i Cornell XHnivetsit^ OF THE IRewl^orft State (ToUese of agriculture H^^^l M:llL]li... 3778 Cornell University Library QP 251.R4 Sex, its origin and determination; a stud 3 1924 003 152 521 The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003152521 SEX ITS ORIGIN AND DETERMINATION SEX ITS ORIGIN AND DETERMINATION A STUDY OF THE METABOLIC CYCLE AND ITS INFLUENCE IN THE ORIGIN AND DETERMINATION OF SEX, THE COURSE OF ACUTE DISEASE, PARTURITION, ETC. THOMAS E. REED, M.D. middlet5wn OHIO, U. S. A. NEW YORK REBMAN COMPANY Herau) Squaee BUIIJ)ING 141-143 West 36th Street copyeiqht, 1913 By Rebman Company All Bightt Seserved CONTENTS PAGH Preface , . 9 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION. A Statement of the Main Problem. — The Modern View of Sex. — Living and Non-Living Matter. — Older Ideas. — Modern Methods. — Present Attitude Toward the Prob- lem. — Nutrition Theories Inadequate 13 CHAPTER II THE NATURE OF LIFE IN ITS RELATION TO GROWTH AND REPRODUCTION. Spencer's Definition. — Spontaneity of Living Matter. — Trophisms, Tactisms. — Reproduction. — Assimilation and Growth. — Identity of Growth and Reproduction. — Variation. — Heredity. — ^Views of Wallace and Weis- mann 34 CHAPTER III A REVIEW AND CRITICISM OF THEORIES OF SEX DETERMINATION. The Maternal Influence in Sex Determination. — Ovarian Theories. — Sex a Property of the Ovum. — Sex and the Chromosomes. — The Views of Minot. — ^A Possible Rela- tion to the Month. — Influence of Nutrition. — ^Influence of Age of Parents. — A Mathematical View.: — Ideas of Van Luit and Starkweather. — Criticism of Stark- weather's Theory. — Twins and the Size and Fertiliza- tion of the Ovum , . . . 44 5 6 Contents CHAPTEE IV A BBVIBW AND CKITICISM OP THEORIES OF SEX DETERMINATION. PACE Size and Fertilization of Ova as Sex Determinants. — In- fluence of Heredity. — Selection. — Influence of Age of Ovum. — Heredity and Nutrition. — Equality of Sexes in Numbers. — The Physiological versus the Morphological Explanations 72 CHAPTEE V TWIN BIRTHS AND THEIR RELATION TO THE PROBLEM OP SEX DETERMINATION. Superfetation. — Same Egg, Same Sex. — The Placenta. — Origin of Twins. — One Ovum, One Sperm. — Fission versus Fusion. — ^The Evidence from Conjoined Twins. — The Eemarkable Dissimilarity in Conjoined Twins. — Conclusions from the Study of Twins. ... 96 CHAPTEE VI THE COMPLETE HERMAPHRODITISM OF THE OVUM. Primitive Methods of Eeproduction. — Hermaphroditism a Stage in the Evolution of Sex. — Secondary Sex Char- acters. — Sex in the Psychic Sphere. — The Evidence from Psycho-Sexual Evolution and Pathology. — The Ideas of Weininger. — Views of Freud. — Conclusions. 118 CHAPTEE VII THE SEX CYCLE OF THE GERM PLASM. The Universal Ehythm. — Spencer on Physiological Ehythms. — Social Ehythms. — Ehythms in Mental Disease. — Menstrual Ehythms. — Sexual Ehythms. — Sex Ehythm of the Ovum. — Sex Determined by the Time of Fertili- zation 148 Contents " CHAPTEE VIII THE ESSENTIAL NATURE OF SEX A DISTINCTION OF METABOLISM. PAGE The Anabolism and Katabolism of the Sex Cells. — Thomp- son and Geddes on the Metabolic Distinction of Sex. — Maleness, Katabolism. — Femaleness, Anabolism. — The Sex Cycle of the Germ Plasm. — The Argument Ee- stated and Extended 164 CHAPTEE IX THE DETEEMINATION OF THE SEX CYCLE. The Equality of the Sexes. — Equal Time Periods. — The Ee- lation of Vital Functions to Tidal Periods. — The Aquat- ic Origin of Life. — The Twelve Hour Lunar Cycle. — The Lunar Month. — Acute Disease. — Incubation Pe- riods. — Typhoid. — ^Yellow Fever. — The Sex Cycle in Man 178 CHAPTEE X THE METABOLIC CYCLE IN LABOR. Parturition a Eeproductive Process. — Observations of Her- ing, Eaue and Hoyne. — The Determination of the Cycle. — The Stages of Labor. — Eatio of Births in Pos- itive and Negative Hours. — The Agent Initiating Labor. — The Infrequency of Lacerations. — Case Ee- ports.— Table of Births 319 CHAPTEE XI NOTES ON THE MANAGEMENT OF LABOR IN RELATION TO THE LABOR CYCLE. Inadequate Training in Obstetrics. — Importance of Diag- nosis. — ^Use of the Forceps. — Empirical Observations of the Labor Cycle. — Conclusion 259 8 Contents FAGS CHAPTEE XII THE CYCLE IN DEATHS AND SURGICAL OPERATIONS. 271 CHAPTER XIII THE PRACTICAL DETERMINATION AND PREDICTION OF SEX. 374 CHAPTEE XIV A CONSIDERATION OP SOME OBJECTIONS. Multiple Pregnancy. — Male and Female Births. — Dominance of One Sex. — Sex in Fishes. — The Sex Ehythm and Acquired Characters 381 CHAPTEE XV RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSION. 389 LIST OF REFERENCES 297 LIST OF AUTHORS 303 INDEX S07 PEEFACE It is now over forty years since I began to note the regularly alternating active and passive phases mani- fested during the progress of labor. I soon became convinced that the recognition and study of these varia- tions in labor activity should prove valuable to the ob- stetrician. The more I studied this phenomenon the more valuable it became to me in the practical manage- ment of my obstetrical cases. About twenty years ago, impressed by the active and passive character of this labor cycle and remarking the resemblance of its phases to the metabolic or active and passive distinction of the sexes, it occurred to me that the solution of the problem of sex determination might lie in this direction. Upon subjecting this hy- pothesis — at that time very roughly formulated — to clinical tests, I was myself as surprised as were some of my patients to note the uniform success attending such trials. Clinical evidence accumulated slowly, but in time I had recorded a number of cases where my pa- tients were able by following my directions to secure a desired sex in offspring. In many other instances the sex was successfully predicted. It was a number of years, however, before I pub- lished anjrthing upon the question, except an occasional short article. In 1906 I wrote a series of papers en- titled "The Sex Cycle of the Germ Plasm" for the New York Medical Times which were published in September, October, November and December of 1906, and in the January, 1907, number of that journal. These articles were a rather condensed setting forth of the theory, many arguments and data which required fur- 9 10 Preface ther elaboration being passed over briefly. Neverthe- less, the hypothesis there stated attracted more atten- tion than I expected, and I received letters from many parts of America, as well as a few from Europe, com- menting upon it. I, therefore, felt justified in summing up the whole subject in a more convenient and elaborate form; hence the present volume, of which the Medical Times articles form the basis. I must ask the professional biologist to view this vol- ume leniently. It is natural that he should feel that the problem of sex determination should be approached from the standpoint of the cytologist alone. I have written it rather more from the physician's point of view. I hope the obstetrician, before condemning my discovery of the active and passive phases in labor, will first subject a considerable number of his own cases to careful observation ; trying out many different cycles, as the geographical location of the observer must con- siderably alter the conditions of the test. For the convenience of the reader, I will briefly sum- marize the contents of this volume : 1. A general review of the methods of reproduction in the animal kingdom. 2. A review and criticism of foregoing theories of sex determination. This is not in any degree complete, but no theories of importance have been intentionally omitted, and I believe that taking into consideration criticism and comments it is as complete as any re- view of the subject at present to be found in the Eng- lish language. 3. A demonstration of the primitive hermaphrodit- ism of all animal organisms and the latent bisexuality of even the higher forms. 4. An inquiry into the nature of twin births and a demonstration of the importance of the study of twin Peefacb 11 births in its relation to the problem of sex determina- tion. 5. A demonstration of the bisexual rhythm in the germ plasm. 6. A study of the influence of the lunar month and lunar day not alone in its relation to the phenomena of menstruation, but also in its relation to : Gestation and other normal functions, Fluctuations in the course of infectious disease. The progress of labor and. The determination of sex. I have attempted to accord full credit to the many authors in whose writings I have found data of value, but desire to mention here four volumes without the great aid of which this work, in its present form at least, could scarcely have been written: First of all, DarwJw's "Descent of Man," a foot-note in which gave me the idea of a possible explanation for the alternating sex rhythm in the germ plasm; then Thompson and Geddes,' "Evolution of Sex"; next Morgan's "Ex- perimental Zoology"; and, finally, the works of Have- lock Ellis, particularly "Man and Woman," and the section on Sexual Periodicity in his "Psychology of Sex" series. I am indebted to my son. Dr. Ralph Wallace Reed, of Cincinnati, for valuable assistance rendered me in the preparation of this volume. Thomas E. Eeed. CHAPTER I An Inteodtjctoby Statement of the Main Problem The Modern "View of Sex. — Older Ideas. — Modern Experimental Methods. — Present Attitude toward the Problem. A solution to the problem of the determination of sex has been sought with more or less persistence and little result ever since the early dawn of medicine. Hippocrates was one of the first to express an opinion on the subject. He was a physician and this question has ever been one appealing particularly to that pro- fession. Within the last one hundred years, however, we have become indebted principally to the biologist for what- ever of value we may have received. Unfortunately, that has not been a very great deal. The literature, particularly in the United States and Great Britain, is not large. Burdock, a German, is said to have compiled a list of some five hundred works on the subject of sex determination. Very many of these are highly speculative and utterly worthless for any other purpose than a study of the historical aspects of the question. In short, while at first glance it might be thought that much of value could be gathered from the great number and wide diversity of opinions expressed, yet on careful examination the real meagreness of material becomes very evident. Certain authors, notably Starkweather and Schenck, have treated the subject with some detail, and in their day a great deal of attention was attracted to their theories, but they both failed to take a broad view of 13 14 Sex: Its Obigin and Determination the problem and were rather too ardent partisans of their own solutions which were both quite limited in scope. They, therefore, failed to attract any very great deal of attention from the scientific world. Perhaps, the most valuable summary of different theories of sex determination yet published in English is Morgan's discussion of the subject in his "Experi- mental Zoology.'" It has not been my intention to write a history of the problem. That would be too great a task as well as foreign to the purpose of this volume. But it is hoped that the review of different theories of sex determination attempted in a later chapter over- looks none of any real importance. The Modern View of Bex The morphology, pathology and general physiology of sex are on a firm basis. Havelock Ellis" has now given us a voluminous and complete account of its psychological manifestations. Thompson and Geddes' have studied its evolution. Krafft Ehing* has described with detail its psychopathological manifestations, while Weismann^ and other contemporary cycologists have laid bare fundamentals and