NOTES AND LITERATURE 



THE CAUSATION OF SEX 1 

 Tins hook is the work of a general practitioner of medicine. 

 For twenty years he has collected clinical facts and materials 

 upon which he now claims to have built up a new theory of sex. 

 The theory has been put to the test in forecasting the sex of the 

 unborn child and proved adequate in 97 per cent, of cases. The 

 cause of sex being known in man, the determination of sex is 

 readily accomplished. A summary disposition of Schenk's once- 

 famous superior-vigor-theory is made by simply citing the clin- 

 ical fact of the occasional simultaneous birth of both a boy 



The theory dissociates absolutely the male parent from any 

 influence in sex causation — thus differing from several otherwise 

 closely similar hypotheses. It is simply that "sex depends upon 

 which ovary supplies the ovum fertilized." The clinical mater- 

 ials employed in proof are: (1) Sexually differing families; (2) 

 extra-uterine pregnancy; (3) pregnancy in double uteri; (4) 

 multiple pregnancy: (f>) migration of ovum (internal and ex- 

 ternal; (6) preponderance of male over female births. Further- 

 more, the author limits validity to all arguments, respecting sex 

 in man, from analogy with invertebrates or even lower verte- 

 brates, believing "women not analogous to any living thing." 



Respecting the anatomy and physiology of the female genera- 

 tive organs the following facts are noted and employed in the 

 construction of the theory: (1) Lower position in pelvis of right 

 ovary and internal opening of right oviduct ; (2) larger caliber 

 of right oviduct; (3) larger size of right ovary; <4) occasional 

 presence of two ova in a Graafian follicle; (5) recorded cases 

 of double nuclei in the mammalian egg; (6) corpus luteum as 

 indicator of ovary from which the impregnated ovum came; (7) 

 dependence on common cause, consequently close coincidence, of 

 ovulation and menstruation (proof: scars of corpora lutea cor- 

 respond to the number of menstrual periods experienced) . The 

 1 "The Causation of Sex," by E. Kumley Dawson, London, H. K. Lewis, 



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