Year: 1870

From the Medical and sergicaI Reporter ]


COnfining ourselves tOa strictly ana
tOmical examination Of this most in
terestihg question, we find ourselves
carried back To an early period in fetal
life, when the embryo il a ueuter, aD-
Uarently capable Of becoming male or
female under impulses which are as
yet obscure. The epithelium Of the
WOlllian passage is the point Of de-
velOpment Of the male urinO- -genitary
apparatus while the female organs
can be traced TO another epithelial ad
jacent.


But what are the impulses-ino other
words, what are the theological rea-
sons which lead to the DEVELOPMENT
of the one or the other, and thus de-
eide upon the sex Of the child?


Only two theories are possible :
either each Ovum, before or through
impregnatiOn, hiss the element Of sex
uality impressed upon it, and thus
must develop to specific sex; or, be-
ing really neuter up to certain pc
riOd of fetal life, the embryo ASSUMES
the one or other sex under the iufiu
ence Of some fOrtuitOus circumstance.


The former theory is that advocated
by Prof. ThuTy, who holds that the
sex IS determined by the period OF
impregnatiOn Of the Oyum: that
when this occurs soon after the men,
strual change, the embryo is female
when later, male.


The anatomical objection to this
theory is, that in the apparently neu-
trd condition Of the embryo, before
the genital apparatus has been at all
developed, the epithelial tracts suited
to the growth Of either male or female
organs are present. But then this ap-
parent neutrality is to- a certain extent
preserved during life, as the man.
mary and prOstatic glands Of the male
testify. They may be present out OF
that tendency to preservation Of SINH
larity in structure of which we find
examples in the appendix vermi-
fOrmis, and other rudimentaryO organs.


The second theory, that temporal
and accidental conditions lead 10 the
decision of sex, has lately received a
remarkable elucidation 10y the bOtani-
cal researches Of Mr.. Thomas Nee
han. This gentleman, at the meeting
of the American Association or the
Advancement of Science, last year,
read a paper on the idJCs gOUeyniHg ser
IN plants, i'm which the theory was
prOpOunded that only the highest
grades Of vitality produce the female
sex. This year he has shown how
imperfect nutrition affected the lower
vitality in favor OF the male sex. He
exhibited specimens of the common
street chestnut, showing that there
were two classes Of male blossoms on
this tree. One class appeared in the
axis Of the leaves on the weak
branches. These We're the numerous
viii catkins we are all so familiar
with on the chestnut tree. They usu-
ally fall before the last class opened,
and probably had little to DO with the
fertilization Of the female flowers.
The female flowers only appeared
from very vigorous branches. These
bore only two OF three female flowers,
and then if any matter was to be
spared, continued on weak male
sIike. If the tree is weakened in any
manneTthis last class Of male flowers l.
not formed, all of this material then
being required TO form the chestnuts.
When weakness is still greater, no
female flowers are at all borne, but
all male ones. Thisis the reason why
chestnuts are scarce in some years.
He exhibited leaves from a large chest
nut tree which had always borne
heavily. but only male flowers this
year. The leaves were of a notified
yellow and green tint, showing that
its nutritive powers were out Of order


This we regard as a most significant
observation. II Is, OF course, a large
Jump, and one not authorized, from
vegetables to the highest vertebrates.
But the laws of sex are singularly
alike throughout organic nature, and
as we write a number Of facts occur
to us in cOrrObOratiOn of the view
that imperfect Dutrition leads to male,
and perfect nutrition to female off
spring. The inferior viability Of the
male fHtus is Of itself a siugularly
striking fact in evidence.


It would seem as if Burns was right
when he says that nature


'Tries her prentice hand on man,


And then she makes the lasses, o.