brought us close in- deed to origins and beginnings in their study of the germ plasm. The relation of the sexes from the view- point of Sociology and Economics has become the sub- ject of deep investigation. The institutions of mar- riage and prostitution are alike being analyzed and their proper evolutionary, historical and social status fixed. Even the special field of the novelist and poet has been invaded, and romantic love, deprived of the aura of mysticism surrounding it since the era of chivalry, has been through the psychological labora- tory. In brief, scarcely any phase of the old subject of sex, however closely hitherto guarded by sentimental- An Intbodtjctoby Statement of the Main Problem 15 ism, surrounded by so-called sacred associations, sup- pressed by conventionalisms, considered of too forbid- ding a nature for unrestricted discussion, or however obscure or neglected, has escaped within the last fifteen or twenty years a searching investigation and illumina- tion. Yet, notwithstanding the advances made in the sciences of sexual evolution and sexual physiology, the question of the determination of sex still remains an open one. Contrary to what might have been expected the theory of evolution has thrown but little light upon this problem. This is curious in that we have pretty well determined why sex originated, that is to say, why almost all animal life is divided into two sexes, yet we have still to learn what it is that determines the par- ticular male or female sex of any one organism. Civilized man is now able to and does control to a considerable degree the number of his offspring. The next step is to control the sex. In view of the importance of the problem, it is truly remarkable that more investigators have not turned their attention to formulating a solution. Thompson and Geddes,^ as well as Beard," have approached the question from a position distinctively detached, yet what they have published is much too meagre, and as they have arrived at results quite opposite, we are left to that extent very much where we were in the begin- ning. However, many of the observations, particularly of the former, are of the highest value, and I shall later have occasion to refer to them frequently. The authors of most text-books or treatises on cellu- lar biology, zoology, physiology or embryology have evidently felt that it was in order for them to say some- thing on the question, and the space they devote to it ranges from a single paragraph to, in some instances, 16 Sex: Its Oeigin and Detebmination a whole chapter. But it is seldom, indeed, that any- thing original or even new can be found. Old experi- ments, after many years still unverified, are quoted and requoted. Old statistics usually misleading are cited and Hofacker and Sadler's' law is usually referred to as if it were now, or ever had been, unqualifiedly ac- cepted. Living and Ifon-Uving Matter Since man began to speculate upon the phenomena of nature he has, while never formulating until very recent times any general definition of living or non- living matter, instinctively separated all matter into these two grand divisions. There were no very definite boundaries to these divisions. Many forms which real- ly belonged to the category of non-living matter were often assigned to that of living matter, sometimes en- dowed with qualities essentially human and sometimes even worshipped. Quite to this day and in civilized communities surviving traces of this primitive animism can be noted. These ideas were co-ordinated with the ancient and almost universal idea of a biogenesis or spontaneous generation. This, however, was more par- ticularly a theory of the origin of one of these cate- gories from the other, and it alone did not in general confuse their accepted boundaries. It may then be safely stated that even in the very earliest times or, indeed, with the primitive or adolescent people of any age a broad distinction between living and non-living or organic and inorganic matter has almost constantly been drawn. It should not be inferred that there is here the impli- cation of a sharp or essential distinction between the living and the non-living. 'That there should not be any An Intboductoby Statement of the Main Peoblem 17 impassable gulf between these two phases of the ma- terial world would seem to be almost a logical neces- sity; that there has been discovered a bridge spanning this chasm but very few are as yet willing to admit. Nevertheless, it is in the air and some recent investi- gations would seem to convey hints that such a span so long sought in vain may eventually be discovered. In this connection we are considering the more ap- parent distinctions between the organic and inorganic. AVTiile, as has been said, until comparatively recent times no general definition of living matter had been formulated, yet when that was done, it produced no change in the contents of the two categories, for man- kind had prior to that recognized the distinction al- most instinctively. If test there was, it was based upon the, perhaps, most obvious manifestation of living things, that power which all organisms possess of reproducing themselves. A definition of life in abstract terms that may be taken as a point of departure is the familiar generaliza- tion of Spencer's to the effect that life is the continu- ous adjustment of inner to outer relations. Of this continuous adjustment the power possessed by all liv- ing organisms of reproducing themselves is, perhaps, the most obvious phase, or at least it possesses the merit of being the most easily applied as a test. There are a number of ways by which this flow of reproduction is sustained. These, as far as they may have any bearing upon the determination of sex, will be briefly reviewed in another chapter, but it will be sufficient at present to call attention to the well-known fact that with all the higher forms of animal life this is, without exception, accomplished by the union of two distinct elements, the products of two sex differen- tiated organisms. 18 Sex: Its Obigin and Detebmination Notwithstanding the fact now so generally recog- nized, that excepting the motive of self-presei^ation, the motive of self -perpetuation forms, from the lowest organism up to man himself, the principal or ultimate basis of all their activities, the varied, obvious, and complicated manifestations of sex were not considered for many centuries as constituting any problem what- ever. Such phenomena were in fact like the regular succession of night and day, so obvious and constant that they were taken for granted. Older Ideas With the general advance of knowledge these ques- tions became with others the subject of much philo- sophic speculation. From Hippocrates to Galen all sorts of opinions were current. Notwithstanding the excellently trained powers of observation of many of these early investigators of natural phenomena, their conclusions were ever vitiated because they were the result, not alone of observation, but of the most un- warranted assumptions based usually upon false anal- ogies, adopted as premises. Hence, while it would be interesting to do so, we shall not in the present volume attempt to consider the many different opinions upon sex and sex determination expressed in the middle ages or during the period of Greek and Roman specu- lative philosophy. Their ideas on this like those they held with reference to many other phenomena, were based on no scientific foundations, and in many in- stances they cannot be considered as anything more than guesses — excellent guesses sometimes, yet after all only guesses. Modern Methods When we reach the last century and find ourselves in An iNTEODtrcTOEY Statement of the Main Peoblem 19 the midst of the remarkable revolution of opinion which seems to have affected all branches of science and con- ferred upon them an undreamed of impetus, it should be noted that while the status of this problem per se does not seem to have been very materially altered, yet indirectly many advances have been made. Elabo- rate investigation of the methods of reproduction in the primitive forms of life have been of use in clearing away many of the misconceptions and eliminating many non-essentials. Often results of these investi- gations have been so remarkable, and at times such strong experimental evidence has been brought to the attention of the scientific world, that the problem seemed to be near a solution, yet when the results which were secured from nutritional control in, let us say, the daphnia or the lepidoptera were sought with the higher animals, or man himself, they have without exception been found wanting. All these theories and experiments have eliminated many factors of the equa- tion. They have placed sign-boards across many blind passageways which were at one time thought to lead out of this labyrinth, warning us that here is no thorough- fare, or that here we cannot go far before we will find ourselves face to face with another barrier ; or that if we follow this path we will only travel in a circle, and arrive again at our starting point. On the other hand the question, constituting as it were one where so little has been authoritatively deter- mined, has not been entirely neglected by charlatanism, and it is not unusual in glancing through the news- papers to read reports of individuals claiming to possess the secret. Where the light of the known blends with the darkness and mists of the unknown, there the ignorant, feeling at home, pitch their tents. Notwithstanding this, very many sciejitific men have 20 Sex: Its Origin and Determination not hesitated to approach the problem, and their ef- forts range from the expression of the merest opinion on the subject to the statement of the rather elaborate hypothesis. However, the hypothesis has yet to be an- nounced that will account for all of the facts or will yield any results when put into practice with more than perhaps one or two isolated species. Present Attitude toward the Problem In conclusion it might be well to briefly summarize the general attitude to-day of the scientific world to- ward the question. The opinions as gathered from a wide variety of discussions may properly be divided into four or five general classes. First, there are those who may be described as the dogmatically sceptical in that they hold that this problem, like the origin of life itself, is from its nature an insoluble one and that any attempts to solve it are, at least at the present state of our knowledge, decidedly futile. That I cannot agree with this point of view, this volume itself implies. Next, there are those who believe that in time we may discover the factor which controls the sex, but that any interference will prove impossible. It is diffi- cult to see what logical warrant there is for this view, since how can it be said by those holding it that the sex of offspring cannot be controlled when they, at the same time, deny that the factors which determine sex have as yet been discovered. It is rash, indeed, to affirm that an equation cannot be solved before that equation is stated. Beard thus indirectly expresses his opinion of all schemes for the control of the sex in off- spring. He says : "Any interference with or alternation of the determination of sex is absolutely beyond our power. To hope ever to modify its manifestations would be not less futile and vain than to imagine it An Intbodttctoby Statement of the Main Peoblem 21 possible for man to breathe tbe breatb of life into inanimate matter. For the workings of nature in sex merge into her revelations of life itself."