Researches in the Theory and Calculus of Operations. 329 



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and of a female individual germ, which must be left to hatch 

 in the genial oceanic womb of early-teeming Nature ; as do 

 yet, in the warmth of the sun, the eggs of the ostrich and of 

 countless broods of the lower organisms. 



The hypothesis of the origin of sex from the division of 

 a plastic magnet, and of the necessity of the principle of 

 sexuality for the efficient perpetuation of a unique race of 

 beings, finds its highest speaking illustration in the com- 

 parison of creatures whose body partakes of a cylindrical 

 shape. The feet constituted the place of section of the pri- 

 mitive egg (See Plato in Symposion), and in order to bring 

 forth the full power of our living magnet, the positive and 

 negative poles must be turned half-round and brought into 

 proximity like the poles of the horseshoe magnet ; in which 

 situation, new magnets are formed by means of the double 



tOUCh (B.OGET, &c). 



The normal form of development is spherical, but this is 

 incontinently diverted into polar forms by the interference 

 of various external forces. All vital existences, of whatever 

 shape, arise from the combination of polar with spherical 

 action. In the vegetal division of life, the polar develop- 

 ment prevails in the universally cylindrical form of trees 

 and plants; while in the animal creation, the polar projec- 

 tions, though multifarious in direction and adaptation, are 

 subordinate to the basal spherical form of growth. The 

 simplest and most general form of vitality appears among 

 the protozoa, the sarcode or mucilaginous jelly-like sub- 

 stance of which is susceptible indifferently to take on 

 various vital functions without any special organs, diges- 

 tive or locomotive (Yon Baer). In the amcebeans, forami- 

 nifers and sponges, the surrounding fluid medium itself 

 serves as a stomach to the animal, from which it directly 

 draws its nutriment. In the next step of higher develop- 

 ment, a membranous sac or ectoderm is formed by the ac- 

 tion and reaction between the vital protoplasm and the in- 



Trans. vit] 42 



