Love: A Treatise on the Science of Sex-attraction: for the use of Physicians and Students of Medical JurisprudenceTalmey, Bernard Simon
Science
Love: A Treatise on the Science of Sex-attraction: for the use of Physicians and Students of Medical Jurisprudence
Talmey, Bernard Simon
Sex
From these two modes of generation it is easily seen that the impelling
force leading to conjugation is, as Rolph puts it, simply cell hunger.
These modes of multiplication are also found in the simpler forms of
colonial protozoa,[X] where the cells are not yet differentiated and
all the members of the colony take part in reproduction.
In the next higher class of colonial protozoa, the first
differentiation of the members or cells of the colony takes place. One
part of the cells is set apart to continue the task of reproduction,
while the main body of the colony does not participate any longer in
the function of generation. As a rule, the reproductive cells are
divided into two kinds, and these two kinds of cells conjugate with
each other. The conjugation takes place either between different
members of the same colony or between members of different colonies of
the same species.
The conjugating individuals are similar in the simpler kinds of
colonies. In the higher forms the two conjugating cells are easily
seen to be very different from each other. One kind of cells is large,
spherical and inactive. They are for this reason called egg-cells. The
other kind of cells is small, with ovoid head and tapering tail and
free-swimming. For this reason they are called sperm cells.
When the differentiation between the reproductive cells into two kinds
has taken place, they are called sex cells. The sex cells are usually
situated in groups, and the groups are called sexual glands. The groups
of sperm cells are called testicles and those of egg cells are called
ovaries.
In the lower classes in the animal kingdom the male and female glands
are situated at different parts of the same animal, or near each other.
Sometimes the same gland is producing both kinds of cells, male and
female. In the hermaphroditic species of round worms, for instance,
it is found that, when the reproductive organ is fully formed, it
functions first as a testicle. The germ-cells at the anterior end of
the sexual gland begin to divide rapidly and become small spermatozoa
which are stored up in a receptacle of the uterus. Later on other
cells, also situated at the anterior end of the sex-gland, begin to
grow larger, store up yolk and become large egg-cells. They then enter
the uterus and become fertilized by their own spermatozoa. This mode
of fertilization is the so-called self-fertilization. It is found in
the slightly complex animals, as the tape-worm or the leech, where one
and the same individual produces both egg-cells and sperm-cells. In
colonial jelly-fishes certain members of the colony produce only sperm
cells, and certain other members produce only egg-cells.
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