* Nutrition Theories Inadequate Others have long believed that we already know what determines sex and that we have only to over- come the difficulties which present themselves when we attempt its control. They hold that the determining factor is external and in general one of nutrition and take the stand that this has been proved experimental- ly. At the same time they admit that other factors may and perhaps, do play some part, yet assign to these a minor importance. It is an interesting fact that opinion on the question has largely revolved around and returned time and again to the factor of nutrition. I hope to show that while there is an im- portant correlation between the theory to be here pre- sented and the nutrition theories, in order to arrive at any practical results, another phase of the question of decidedly more importance than nutrition must be considered. Another group of students of the problem, more modern, feel that sex is determined by some definite morphological element or structure (e. g. the chromo- somes) within the gametes or sex-cells themselves; that this may be studied but not interfered with. Finally, others also, believe that sex is determined by internal factors, that it is a property of the gametes ; but that in its origin and nature it is physiological rather than morphological. With this idea I confess myself in sympathy, but I believe that the final solution when expressed will be found to have effected a rec- onciliation between certain of the more important ones that have preceded it. 22 Sex: Its Origin and Detebmination No apology for continuing a discussion of this prob- lem is necessary. It is generally admitted, as has been shown, to be still unsolved. Such being the case, there can be no question of the desirability of any one ap- proaching it from any rational view-point. It is rare, indeed, that anything has been written upon it in which something of value cannot be found. However, the reader who has followed me thus far if he had not already preconceived opinions on this matter has now, perhaps, from what has been said, ac- quired something of a prejudice against considering seriously the claims of any one who may think he has solved the riddle, or even has something new to say upon a question after so many have occupied them- selves with it without marked success. Nevertheless, I will ask him, if this is the case, to suppress for the time being these very natural prejudices and to follow me to the end of this volume. When this is done I feel that if assent is not given to the conclusions drawn from the data which will be adduced, it will at least be admitted that the hypothesis advanced accounts for the facts as well as any of the others which have been expressed within the last fifty years ; and furthermore, as far as I am aware, the main details of the theory have never been anticipated. An attempt will first be made to show the reason- ableness of the theory a priori, after which the clinical evidence tending to support it will be cited. It is not claimed that its structure is complete. No hypothesis has even yet been stated, however apparently complete, which did not require in after years an alteration in detail of greater or less degree, and this usually by others than its originator. In its fundamental essentials this theory (that there is a cycle in animal life, of shorter duration than the An Inteoductoey Statement of the Main Peoblem 23 well-known monthly cycle, manifested in the germ cells and the developed organism and having an effect upon the determination of sex as well as on the progress of labor and other vital processes) has possessed my un- shaken confidence for a number of years. If the pres- ent volume induces others to experiment along these lines, it will be deemed to have served the purpose for which it was written. REFERENCES iMoEGAN, Thos. Htjnt. — Experimental Zoology. 2E1XIS, Havelock. — Studies in the Psychology of Sex. sThompson, J. A. and Geddes, P. — The Evolution of Sex. 2nd ed. 1901. *Kbafft-Ebing. — Psychopathia Sexualis. oWeismann. — ^The Germ Plasm. «Beabd. — Zoologische JahrbUeher, Anatomie und Ontogenie. Vol. 16. 1902. tHofackeb and Sadler. — Ueber Eigenschaften welche sich bei Mensehen und Tieren vererben. CHAPTEE II The Natxjbe of Life In Its Eelation to Growth and Eepeoduction The Continuity of Life.— The Spontaneity of Life.— Life a Chemical Eeaetion Manifested as Tactisms, Trophisms,_ etc. — Eeproduction. — Assimilation and Growth. — A Definition of Life. — Eeproduction a Form of Growth. — Variation and Heredity. All life is continuous. Man himself is united by a strong kinship with the lowest of animal forms he sees about him. The simple cell may constitute in itself a complete organism or it may unite with several other cells to form a more complex organism. These cells are held together and are surrounded by liquids and tissues upon which they feed and which condition their existence, such as the blood plasma in which float the blood cells, and other liquids of different consistencies surrounding different cells but serving the same pur- pose. Just as the simple cells unite to form the com- plex organisms, so we find as we progress upward in the scale organisms united by certain bonds of kinship, similarity and association to form orders and species. The species itself now may be considered as an or- ganism made up of individuals. The individual is not entirely independent of the species any more than the cell is entirely independent of the organism it helps to constitute. The species, like the cell and the organism, does not feed upon itself, but derives its nourishment from surrounding materials — the air, water, vegeta- tion, etc. Next we have that large part of matter generally designated as living which is itself made up of species as units. All living matter draws its nutriment from 24 The Nattjbe of Life 25 non-living matter, and this abstraction may be more or less direct depending upon circumstances, or the com- plexity of organization of any particular phase of life. Thus the bond of unity uniting all the different forms of living matter with themselves as well as with inor- ganic matter is manifested. We might represent them by a circle of which different segments would typify first the cell, the organism, the species, then living mat- ter in general with the remaining segment representing inorganic matter. Between these different categories there is no dis- tinct line of demarkation. The cell, the organism, the species are but forms living matter takes, indifferently as it were, to preserve itself from destruction. Be- tween these categories are transition forms. Between the general categories of organic and inorganic matter there has as yet been described no true transition form. Nevertheless, they are not so distinct as is generally supposed. On analysis it is found that factors at first thought to be so characteristic of one serve also to de- scribe the other. Spencer's Definition Let us consider in passing Spencer's well-known defi- nition previously quoted to the effect that life is a con- tinuous adjustment of inner to outer relations. In one sense everything which exists at all is in continual ad- justment with its relations. The adjustment of a liv- ing thing seems more marvellous because it is apparent- ly much more unstable, yet in reality the fact that it does maintain such an adjustment proves that it is to that extent stable. Subject to exposure and under ordinary conditions, a man is more stable than a bar of iron; because the man is of more complex chemical composition that does not make him any the less stable. 26 Sex: Its Origin and Deteemination After a few years of exposure to rain and dampness the bar of iron will have rusted entirely away, while the man will be alive and well. The bar of iron has, indeed, the power to adjust itself to conditions to a certain extent, but it has not as extensive a power as the man; however, the man cannot last more than a certain number of years. He, too, eventually succumbs to his environment. To qualify the adjustment as continuous in one case and discontinuous in another also fails to formulate a distinction between living and non-living matter. When two inorganic solutions are poured together in a test tube there is a reaction, or in other words an adjust- ment. That such an adjustment is not continuous is merely a matter of circumstances. Were we to con- tinue to add other chemicals the adjustment would be continuous. As a matter of fact we see about us every day continuous adjustment between different forms of non-living matter. There is a continuous adjustment between the river and its bed, between hot and cold currents of air, and the solar system is itself an excel- lent example of a continuous adjustment, and yet it cannot be called living without giving the term so broad a meaning as to destroy its significance entirely. Does the distinction lie in the qualification of the adjustment as that taking place between inner and outer relations? The terms inner and outer are, of course, relative, and on analysis it will be seen that the distinction cannot lie here. When water expands into steam certain inner molecular relations are being ad- justed to certain external relations known as heat. Thus while Spencer's definition of life as the continu- ous adjustment of internal to external relations served his purpose very well, it is quite too broad to be of use to us here. The Natube of Life 27 It was long thought that there was a certain spon- taneity about living things which distinguished them from the non-living. Not only did living beings re- spond to many different stimuli, as has been shown do also non-living things, but they also seemed to possess some hidden springs of energy which caused them to move about quite independently of their environment, to do in a sense as they willed, while inorganic matter was quite the slave of its environment. Man feeling himself alive and free posted the same freedom in all other organisms which seemed to him to be alive. In fact, his definitions of life are almost all found to be little more than paraphrases of this; "Living matter is matter in which something is pass- ing that I seem to feel is passing within myself." Stated thus boldly this definition is recognized by all to be obscure and insufficient, but in a disguised form it has vitiated more than one otherwise good generaliza- tion. One may take even the definition recently con- sidered, examine it closely and one finds traces of this ancient but, nevertheless, faulty idea. In the defini- tion, "Life is the continuous adjustment between in- ternal and external relations," a distinction is made where no distinction in nature really exists, namely, between the concepts internal and external, just as man is continually making a distinction between his inner self, the Ego, and the whole external world ; as if there were any material barrier between the two. Spontaneity of Living Matter No matter how man may define life he is everywhere able to recognize it by an apparent spontaneity in liv- ing things. This, however, only means that the causes which produce movement in non-living things are rec- ognized with comparative ease, but that the factors 28 Sex: Its Origin and Determination involved in the movement of living things lie so deep and are so covered, obscured and hidden in the com- plex network of natural phenomena that we cannot recognize them at all or at the most only very imper- fectly. Hence it has been the habit of man to place them in two different categories and say that move- ments of non-living bodies are easily explained as being due to recognized mechanical, chemical or electrical causes, while the movements of living bodies were not explained at all except by means of other terms them- selves equally in need