestructible shell of rock, the gold 

 in a cleft of granite, the coal and the oil at great 

 depths in the earth, water comes from subterranean 

 courses, the sap rises in the tree in a wa)' )'ct 

 unexplained, and paints gorgeous colors, gases 

 necessary to life are hidden in an invisible medium 

 we call the air. Life, traits, character, are folded 

 in the egg; and the egg itself is folded in the 

 water, in the earth, in the nest, and lastly in the 

 womb. The womb itself is the most mj-sterious 



