£*•

FUNCTION OF GENERATION. 129
tractive qualities. In many animals, and in most plants,
the double process is performed by the male and female
organs, in the same individual ; but in the higher
animals we have the two sets of organs necessary to
the result in two animals, male and female.
In all cases„in this mode of generation, we have this
simple fact. There must be formed an ovum, or egg,
a cell of microscopic minuteness ; and at a certain stage
of its evolution, this egg must be fecundated, by the ad
dition of the male principle. Each is imperfect by
itself, and both are necessary to the generative pro
cess.
It is remarkable, that the parts of plants devoted to
for their
the sexual function, are those we most prize
beauty and fragrance. It is the flower of the plant
which contains the generative organs. The center of
the flower—the home of beauty, and fragrance, and
sweetness—is the nuptial couch, the bower of love,
sacred to the passionate mysteries of vegetable procre
ation. In the center of this bridal chamber is the
pistil, or female organ ; its tube corresponds
to the
vagina, and below it is the ovary, where the egg is
formed and fecundated. This is done one or more
by
stamens which surround the pistil, and which have the
power of secreting the spermatic fluid, which, in the
form of pollen, falls upon the anther of the pistil. The
stamen corresponds to the testicles and penis of the
higher male animals. In some as plants, the Indian
corn, the sexual organs are further apart. The male,
or sperm-preparing organs, are at the top of the stalk,
while the female are connected with the ear. The
pollen from the " tassel" must fall upon
" the silk," or