The History of Creation, Vol. 1 (of 2): Or the Development of the Earth and its Inhabitants by the Action of Natural CausesHaeckel, Ernst
Philosophy
The History of Creation, Vol. 1 (of 2): Or the Development of the Earth and its Inhabitants by the Action of Natural Causes
Haeckel, Ernst
Evolution; Heredity; Human beings -- Origin
In all the chief forms of non-sexual propagation mentioned above—in
fission, in the formation of buds, germ buds, and germ cells—the
separated cell or group of cells was able by itself to develop into a
new individual, but in the case of sexual propagation the cell must
first be fructified by another generative substance. The fructifying
male sperm must first mix with the female germ-cell (the egg) before the
latter can develop into a new individual. These two different
generative substances, the male sperm and the female egg, are either
produced by one and the same individual hermaphrodite
(Hermaphroditismus), or by two different individuals (sexual separation,
Gonochorismus) (Gen. Morph. ii. 58, 59).
The simpler and more ancient form of sexual propagation is through
double-sexed individuals (Hermaphroditismus). It occurs in the great
majority of plants, but only in a minority of animals, for example, in
the garden snails, leeches, earth-worms, and many other worms. Every
single individual among hermaphrodites produces within itself materials
of both sexes—eggs and sperm. In most of the higher plants every
blossom contains both the male organ (stamens and anther) and the female
organs (style and germ). Every garden snail produces in one part of its
sexual gland eggs, and in another part sperm. Many hermaphrodites can
fructify themselves; in others, however, copulation and reciprocal
fructification of both hermaphrodites is necessary for causing the
development of the eggs. This latter case is evidently a transition to
sexual separation.
_Sexual separation_ (Gonochorismus,) which characterizes the more
complicated of the two kinds of sexual reproduction, has evidently been
developed from the condition of hermaphroditism at a late period of the
organic history of the world. It is at present the universal method of
propagation of the higher animals, and occurs, on the other hand, only
in the minority of plants (for example, in many aquatic plants, _e.g._
Hydrocharis, Vallisneria; and in trees, _e.g._ Willows, Poplars). Every
organic individual, as a non-hermaphrodite (Gonochoristus), produces
within itself only one of two generative substances, either the male or
the female. The female individuals, both in animals and plants, produce
eggs or egg-cells. The eggs of plants in the case of flowering plants
(Phanerogama), are commonly called “embryo sacs”; in the case of
flowerless plants (Cryptogama), “fruit spores.” In animals, the male
individual secretes the fructifying sperm (sperma); in plants, the
corpuscles, which correspond to the sperm. In the Phanerogama, these are
the pollen grains, or flower-dust; in the Cryptogama, a sperm, which,
like that of most animals, consists of floating vibratile cells actively
moving in a fluid—the zoosperms, spermatozoa, or sperm-cells.
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