The Portland daily press., 1872-01-27
IHE PR ESS.
SATURDAY MORNING, JAN. 81. 1872.
Vitality Of the Sexes.

1t would hardly be correct to call tbe ro-
productive principle in nature the female
principle; and yet when nature has advanced
so far in the plant or the animal as to call for
division into sexes, it will hardly be denied
that the female is in more intimate commun-
ion with this leading object than the male.
The female must necessarily be the most IA
Vored of nature. At the commencement of
the division the female will be provided for.
and in the great struggle for life, all other
things being equal, the chances viii be large
ly in her favor. In plants the division into
sexes is not made apparent until the ff1wer-
ing period arrives. Some are hermaphrodites
that is, they have stamens and pistils in the
same nowers. Others are dioecious, or have
the male flowers wholly ON one plant, and the
females ON another. Bnt it is seldom known,
prior TO towering, which is the male plant,
OF wnlcn Is the female. Still the peculiar
sexual principle in some cases, no doubt, per-
vades the whole plant, and exists long ante
rlor to towering; for male or female plant
once known will generally always remain so.
cuttings taken from either will be pretty sure
10 reproduce the same sexual flowers again,
though not always; for the female silver ma
pie will not untrequently put forth branches
with male flowers. Still, as a general thing
sex is not determined in plants until near the
towering time; and is, as has been said, ney-
er known until the flowers have actually
opened. In those plants which bear male and
female flowers separate on the same plant, it
is then seen that the male flowers only appear
on the weakest branches or branchleis. This
is best illustrated by a pine or spruce tree.
The female flower is that which becomes the
pine cone. The male flowers gather in small
clusters, and are those which produce the
dust (pollen) in early spring. The male flow
ers or cones only appear at the ends of the
healthiest branches. As the tree grows, of
course the branches now at the ends in time
become the interior, and are then shaded by
those which go beyond them. Shade always
tends to lessen the vitality of a growing
branch; and here we see that branches once
strong and female flowers, as soon as thus
partially weakened by shade bear only male
ones. An inspection of any pine tree in
spring will show, that though male flowers
are sometimes borne at the base of the shoots
bearing female flowers, weak shoots will never
bear anything but male ones. This will be
found the case in all plants of monecious
character. In the common dnbr0sid, or rag
weed, the male flowers are on a sort of weak
ened, half-dead looking raceme; while the
females are situated in the best position for
receiving the highest amount of nutrition
the plant can bestow. Those who have ex-
amined this matter in plants, see the truth
of the position in the vegetable world, that
natures highest efforts in the formation of
the sexes are invariably in the female line.
The same facts appear to us in the animal
world. In the very first struggle with life the
males get the worst of it. The vast majority
of all the children who die under five years of
age are males. As the sexes approach ma
turity, the terrible strain on the female sys-
tenn begins, and the numbers of males and fe-
males again nearly equalize. The amount of
nutrition over and above that required to sus-
tain life passes in the male to brain and mus
Gle, to mere physical strength and intellectual
capacity; but in the female, to immense nu-
tritive power for the support of another hui
man being. Man is physically stronger than
woman; that is, in cases requiring an imme-
diate concentration of power, he is her supe-
rior. But in uitality, if by that we may un-
derstand the ability to endure circumstances
tending to destroy life, he is below her. Not
only can he not endure as much during the
first five years of his life, but as an adult he
sinks under pain that woman would hardly
faint with. Any one of us can look around
and see women with perhaps half a dozen
young children which she must look after,
continual series of routine, monotonous
house-work which she must attend to, now
roasting at the oven, steaming over the wash
tub, or freezing at the clothes-line, and con-
tlnudily VIII tne worry Ol crying cnuuren
ringing in her ears; and all this for years and
years, with ailing infants and sick older child
rem, and perhaps even male specimen of an
older cast to whom she is expected to be
''help-mate" besides all this; altogether for
months and months giving her but three or
four hours of sound sleep per night. Where
is the man that could endure it? A year of
such life would kill the strongest of us. We
find the same law of vital endurance outside
of man. Cavalry officers in the late war
found out the wisdom OF selecting mares for
arduous services; and we all know what
miserably dull animal the unsexed OK be-
comes. This branch Of our topic need not be
further pursued. 1t has been shown that
naturally the reproductive principle should be
endowed with the highest attributes of vitali-
ty, and the few instances cited will show its
bearing in the world of facts.-From "Se1ual
Science" by james MeehaIa, IN Old and Neto
for February.