of an explanation. This is not to be wondered at. If we see a dead leaf being carried through the air by the wind, its state is capable of a relatively simple explanation; but if we observe a fly- ing bird, the conditions uniting to produce that flight are too obscure and complex for any calculation, yet one is just as much due to physical and chemical causes as is the other. Tactiems, Trophisms A number of properties in the simpler life forms manifested by invariable reactions to definite stimuli have been studied and termed tactisms and trophisms. The moth attracted by the candle flame, the bird flying at night against the windows of the light-house, the sunflower turning its face toward the sun, the darker color on the upper side of a leaf as well as the change produced in a photographic plate upon exposure, are all alike reactions induced by the action of light. A current of electricity or the application of heat may bring about a chemical reaction between two non-living substances, while both of these agents may have a marked effect upon living matter. The alternate appli- cation and deprivation of heat induces in certain reptiles with an exact correspondence an alternating The Nattjee of Life 29 activity and torpor, while electricity excites muscular contractions. A living being then will react under the influence of certain external stimuli or changes in its environment just as does a leaf or a chemical solution in a test tube. This may not be very obvious at first, but by studying the lower forms of life in which the number of varia- tion in movements and stimuli are not so many and complex it becomes plain. The effect of gravitation upon plants has long been the object of study. Very many reflexes in the higher forms are obviously due to external stimuli. Indeed, upon analysis it will be found that speaking essentially all action in living matter is i:eflex. The difference between the reaction of living and non-living matter to chemical or physical causes is a difference in degree only. A fly buzzing on a window- pane and constantly attempting to escape is reacting to the light streaming through the window just as a photographic plate lying near the window may be un- dergoing a similar reaction. However, in one case the glass prevents the reaction from ever becoming a com- pleted one, while in the other case it has little or no effect. If we suppose the fly to be supplied with a mem- ory and the ability to reason, it would, of course, soon become aware of the uselessness of its attempts, but their consequent cessation would not invalidate the fact of the attraction of light for the fly, but would merely bring into play the stimuli of reason and mem- ory, which were themselves developed at some former time by other external stimuli. The expression, spon- taneity of movement, if by that is meant something dis- tinctive of living bodies, must therefore be abandoned, but if we desire to designate merely phenomena de- pendent upon conditions at present too complex or 30 Sex: Its Oeigin and Deteemination obscure to permit of a complete analysis, it may still prove useful. Reproduction If we consider the faculty of reproducing themselves which living beings are alone said to possess, we find that we are still upon treacherous ground, for with a large number of organisms this is accomplished by a simple division and this may happen to any number of inorganic bodies. A stone may break into two or more pieces, a meteor may burst into a thousand fragments, suns are said to give birth to planets, and the moon is thought by some to be but a child of the earth. On the other hand those forms of reproduction where there is a uniting of two distinct sex elements are paralleled by the fusion of two metals to form an alloy, a substance with properties possessed by neither of the combining metals just as the child displays quali- ties possessed by neither of the parents. The uniting of Na and CI forms NaCl, a substance different in many ways from either of its elements, and many other chemical or physical combinations will readily occur to the reader. There is indeed an irresistible feeling that these are only apparently parallel cases and that there is no actual analogy between them. However, if one attempts to specify just what the distinction is, the difficulty in the way of such a specification will at once become ap- parent. It has now been shown that there is not the broad and deep chasm between the organic and inorganic so long imagined by man to exist. Furthermore, some factors which have long been thought to be properties of life only have been shown to be common to both forms of matter, yet it is scarcely possible that dis- The Natuee of Life 31 crimination so long made by man has no real ground for its existence. Assimilation and Qrowth There is only one remaining factor to consider, and we think that herein lies the distinction, at least, as far as our present knowledge permits us to make any distinction. That factor is the one of assimilation or, differently expressed, growth. Growth, of course, in the sense of gross increase, may be characteristic of only a portion of the life of an organism, but assimi- lation must constantly be proceeding in a greater or less degree. With the smallest and most simple forms of life known to biologists, bacteria, so minute that under the highest power microscope they show scarcely more than points of light, assimilation is constantly taking place, for they are dependent upon a culture medium, and the toxic products of their metabolism can be recognized in that medium after the bacteria have been eliminated by straining. There has been consequently a chemical reaction between the bacteria and their environment. Now, a reaction may take place between any chemical and some other developing solution, but the difference lies in this fact : when such a reaction takes place between non-living bodies the characteristics of both are changed; when a reaction takes place between a living body and an enveloping medium, the general characteristics of the living body are maintained. Life, then, consists of an indefinite number of func- tioning centres able to appropriate raw materials from their environment and without changing their own identity transform these materials into organized sub- stances which added to themselves enable them to re- sist successfully the destructive influences of that en- vironment. 32 Sex: Its Origin and Determination To dwell upon this conception a moment longer, con- sider an organized body the most widely separated in the scale of life from the bacteria ; man himself is being constantly nourished by his environment. His culture medium is more complex than the culture medium of the bacteria, but the interaction in the latter case is just as constant as in the former. His need for water and ordinary foods is continuous, for whether or not a man may be always occupied with eating, his body is always occupied with digesting. Every one will agree that he is constantly absorbing oxygen. Now, once his supply of nutriment is entirely shut off, death im- mediately takes place. True, a chemical reaction be- tween the man, or rather the body of the man, and the surrounding medium goes on, but assimilation no longer taking place, identity, first of function and then of structure, is lost. It may be said that in the reaction between a living body and its environment certain residual compounds result which are not identical with either, e. g., excre- tory substances, but these cannot interfere with the above definition of life because they cannot be con- sidered a part of the living organism proper and they are no sooner formed than eliminated. Life, then, is manifested by assimilation. Assimila- tion cannot take place without the addition of trans- formed materials, and such addition constitutes growth. The whole organism may show an increase, there may be neither an increase nor decrease ; or there may be a decrease in size, yet growth must be proceeding in each case ; for, as has been shown, life cannot be maintained without assimilation. In its popular sense growth is said to be proceeding in an organism when there is a general increase in size, but this really means that the breaking down of tissues The Nature of Life 33 is not going on at so rapid a rate as their upbuilding. Growth, while life exists, is ever proceeding, and even if, through the greater part of the organism katabolic processes are overbalancing the anabolic, still in some parts the victory is on the side of anabolism ; the effect is felt by the whole organism and it continues to sur- vive. Growth is in itself one of the elements which make for the survival of the organism. Protoplasms are exceedingly unstable colloids, and it would be impossible for them, subjected as they are to a great variety of influences, to long maintain their structural and functional identity were they not so con- stituted that within a certain scale a considerable fluc- tuation from one side to another of a general mean may be accomplished with facility. The organic mechanism unstable and heterogeneous as it is^must be either integrating or disintegrating. It is constantly surrounded by a hostile environment, its only protection is to abstract (assimilate) munitions of war, so to speak, from that environment. Then to work them over in its own laboratories into the proper colloidal materials and (literally incorporating them), in time by means of the resulting growth, combat with them the disastrous attacks of the very environment from which they were originally obtained. In other words the essential property of the iride^mte number of centres^of force known as life is a special function de- signed to^presefve their own existence by turning their environment against itself .* * Jacques Loeh, I find since writing the above, has definitely and more technically expressed a similar thought. He says, "We know that growth and development in animals and plants are determined by defi- nite although complicated series of catenary chemical reactions, which result in the synthesis of a definite compound or group of compounds, namely, nueleins. These nucleins have the property of acting as fer- ments or enzymes for their own synthesis. This determines the con- tinuity of a species, since each species has probably its own specific nuclein or nuclear material."! 