The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-02-20

beyound question. the spores are a DIFF
ferent order of offspring from The ones
ordinarily produced by division.
\ more uneeuivocal example Of
similar kind is furnished by the aphides
or plant lice. The female of this inter
esting species may, and usually does.
produce a series of offspring all of one
sex throughout almost her entire life;
and only toward the approach of win
ter. when food begins to be scarce, does
she produce offspring of the other sex
Here, clearly, the influence of nutrition
in determining sex is unequivOcal.
There is an impression abroad that the
case Of the bee is another instance in
point. but this is mistake. 1t is quite
true that the worker bees may. by
forced feeding. determine that a certain
larvum shall become a queen, whereas
without such forced feeding that lar
YUM would have been merely a worker:
but it is also true that all worker bees
are of the female sex. They are simply
abcrtfve queens; the males Of the hive
being drOnes- Yet the case of the bee
has its Importance in this connection
after all. for the worker bee. even
though a female, is incapable of pro-
ducins offspring unless put through
the course of forced feediI while in
the larval state, that will alone develop
her into queen.
WHEN Is SEX DETERMINED.
In all these cases of real or alleged
predeterminatiCn of sex. it will be OBJ
served, the nnal settlement of the ques-
ton for each particular Individual IS
supposed to be effected Immediately on
the union of the male and female ele-
ments, giving vitality to the new or
ganlSm- 1t is an open question how
ever, whether such final determination
Of sex really takes place so early. There
are biologists who hold that in its earli-
est stages the organism is without sex.
or, perhaps better. that it is bi-sexual.
But when one reflects that all the pO-
tentialities of the male parent have
been transmitted through the germ
cell. it is difficult to believe that any
fOrtuitOus later occurrences can change
the sex of the offspring. In such a case
as that of the fish. where the germ cell
finds the egg cell at the bottom of a
river. and where neither parent after
ward comes near the developing young,
one can hardly doubt that the sex is de-
termined by the balance of vitalities Of
each pair of germ cells and Ova. at the
moment of their union. and not by any
subsequent vicissitudes. And if this be
true of the fish, such is the harmony Of
vital action throughout nature. one can
HOL QpuBl llldl lL nous equally true OF
every other organism So clear does
this seem that one feels that Professor
Schenck must be misunderstood in
those reports which have stated that he
bases his claims on the nutrition of the
female after conception. IF his theory
has any validity at all it must surely be
based on the vitality supplied the germ
cells and egg cells by the nutrition Of
the parents prior to conception. not af-
terward.
Without entering into exhaustive dis
cusson of the matter. it NAV rot he
anniss to call attention to owe familiar
feature regarding the average sex OF
large masses of population. which the
new theOr- of SCI in some measure eX-
plains. bit which has hitherto been
quite ineVDli-" BILE 1t is VII known 20
statisticians i 1T during times of war
the average Jsrcentage OF male births
increase among the warning nations.
During the half decade 1S60-65. for ex-
ample. more than the prOpOrtionate num-
States. The theory that nutrition in
luencss sex would explain this as due
to the fact that. on an average. the
fathers Of the country We're more reduced
in physical vitality BIZ the vicissitudes
OF war than We're the mothers The eX-
PLANTATION seems plausible and the har-
rOny between so remarkable a statistical
fact and the now theory tends to show
that the latter IS at least worthy OF
further Investigation