=282.= If then the phenomena of reproduction are essentially the same, whether we consider the relations of two human beings or those of infinitesimal elements which seem to belong to another order of being, we are already prepared for the Stoic principle that the creation of the universe is repeated in miniature in the bringing into life of each individual amongst the millions of millions of organic beings which people it. From this standpoint we gain fresh light upon the Stoic theory of creation, and particularly of the relation of the eternal Logos to the infinite multitude of procreative principles or ‘seed-powers.’ Again, it is with the general theory of creation in our minds that we must revert to the Stoic explanation of ordinary generation. This is to him no humble or unclean function of the members of the body; it is the whole man, in his divine and human nature, that is concerned[83]. The ‘procreative principle’ in each man is a part of his soul[84]; ‘the seed is a spirit’ (or pulsation) ‘extending from the principate to the parts of generation[85].’ It is an emanation from the individual in which one becomes two, and two become one. Just as the human soul is a ‘fragment’ of the divine, so is the seed a fragment torn away, as it were, from the souls of parents and ancestors[86]. [Sidenote: Motherhood.] =283.= In the seed is contained the whole build of the man that is to be[87]. It is therefore important to know whether the procreative principle in the embryo is derived from one or both parents, and if the latter, whether in equal proportion. The Stoics do not appear to have kept entirely free from the common prepossession, embodied in the law of paternal descent, according to which the male element is alone active in the development of the organism; and so they allege that the female seed is lacking in tone and generative power[88]. On the other hand observation appeared to them to show that children inherit the psychical and bodily qualities of both parents, and the general tendency of their philosophy was towards the equalization of the sexes. On the whole the latter considerations prevailed, so that the doctrine of Stoicism, as of modern times, was that qualities, both of body and soul, are inherited from the seed of both parents[89]; wherein the possibility remains open, that in particular cases the debt to one parent may be greater than to the other[90]. [Sidenote: Impulses.]