1884 *] and the Principles of Reproduction. 35 
same, there is no difficulty in the thought that the needful 
opening may be effected by the adtion of the male germ 
upon the female. In order to open chemical affinities by 
chemical agency there are required at least two kinds of 
molecules, different in some respedts. This is the significa- 
tion of dualism in generation. 
. The muscle-, nerve-, and gland-molecules form their own 
likeness out of the nutriment. The living molecule or 
molecular group has the power of impressing itself upon 
dead moleculai gioups, and converting them into its own 
likeness whilst receiving them into its society,—/. <?., into 
the realm of the living. 
Since according to this principle the male and the female 
germ add upon each other in generation, each will force its 
peculiarities upon the other. Since thus there arise two 
germs of approximately like nature, the question arises 
whether they remain two separate individuals after fecunda- 
tion, since we assume the existence of many germs in the 
ovum and in the spermatozoon. If we admit for a moment 
the hypothesis of such distinctness, we can draw therefrom 
certain conclusions. 
If we suppose that the germs derived from the spermato- 
zoon retain, even after fecundation, a certain specific pecu- 
liarity as compared with the ovum germs, it follows that on 
the formation of the sexual organs in the embryo there may 
be evolved two kinds of germs,— derivatives of the spermato- 
zoa and of the ova. Each organism would thus be primarily 
a hermaphrodite. J 
When both kinds of germs begin to increase they readl 
upon the tiansformation of matter in the organism, and 
modify the composition of its fluids. It appears now that 
very frequently the modification of the organism determined 
by the vegetation of the sperm-cells interfere with the 
development of the ova, and conversely the growth of the 
ovum masses hinders the development of the sperm-cells. 
Thus the sex is determined according to the germs provided 
with the greatest vital energy. But as the male and female 
germs have on an average the same vital energy, males and 
females are produced in equal numbers. 
If we assume many germs in the ovum and in the 
spermatozoon, the question arises what must happen if the 
number of each kind is unequal, and the excess consequently 
escapes fecundation. Such excess will generally or always 
perish. 
So long as parthenogenesis is maintained by zoologists 
and botanists, and the possibility of its existence cannot be 