34 Sex: Its Origin and Detebmination Identity of Growth and Reproduction We are now prepared for another generalization. Growt h is a protec tive f unction ; and again, to antici- pate somewha^ rej^rodmctioxiZis a special Jofm^^yf growtJi. "Reproduction is carried on almost universally by the uniting of two distinct sexual elements. Some biol- ogists even aflSrm that there are traces of sex through all organic life, that the bipolarity of two centres of force manifested in every cell just before its division are so closely analogous to the two sexes that at least a strong suspicion of their common identity is aroused. Le Dantec says in regard to this: "The further our investigations go, the more we verify the generality of the sexual process of reproduction. A prudent biologist nowadays would never dare to assert that there is a single animal or vegetable species in which the sexual processus is wanting. Now, such a generality of the sexual processus makes us think that it must have some relation with a fundamental particularity of living sub- stance. "There are, however, many cases in which we see the multiplication of an isolated cell coming from a cellular agglomeration that has to be considered as a perfect individual. But even where such partheno- genesis is possible, we generally see the sexual pro- cessus properly so called put in an appearance from time to time. An example is found in certain plant lice which, throughout the fair season, reproduce by par- thenogenesis and, when cold weather comes, take up again normal sexual reproduction. "The possibility of the two modes of reproduction, sexual and parthenogenetic, along with the extraordi- nary generality of the sexual processus, naturally gives rise to the idea that sexuality — particularity of living The Natube of Life 35 substance — must exist in all vital acts, while mani- festing itself only in certain cases in the form of cellu- lar sexuality. "In other words, the notion of sexuality, first de- rived from observing the higher animals and then from the study of the reproductive elements of living beings, might be transported to a third scale still smaller than the cellular scale; there might be intraprotoplasmic sexual phenomena in which the intervention of two dis- tinct and complementary elements would be indis- pensable to assimilation. "Remark at once that we already have an example of the necessity of two intracellular elements for the elementary life manifested by protozoa. Experiments in merotomy show that assimilation is produced neither in a cytoplasm deprived of nucleus nor in a nucleus without cytoplasm. "Suppose that, in certain species of protozoa, there should take place from time to time phenomena such that one cell would be reduced to its cytoplasm and another to its nucleus. Here we should ha:ve the two incomplete and complementary elements which would be called sexual. The hypothesis, moreover, is not be- yond verification. Max Verworn has succeeded in ex- tracting the nucleus from certain large marine radi- olaria and transplanting them in the cytoplasm of other individuals of the same species, thus realizing the equivalent of sexual maturation and fecundation.'" The notion of intracellular sexuality is one to which I shall return in a future chapter. It is not, however, apparently one that is comparable to the distinction between cytoplasm and nucleus, but rather functional in its nature. Nevertheless, the ideas of Le Dantec are interesting and it is not difficult to co-ordinate them 36 Sex: Its Origin and Deteemination with our general thesis as to the fundamental metabolic nature of sex. As has been shown in the foregoing discussion of life : to grow is to live, to cease to grow is to die. That is to say growth constitutes not only the fundamental evidence of life but the existence of life is conditional by growth. The individual, however limited in adapta- bility, cannot continue to grow indefinitely. This task is delegated to the species. What cannot here be ac- complished by one unit can be accomplished by an in- definite number of units. The species in existence to- day, as others have noted, constitute life's elect. Be- cause of variation they have through countless genera- tions been able in some form or another to resist their environment. It is evident, however, that tendency to- ward too great a variation in a species would be as fatal to its existence as would be an inability to vary at all. Therefore, that species survives which is able to best maintain that perfect balance between stability and instability so necessary to life. The stability of a species is favored by heredity. Variation Variation from one point of view may be termed adaptability. By adaptability is meant that faculty which enables a unit of a species within certain limits to modify characteristics which, if retained in their original form, would in the face of its environment re- sult in its destruction. Because of a common connota- tion of the term adaptation one should not conclude that it is voluntary. In the individual it may or may not be. The adaptability of the species certainly is not. All adaptation is variation, but all variation is not adaptation. Organisms may vary very unfavor- ably. Adaptation may be said to be the favorable as- pect of variation. The Nattjee of Life 37 Heredity Heredity simply defined is the general tendency manifested by organisms to resemble the parent organ- isms. Heredity and variation are antithetical and in- teracting. Heredity maintains and fixes variation. Variation continually counteracts the fatally conserva- tive tendencies of heredity. It is the constant tendency of heredity to maintain in an organism certain characteristics agreeing in defi- nite mathematical values with the characteristics of all the ancestors of that organism. The values of parent characteristics may be quite high, but those of a great- great-grand-parent would be small, while those of a still more remote ancestor, vanishingly minute. While there is a tendency for an organism to constitute ac- cording to Mendelian principles a mathematically per- fect whole the resultant of a character inheritance from its entire ancestral body and from any individual in that lineage a certain proportion of characters de- pending upon the place of that individual in the line- age, such a result is never perfectly accomplished, for even with the amphimixis of the cells which go to form a certain individual the effect of environment is al- ready felt and variation has commenced. On the other hand there is a tendency in the indi- vidual organism toward an almost perfect reaction to its environment, manifested best in some low forms of life intensely mobile, hence intensely resistant to de- struction and displaying all the functions, usually as- signed in the higher forms of life to certain organs, throughout the whole organism or in any part of the organism indifferently. This tendency whether in the high or low forms of life is never perfect, because it is constantly resisted by the tendency toward fixing defi- nite variations through heredity. As the index of 38 Sex: Its Origin and Detebmination heredity rises, that of variation falls, and vice versa. It will be noted if one takes into consideration the relative values of variation and heredity, that the ability to vary is a much more valuable organic posses- sion than is the tendency toward a retention of an- cestral characteristics. It is, of course, true that the offspring have a better chance of surviving in that en- vironment where the parent has survived if they re- tain to a considerable degree the characters of the parent, but it is none the less true that if the offspring are very readily variable they may not only survive where the parent has survived, they may also survive under conditions which would have proved fatal for the parent organism. To revert to the amoeba, which is the most readily variable of, perhaps, any organism, or to any one of a number of the lower forms of animal life which might be cited. There we see such slight stability that even a limiting membrane may scarcely be said to exist. Yet because of such a high adapta- bility such forms are very resistant. Or to include the inorganic and reconsider from a slightly different point of view a former illustration. A bar of iron might seem at first thought very highly resistant to the dis- integrating influences of its environment, yet we find that it is not so much so as the human organism, so highly unstable yet very adaptable. We thus see that the organism which is relatively very variable has two chances of survival as against one chance in possession of the organism relatively stable. It has been stated that growth is necessary to exist- ence and that reproduction is a process of growth; or looked at from a different standpoint, reproduction may be said to be an arrest of growth. An arrest of The Natuee of Life 39 growth results in death, so that with some organisms death follows very closely upon the exercise of the re- productive function. Indeed, with many protozoa death may be said to be coincident with reproduction, for this is brought about by a simple division, and with division the identity of the original organism is lost. On the other hand, some biologists have referred to these or- ganisms as possessing an eternal life, for the organ- isms really never die, but only divide. This, perhaps, may be to express the facts of the case better. In many of the protozoa the necessity for division, in order that growth may continue, is obvious. These animals are possessed of no special digestive organs. Absorption of food may take place through any part of the surface of the animal body indifferently. As the body weight and mass increase at a greater rate than does the surface, if the interior is to be supplied with sufScient food, the surface must be increased in extent by division. Jn the hydra reproduction occurs very frequently after they have been well fed and may be retarded by withholding nourishment. The same might be said of many other species. With some species re- production results constantly as soon as a certain size 'has been reached. This is all asexual reproduction, if the terms may be here used. But if asexual reproduction is simply the result of growth how can sexual reproduction be brought under the same general law? The two types can be shown to be in close relation if the idea, one hears frequently expressed, j that asexual reproduction is the result of overgrowth, be dismissed from the mind. As has been before insisted upon, asexual reproduction is simply an attempt to continue growth. Now, sexual reproduction expresses the same thing. Sexual repro- duction simply considered is but the manifestation of 40 Sex: Its Obigin and Detebminatiokt two deteriorating and starving cells feeding upon each other. Or viewed from a different point of view we may say that they unite to better resist an encroaching environment. At any rate growth results, a larger single cell is formed and destruction is averted. After the renewal of life of the two degenerating cells into one large cell, a state is soon reached where growth cannot longer continue and division ensues, just as asexual reproduction is brought about. This method is well illustrated by the union of two germ cells. The male and the female cell each by itself soon dies, but united, growth and consequent division and re-division takes place. Sexual unions between these dividing somatic cells are not necessary because the cell mass is well fed by the parent organism. TJie View of Wallace It may be remarked here that the theory that sexual reproduction is in its primary essence but an attempt to maintain life by maintaining growth (keeping in mind particularly our broadened conception of growth) must meet a more generally accepted view; namely, that of Wallace,^ and Weismann,'^ who have held that sex differentiation arose as an attempt to maintain life by favoring variation. If we assume that repro- duction is asexual or continuous Wallace says, "The offspring would reproduce the parent exactly in every form and structure ; and here we see the importance of sex, for each new germ grows out of the united germ plasm of two parents, whence arrives a mingling of their characters in the offspring. This occurs in each generation, hence every new individual is a complex result, reproducing in ever-varying degrees the diverse characteristics of the two parents, four grand-parents and other remote ancestors; and the ever-present in- The Natxjee op Life 41 dividual variation arises which furnishes the material for natural selection to act upon. Diversity of sex be- comes, therefore, of importance as the cause of varia- tion. Where asexual generation prevails, the char- acteristics of the individual alone are reproduced, and there are thus no means of effecting the change of form or structure required by changed conditions. Under such changed conditions a complex organism, if only asexually propagated, would become extinct. But when a complex organism is sexually propagated there is an ever-present cause of change, which though slight in any one generation is cumulative, and under the in- fluence of selection is sufficient to keep up the harmony between the organism and its slowly changing en- vironment. ' ' This view, perhaps, expresses a minor truth, but the acquirement of variations should, I believe, be looked upon as secondary if it be admitted at all. Variations are manifold even where generation is asexual, in fact sex is itself a variation, as an attempt has been made to show. When a mingling of the characters of the parents is spoken of as the necessary consequence of sexual reproduction, a previous existence of variations is admitted, that is to say, if it be held that sexual re- production favors the mingling of characters the asexual acquirement of the characters to be mingled is assumed.