Picture - Cosmic Polymath

EVIDENCES OF DESIGN IN. REPRODUCTIVE ELEMENTS 149
desire are equally predetermined. The globular, concentric, radiating, branched, segmented, curved, and spiral
arrangements of the reproductive cells are also predetermined.
The way in which the male and female reproductive elements in the higher animals deport themselves is worthy
of careful study, as further illustrating design. In the human race, the male element or spermatozoon, and the
female element, ovum or egg, make their appearance in the boy and girl long anterior to puberty ; they can be
detected even in the male or female child. The reproductive elements anticipate the reproductive function by a
great many years. They are separate creations. The spermatozoa are prepared in incredible numbers in the testes
of the male, and the ova or eggs are developed in very large numbers in the ovaries or egg-sacs of the female. The
spermatozoa after puberty are always available ; the ova or eggs at stated intervals. The spermatozoa and ova
in the genus homo (and in animals generally) are living, and have separate existences. Their movements are neither
intellectual nor voluntary : yet they seek and find
each other with unerring precision. The ovum or
ova, as happens, are discharged from the surfaces of
the ovaries at the monthly periods, and find their way
into the Fallopian tubes of the uterus, where, after
the congress of the sexes, they are met by the sper-
matozoa. The spermatozoa enter the ova, and im-
pregnation, in healthy individuals, follows. The male
element penetrates the female element. The male
and female elements seek each other as wholes : the
essential parts of each element also seek the essential
parts of the complementary element and so ensure a
perfect amalgamation or blend. The male element
even sheds its vibratile flagellum or swimming tail
when it is no longer useful. The ovum extrudes a
portion of its substance (polar globule or directive
corpuscle) to make room for the spermatozoon, and
provides an aperture for its entrance. This aperture
is, in due course, found and utiUsed by the sperma-
tozoon. The male and female sexual elements are
to be regarded as centres of force, and streams of
power and growth radiate from them as Ught from
a star : indeed the term aster, in embryology, is
employed to denote certain radiating structures and
movements. These extraordinary arrangements can
only be accounted for by design and prevision. For
changes occurring in the cell, especially in the nucleus,
after impregnation, see Plates Ixi., Ixii., and Ixiii., pp. 154, 156, and 158.
When the male and female sexual elements have met and blended with each other, a still more remarkable
series of phenomena present themselves. As a matter of fact, two sets of changes are to be noted, namely, those
which occur before impregnation, and those which occur after impregnation.
The series of changes before and after impregnation are involved and complicated, but they form, strictly
speaking, different stages or phases of the reproductive process, which is to be regarded as one continuous act.
The term evolution, if employed at all in this connection, can only be employed, strictly speaking, in
development.
Reproduction consists of a progressive series of co-ordinated transformations and movements in the male
and female elements : these elements participating equally, but in different ways. The transformations are of
the most remarkable and striking character, and cannot be explained as apart from pre-arrangement, design, and
a Designer.
In some animals reproduction results in the most beautiful concentric, radiating, branching, and spiral arrange-
ments, and in a compUcated process of weaving as shown at Plates Ixi. and Ixii. In others it gives rise to
bewildering divisions and reunions, and the formation of membranes and other structures as shown in Plates Ixi.,
Ixii., and Ixiv.
Fig. 34.—A. Tnnia saginata. B. Yi.ea.di oi Ta.'nia svlmni. C. Semi-diagi-ammatic
view of a single proglottis of tienia. «, Ovaiy ; 6, testis ;