Anatomy, Comparative; Embryology, Human; Evolution; Human beings -- Origin
The unequal segmentation which we observe in the ovum of the amphibia
has the special feature of beginning at the upper and darker pole (the
north pole of the terrestrial globe in our illustration), and slowly
advancing towards the lower and brighter pole (the south pole). Also
the upper and darker hemisphere remains in this position throughout the
course of the segmentation, and its cells multiply much more briskly.
Hence the cells of the lower hemisphere are found to be larger and less
numerous. The cleavage of the stem-cell (Fig. 40 _A_) begins with the
formation of a complete furrow, which starts from the north pole and
reaches to the south (_B_). An hour later a second furrow arises in the
same way, and this cuts the first at a right angle (Fig. 40 _ C_). The
ovum is thus divided into four equal parts. Each of these four
“segmentation cells” has an upper and darker and a lower, brighter
half. A few hours later a third furrow appears, vertically to the first
two (Fig. 40 _D_). The globular germ now consists of eight cells, four
smaller ones above (northern) and four larger ones below (southern).
Next, each of the four upper ones divides into two halves by a cleavage
beginning from the north pole, so that we now have eight above and four
below (Fig. 40 _E_). Later, the
four new longitudinal divisions extend gradually to the lower cells,
and the number rises from twelve to sixteen (_F_). Then a second
circular furrow appears, parallel to the first, and nearer to the north
pole, so that we may compare it to the north polar circle. In this way
we get twenty-four segmentation-cells—sixteen upper, smaller, and
darker ones, and eight smaller and brighter ones below (_G_). Soon,
however, the latter also sub-divide into sixteen, a third or “meridian
of latitude” appearing, this time in the southern hemisphere: this
makes thirty-two cells altogether (_H_). Then eight new longitudinal
lines are formed at the north pole, and these proceed to divide, first
the darker cells above and afterwards the lighter southern cells, and
finally reach the south pole. In this way we get in succession forty,
forty-eight, fifty-six, and at last sixty-four cells (_I, K_). In the
meantime, the two hemispheres differ more and more from each other.
Whereas the sluggish lower hemisphere long remains at thirty-two cells,
the lively northern hemisphere briskly sub-divides twice, producing
first sixty-four and then 128 cells (_L, M_). Thus we reach a stage in
which we count on the surface of the ovum 128 small cells in the upper
half and thirty-two large ones in the lower half, or 160 altogether.
The dissimilarity of the two halves increases: while the northern
breaks up into a great number of small cells, the southern consists of
a much smaller number of larger cells. Finally, the dark cells of the
upper half grow almost over the surface of the ovum, leaving only a
small circular spot
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account