* *With reference to variations and parthenogenesis, Wilson has con- cluded as follows: "The problems of variation of inheritance have gen- erally been studied in animals that reproduce sexually. In only a few parthenogenetie forms, namely, in some insects, in aphids and in the honey bee, and in the crustacean daphnia, has the problem of variation been examined. Weismann advanced the idea that the purpose of sexual reproduction is to induce variability. It is interesting, therefore, to find that variability may be as marked in non-sexual forms which produce parthenogenetically as in sexually produced forms. "Warren has studied the variations of one of the aphids, Hyalopterus trirhodus, and of daphnia. The aphids, to consider only this case, were 42 Sex: Its Origin and Deteemination We now see that since life must be maintained by growth, reproduction is simply a device for the indirect maintenance of life by the perpetuation of growth. What we generally term sex differentation is but one method of reproduction. But sex, as Le Dantec has pointed out, is in all probability not limited to popularly assigned boundaries, but even exists in single cells, which reproduce by division. In these cases re- production is preceded by the establishment of two centres of force within the same cell, hence in contra- distinction to ordinary sexual reproduction there is a separation of the sexes prior to reproduction rather than a union. Considered in this broad aspect, sex may be said to be practically a function of life in general. Having now briefly and in general terms discussed sex in its relation to life and the functions of life, growth and production, we will be better able to ap- preciate the following review of a few of the different theories of sex determination. Measured by the stand- ards of a few fundamental generalizations, the validity of which is pretty widely admitted, many of them will be seen at almost first glance to be quite inadequate. inclosed in small bags on the leaves of their native plant, and the parents and their full-grown progeny were later killed and measured, the distance between the eyes and the antenna length being the two measurements taken. It was found that the external conditions, includ- ing also the natural chajiges in the food plant, produced very decided effects, especially in size, so that it was not possible to rear successive generations under identical conditions. Of 522 offsprings registered, 455 grew up. The death rate for the second generation was 12.8. The larger mothers tended to produce healthier offspring. The variability of the second generation was found to be greater than that of the parents, and this is the rule also for sexually produced offspring — in man, for example. In the third generation the variability was diminished, at- tributed by Warren to the poorer external conditions, which, affecting the size, reduce the distance between the eyes more than they reduce the length of the antennce. In general, the results show that the va- riability of a parthenogenetic race is not smaller than that of sexually produced forms. Castle and PMllips have found in the hive bee that the males or drones which develop from unfertilized eggs are more variable than the females that come from the fertilized eggs."6 The Nattjee of Life 43 hence a mass of criticism in detail which would other- wise be necessary, may be dispensed with. KEFERENCES iIiOEB, Jacques. — ^The Mechanistic Conception of Life. Biological Es- says. 1912. 2Le Dantec, Feux. — ^The Nature and Origin of Life. 1906. 3WALLACE, Alfred Russell. — ^Darwinism, an Exposition of tlie Theory of Natural Selection. *Weismann, a. — The Germ Plasm. Vol. 1, p. 298. sWiLSOiT, E. B. — ^The Cell in Development and Inheritance. 1900. CHAPTER III A Rbvibw and Cbitioism of Theories op Sex Determination Early Theories of Maternal Influence. — Ovarian Theories. — Sex a Property of the Ovum. — The Chromosomes. — The Polar Bodies. — A Eelation to the Month. — Ideas of SchencTc, Starkweather and Van Luit. — Fertilization as a Sex Deter- minant. The Maternal Influence in Sen Determination A wide variety of opinions as to the factor or factors determining sex have at different times been held and advocated. Perhaps the old est view is one which, with - in the last fewyears, ha s been revived under a . sli^t ^iguise"and ^oKeh"aras the influenc e _gf . s uggestio n in~sexT^Ifiimmation. This idea is rather closely asso- ciated with the belief in the influence of maternal^ im- pressions upon "the body of the developing embryo. Any one capable of believing, for example, that a birth- mark on the body of a child somewhat resembling an animal in shape (this being the usual form maternal impression anecdotes take) is the direct result of a fright the pregnant mother may have received from that animal, cannot consistently reject the theory that by centering her mind upon a certain sex, that is to say, maintaining the idea of that sex constantly upper- mostP"a*prospective rooffier^an JJetermine^ the_ sex^jo^ her unborn child. This method of determining sex is, no doubt, as old as is the belief in the influence of maternal impressions in general, and that idea we know to have been acted upon by Jacob when in an attempt to augment his own 44 A Review of Theokies of Sex Detebmination 45 possessions at the expense of Laban by bringing about an artificial increase of the number of spotted cattle in the flocks, he took mottled branches of hazel and poplar and set them up in front of the conceiving cattle at the drinking troughs. Without questioning the results said to have been obtained by this experiment or entering into a discussion of the ethics of his intentions, it may be remarked in passing that this is hardly the method a modern breeder would take to increase a certain strain of stock. The correct method is described in another account of the same incident. The Greeks also held this belief, and it is said that it was usual with them to surround their pregnant woman with all the influences which were thought would favor the production in the child of those quali- ties of character so much appreciated by that people. Many have thought that the remarkable talent dis- played by the Greeks for warfare, art, literature and philosophy was the result of this method of stirpicul- ture. These theories have survived and been advocated with more or less underlying conviction from time to time to the present day. While in recent years the hypothetically beneficial effects upon the future off- spring of submitting the mother to an environment of culture and elevating mental influences has been more or less dwelt upon by some, the usually disagreeable aspect of the question, that is the explanation of physi- cal malformations in a child by some mental shock which the mother may have received prior to the birth of the child (with, of course, the discovery in the mal- formation of some vivid resemblance to the agent pro- ducing the shock), has been increasingly ignored. Eeports of maternal impressions are becoming rather rare in medical literature, and that any such cases have 46 Sex: Its Oeigin and Detebmination occurred which will stand the tests of rigid investiga- tion and close criticism is now quite generally doubted by the medical profession. It is an interesting fact that as a general disbelief in the reality of these oc- currences has spread, reports of such cases have markedly diminished in volume. This apparent sub- sidence of certain phenomena in proportion to the spread of a disbelief in them is not the case alone with the so-called maternal impressions. It is in fact difficult to see how a mental shock suf- fered by a woman should bring about a change in the physical structure of the embryo, postulating, of course, that such a change corresponds in some peculiar way to the cause of the shock. It might just as well be expected that a person frightened by a certain animal should as a result of such fright develop the physical characteristics of that animal; yet even this would not be an analogous instance, for in the case of a so-called maternal impression the physical character- istics of the agent producing the fright or mental shock in the mother are transferred through the mother to the tissues of the embryo. If the first supposition must be considered improbable, what can be said for the sec- ond, where a double transference is necessitated? The belief that the mother can determine the sex of a child by maintaining uppermost^inher mind the idea of one sex desired is a very old^and widespread one, but it is only one phase of the^ idea generally held by many that the sex of the develpping enibryo can in some way or other be fixed or altered during gestation. This idea is certainly an erroneous one and, as will be shBwii7T5uStn5e'T[iscar3ed"enfimly^befo~re any impor- tant advance can be made. No amount of wishing, auto- suggestion, fasting or feeding can alter the structure of the germ cells before or during conception, and A Review of Theobies op Sex Detebmination 47 much less can this take place after the development of the embryo has commenced. Ovarian Theories A theory later than the one commented on above might be designated the ovarian theory. Some held at one time that the ova secreted by one ovary were male and that those secreted by the other were female, and that^fte^ sex_of the child depended merely upon which ovary_sec reted the particular ovum happening to undergo fertilization. When this theory was dis- proved by the fact of woman giving birth to children of both sexes, after having suffered the removal of one of the ovaries, it was transferred to thejnale, and the spermatozoa were said~t6l5e'male or feniale depending u^on^fiEetherTEiey^were secreted by one or the other testicle. AH p^ossibility of this being the case was eliminatiH in the same way. Strangely enough, this, one of the oldest and best dis- credited theories of sex determination — the supposed generation of the ova of one sex by one ovary and of the opposite sex by the opposite ovary, has lately been revived by an English physician, E. Burnley Dawson} In his book on the subject the author necessarily casts aside all experimental evidence and operative results which tend to show the fallacy of his position. He believes that the male ova are secreted by the right ovary and the female ova by the left ovary, and that the action of the ovaries is alternating, thus enabling us to predict and control the sex. There is nothing to show that the ovaries alternate in function, and the author's assertion that there are more male than fe- male children born because the right ovary is larger than the left seems, even if this be admitted to be anatomically true, an unwarranted conclusion. His 48 Sex: Its Okigin and Determination whole theory is reminiscent of the biologic speculations of, perhaps, fifty years ago, but is scarcely worthy of the year 1909. Two oth er hypotheses were n ow possible ; one was to consicte r tJie spermatozoa a s conferring the sex, and that through the fact that they_might exert a male or female influence, depending upon which particular sper- matozoa might fertilize an ovum, without any refer- ence to its origin and without any mean s of_determin- ing prior to such fertilization whether the -influence.it would exert would be male or female. This idea, how- ever, was abandoned whenit was pointed out that in some species the ova have been known to develop into male or female organisms without any .fertiHzatioBLby- the spermatozoa whatever. Also, it is now generally admitted that the experiments of Loeh with sea- urchins have shown artificial fertilization to be possi- ble. In another form, this idea as expressed by Mc- Clung, a theory of the accessory chronosome as a sex determinant, we shall later return to. Bex a Property of the Ovum Alone Anot her hypothesis firs t enunciajed jiy SchuUze" con - sidered sex_as a definite propertv of the ov um ; that it is male or female from the beginning of its existence ; the chief function of the spermatozoa being one of fer- tilization 6r~supplying the proper stimulus to the ova. The part here played by the spermatozoon is thus a minor one even in the higher animals, and it is pointed out, as was noted in considering the objection to the foregoing hypothesis, that in the lowe r forms of life fertilizatio n often t akes pla^wTfEout any fusion with the spermatozoon, thus proving that the'"conference of sex is not one of its functions at least. We would thus A Eeview of Theories of Sex Deteemination 49 never be able to control the sex unless we could exercise a choice in the selection of a particular male or female ovum. Even supposing that we could in some manner devise a test for sex in the ova, the fertilization of selected ova would present practical difficulties which, in the higher forms of life at least, would be impossible to overcome. Nevertheless, this idea we believe ap- proaches more closely the real solution. Beard,^ who is probably the ablest of the upholders of Schultze's thesis that sex is a property of the female germ alone, believes that the male element has not the slightest influence in determining the sex, it only exer- cising the function of fertilization or, in other words, the origination of the amphimixis. He states that sex is a function of the egg itself, and that with a given ovum fcere is"'"nathing"" that"can alter tlie"iex that "Ts pre- destined to arise from it. Sex, therefore, according to this view, is not deter- mine3Trt~tBe~mbment ol'fertiliialionpMt' a^long^time prior to that. The doctrine that the sex o^ the embryo may be influenced through the mother after develop- ment has commenced, although never possessing much scientific standing, is entirely discredited by these in- vestigations. I believe with Beard that it can be shown that sex does not arise subsequently to impregnation, and this is practically the consensus of opinion to-day, but I hold that the view which makes a definite sex distinc- tively a function of a particular ovum existing as such for an indefinite period prior to impregnation, is one that at the best rests upon a hypothetical basis. Even if the ovum be one which undergoes development with- out fertilization it cannot be shown that it, from its origin, must necessarily have been male or female, and that prior to the beginning of its development it could 50 Sex: Its Oeigin and Detebmination not have been as it were in a state of equilibrium or fluctuation — its sex subject to determination by some slight subsequent influence. It should also be noted that just as many have objected to the assumption that life may have originated on this planet by being carried here in the form of spores in the interior of a meteor, as an ex- planation which at the best only forces the problem off of this planet onto another, so in the instance under consideration the explanation of Beard of the deter- mination of sex by postulating a definite male or fe- male sexuality in the ova, forces the problem another step backward, but does not destroy it. The question of what originally determines the sex of the ova im- mediately arises. Furthermore, to place this hypothesis upon a firm basis, it would be necessary to show experimentally that prior to fertilization a certain ovum possesses a definite male or female tendency and that this ten- dency invariably predicts the ultimate sexual state of the organism about to be developed. If it be urged that this has already been shown by means of the din- ophilus (the large and opaque eggs developing after fertilization into females, the small and transparent into males), it may still be pointed out that this only demonstrates in this single case the determination of sex prior to fertilization, eliminates the factor of fer- tilization, but does no more, for the question still re- mains: what determines the development of part of the ova into large cells capable of development into female organisms and part into small cells capable of development into male organisms? The problem is again transposed but not destroyed. The same objections are legitimate when any hy- pothesis of the possession by certain spermatozoa of A Eeview op Theories of Sex Determination 51 definite male or female qualities is stated as offering a solution of the problem of sex determination ; hence they should be taken into consideration in connection with the two following hypothesis. Seas and the Chromosomes For some time the existence of^an accessory chromo- some in part of the spermato zoa of c ertajiL species has been generally recognized. Mc Clung^ adv ances the hy- pothesis that these are the factors determining sex, and tHiiiks they may give rise to the male sex. A remark- able fact is that "since about half of the spermatozoa contain the accessory chromosome the general equality existing between the sexes is accounted for. Wilson,'' in 1900, said that while it is not yet possible to point out any one factor of sex determination, it is certain that sex is not inherited; what is inherited is the capacity to develop into male or female, the actual result being determined by conditions external to the primordial germ cell. Later, however, this view was evidently, modified, for he concluded that the occurrence of ac- cessory chromosomes in the spermatozoa of the hymenoptera is constant, while in some forms a differ- ence is noted only in the size of the chromosomes. He found that in one half of the spermatozoa they are large and in the other half small. He is inclined to hold to the view that their function is the reverse of that assigned them by McClung," that is they confer the fe- male sex rather than the male. The theory of McClung to the effect that the accessory chromosome is the sex determinant, is one of the very few theories of sex determination that seems, at the time of writing, to possess any considerable standing in the scientific world. Loeh believes that McClung has solved the problem, at least with respect to its essen- tial features. 52 Sex: Its Okigin and Determination In a limited number of organisms that have been in- vestigated, it has long been noted that, as has been ob- served, certain species of insects and other animals possess two kinds of spermatozoa-; in fact, one of the very early theories was that sex is determined by the entrance of one or another kind of spermatozoa into the egg cell. This was the outg rowth of a still earlier idea that o ne kind of sp ermatoaJa, or sex, came froin one testicle and aiiother from the other. Closer investiga- tion of the sperm cell finall2;^did show th at ther e wfire. in some^^ecies two kinds, of spermatozoa, as well as ova'[TE£jssenHal difference _ being in the. number of cEromatin granules^ or chromosomes. It was discov- "efed as long ago as 1890 by Henking, in a small bug, pyrrhocoris, that certain of the spermatozoa were fur- nished with a chromosome that seemed to be different from the other chromosomes. In the final division of the sperm cells, this accessory chromosome fails to di- vide when the other chromosomes divide, and passes to one pole of the spindles represented in the karioki- nesis ; hence, only half of the spermatozoa contain the accessory. It disappears from the other half. McClung thought that the difference between the two spermatozoa represented the difference in the sexes. He thought those spermatozoa which fertilized the egg cell produced males, because he believed the extra chromosomes carried the male characteristics. Wilson, as I have observed, concluded that on the other hand it carried the female characteristics. It is generally believed that the chromosomes ..caniata. the . unit or heredity characters of the j^ametes, and that the acces- sory chromosomes contain the sex~ character '; in other words, the accessory chromosorue, according to the view of Wilson, carries female determinants. These ideas seem to be borne out by the fact that with a num- A Review or Theoeies of Sex Determination 53 ber of species that may at times reproduce parthen- ogenetically, when the eggs are fertilized, as with the bees, females are the result. This caused many to be- lieve that spermatozoa carriedT female qualities to tlie egg7"^l'Tevwffieless7"^t"~would"s^ cases are on record of animals which produce both sexes parthen- ogenetically. Morgan has shown that both sexes can be produced parthenogenetically when, according to the theory of McClung, only the female can be so gen- erated. Furthermore, Loeh and others, principally Delage, have shown that organisms can be grown, at least as far as the larval stage, without any fertilization whatever by the male sperm; that is by purely an artificial chemical stimulus im- parted to the egg cell. Morgan says very defi- nitely that parthenogenesis plays a double role in the animal kingdom. "In some species parthen- ogenetic generations alternate with sexual ones, and in such cases both the male and the female individuals develop from unfertilized eggs." The life cycle of the aphids illustrate this fact, since they are a very typical parthenogenetic form. We feel that the whole question of the accessory chromosome is yet an open one, and believe that, however striking the results may seem to have been from an investigation of these few isolated species, the principle is scarcely a sufficiently broad one to constitute a fundamental law of sex de- termination. It will be shown in this volume that sexuality and sexual qualities cannot be isolated from other qualities, but that they pervade rather the whole organism, giv- ing a certain over-tone or color to all the somatic cells. On this account it seems almost inconceivable that we could isolate a chromosome as carrying the male or female sexual character. There are, furthermore, sev- 54 Sex: Its Obigin and Deteemination eral other difficulties that stand in the way of a general acceptance of the theory of McClung, that we will not attempt to deal with here. They have been expressed by Morgan and others. While the idea of McClung seems to establish one case in which an internal factor is found associated with sex determination, yet a very limited number of species have been studied. J. Arthur Thompson'' has very recently remarked that the idea that the presence of one accessory chromosome in a fertilized ovum means male offspring, the presence of two means female offspring, is mor- phological and leaves his physiological sense unsatis- ^ed. He asks, "Is the difference significant in itself, or as an index of metabolic differences! If the eggs with more color-seeking granules than their neighbors develop into females, and if these be an index of a relatively preponderant upbuilding capacity, can the theory be brought into line with the thesis of 'The Evolution of Sex,' that the female is the outcome and expression of relatively preponderant constructive ef- fort, and the male of relatively preponderant discharg- ing or destructive changes?" Morgan^ has observed that since the theory of the accessory chromosome assumes that the male and fe- male elements are represented as pre-existing in the germ cell the theory of McClung at the best succeeds only in shifting the problem. It is based upon an as- sumption that cannot be verified and cannot answer as an explanation except in the most purely formal way. The Views of Minot In a discussion of the nature and function of the polar bodies, Wilson'' refers to Minot 's^ attempt to in- terpret them in the following words: "Of the many earlier attempts to interpret the meaning of the polar A Review of Theories oe Sex Detekmination 55 bodies one was the very interesting suggestion of Minot (1877) afterwards adopted by VanBeneden (1883) that the ordinary cell is hermaphroditic and that maturition is for the purpose of producing an unisexual germ cell by dividing the mother cell into its sexual constituents or genoblasts. Thus the male element is removed with the polar globules, leaving the mature egg a female. In a like manner he believed the female element to be cast out during spermatogenesis (in the Sertoli cells), thus rendering the spermatozoa male. By the union of the germ cells in fertilization the male and the fe- male elements are brought together, so that the fer- tilized egg, or oosperm, is again hermaphroditic or neuter. This ingenious view was again independently advocated by Van Beneden in his great work on the ascaris (1883). A fatal objection to it, on which Stras- burger and Weismann have both insisted, lies in the fact that male as well as female qualities are trans- mitted by the egg cell, while the sperm cell also trans- mits female qualities. The germ cells are, therefore, non-sexual. The researches of many observers show, moreover, that all four spermatids are derived from a spermatozoa. Minot 's hypothesis must, therefore, in my opinion, be abandoned. Minot, ^^ however, evidently experienced a radical change of ideas on the whole question, for we find him, in 1902, expressing the conviction that there is no ma- terial basis of sexuality in the sense that there is any visible sex, male or female, substance (referring to the gametes) known to the biologist. He rather considers the male and female cells as essentially the same, ex- cept that in the male cell there is an over-development of the nucleus, and in the female cell an over-develop- ment of protoplasm, the ova resembling old cells and the spermatozoa resembling young cells. He further 56 Sex: Its Oeigin and Determination remarks that we can ascertain the sex of a genoblast by observing its history and not by any direct test. It is probable, he says, that the male or female sexuality .is an intracellular relation of parts, or some modifica- tion of the interplay of forces within the cells, and he believes that for the present this view must hold against the opposite one that there is a male and fe- male matter. It may be here remarked, however, that this view of a separate origin and fundamental organic distinc- tion between the sexes, so much discredited by Minot, has recently been revived by 8chirmer,^^ who relates a series of remarkable cases coming under his obser- vation. A woman gave birth to three boys about a year apart. They were all healthy, normal children. The next child was a girl, not normal, but hemicephalic. The next child, was a boy, who, like the first three, was perfectly normal, but the following child was a girl, who presented exactly the same deformity as the other. Next a normal boy was born. No children were now born to this pair for seven years, when the birth of a girl occurred. She presented the same deformity as the other female children had. In another case related by him a woman after giving birth to eight normal children was delivered of triplets — one normal boy and two hemicephalic girls. The occurrence of these remarkable cases ScMrmer attributes to the possible sexual differentiation of the ova and to the probable separate organic origin of the ova of two sexes, as for instance the two ovaries. Such cases are extremely difficult to explain, but such an assumption cannot be said to greatly reduce the difficulty, for, as will be shown in the next chapter, the facts supporting the view that sex originates in every case from a primitive hermaphroditic cell are so many A Eeview of Theobies of Sex Deteemination 57 and so varied that it will take mucli more than a few cases such as Schirmer presents to overthrow that view. Undoubtedly, Schirmer's cases present a prob- lem in heredity rather than sex determination, the hemicephilia in these instances acquiring the nature of a secondary sexual character similar to hemophilia. A possihle Relation to the Month M. Thury,^^ a veterinary surgeon of the south of France, first exp reise^ he view tEaOEeliSie of con- c eption with r espect to the menst rua l month is an i m- portant factor in the determination of sex. He called a Lien ti on tojthe factjnatjtt£j|ue^ eggs first^ Hens are also said to do this,"altliougE Alhini's^^ extensive experiments with poultry would hardly seem to justify this conclusion. Thury's method was sup- ported by the authority of Dusing^*^ and some stock- breeders are said to have had considerable success in following his rule-^Weeding^mares late.in heat when male^eoltsare desired. Schroeder has investigated this, however, and affirms that he has never been able to confirm M. Thury's theory with the human subject. Influence of 'Nutrition Meehan, of Philadelphia, affirmed that he found well- nourished plants producing female flowers, and the poorly nourished, male flowers. Gentry" is said to have supported this fact with experiments on moths. The experiments of Treat^^ with butterfly larvae have often been quoted as confirming the nutrition theories of sex determination, since ill-feeding is said to have re- sulted in males and over-feeding in females. The experiments of Treat, Gentry and others were disproved by Riley" in 1873 (a year notable for at- tempts at determining sex by altering nutrition), yet 58 Sex: Its Obigin and Deteemination these experiments are still frequently referred to as if their validity had not as yet been disturbed. Cuenot^ concludes, after an extensive series of experiments with moths, flies and caterpillars, that nutrition plays no part in the determination of sex, and Morgan,^ after a careful review of the experiments of Cuenot and others, concludes that all experiments which seem to show that such is not the case are seriously invalidated for the reason that the possibility of a greater mor- tality in one sex has not been eliminated. From the nature of the ease such contingencies are difficult to eliminate. Morgan says, in referring to experiments with caterpillars, "The futility of many of these ex- periments has now become apparent, since it has been shown that the sex of the caterpillar is already deter- mined when it leaves the egg. Under such circum- stances it is not probable that feeding could produce a change in the sex. It is much more probable that starvation or over-feeding could only affect the propor- tion of males and females by bringing about a greater mortality of the individuals of one sex." Scales,^^ after experimenting with some of his pa- tients, concluded that as far as man is concerned nu- trition theories are not good guides. He upholds the theory of Dusing,wloiGh he applied to the human family, and states that males are conceived comparatively late in the menstrual month, while females are conceived shortly after menstruation, and advances as a peculiar proof of the theory the fact that there are more il- legitimate male children born than there are female, because conception in these cases takes place more fre- quently later in the month, when intercourse is sup- posed not to be so frequently followed by inconvenient consequences. B. C. PunneW instituted a series of comparisons A Eeview of Theories op Sex Detekmination 59 of the male and female birth-rate of two classes of so- ciety supposedly very widely divergent in every way and particularly in the amount of food consumed per capita. He found that the births recorded in Burke's Peerage when compared with the birth returns from some of the London slums showed no particular pre- dominance in favor of one or the other sex. His con- clusion was that nutrition had nothing whatever to do with the determination of sex, at least in so far as man is concerned. Nussbaum,^^ on the other hand, believes that nutri- tion determines sex, but says that in order that any ef- fective influence may be brought to bear, it will be nec- essary to begin with the parent while yet in the em- bryonic state. But so long as it is necessary to go so far back, would it not be still more effective if the over- feeding would commence with the parent of the parent? In confessing the necessity of such a method of control his position is virtually abandoned. Some biologists have held that fertilization as a nu- tritional stimulus determines sex, as it was at one time thought that fertilized eggs in the bee could only give rise to females. Beard^ denies this, however, and holds that both male and female can be produced partheno- genetically. Schenck" believed that in order to produce male off- spring it is necessary to alter the diet of the mother previous to conception, selecting nitrogenous sub- stances and excluding carbohydrates. The urine should be examined for sugar by a series of very delicate tests. When all sugar has disappeared impregnation should be allowed, but the diet should be continued for about eight weeks afterward, when, he says, it may be gradually altered. If a boy is desired the urine must be entirely freed from the slightest trace of sugar before 60 Sex: Its Oeigin and Determination conception. He says: "The condition of a woman in a well-regulated married state, when, as we will suppose, five or six girls are born, must be supposed to be of the kind that departs more or less from the normal." He also remarks that no influence can be exerted if female offspring are desired. On reading Schenck's book, it immediately occurs to one that if these contentions are true, a woman af- flicted with diabetes mellitus, in which disease vary- ing amounts of sugar are being constantly excreted, would necessarily always give birth to girls. This is not found to be the case. The author, however, antici- pating this objection, advances this rather unsatisfac- tory explanation; he says, "Notwithstanding the high percentage of sugar excreted in the case of a woman suffering from diabetes, female offspring do not neces- sarily appear, because in the slightest cases of this dis- ease the normal metabolism can be considerably im- proved." Without depreciating in the slightest the patient investigation evidently given by Schenck to this subject, I feel that this method, considered merely as a hypothesis, is about the least plausible of any of those we have met with. On the other hand, I do not believe that the clinical evidence he presents is extended enough to justify his conclusions. Leaving out of con- sideration such minor objections to this theory as the birth of twins of both sexes and one or two others that might be offered, it may be remarked in passing that it is a question whether or not the necessity of con- sidering the opposite sex as to a certain extent a path- ological product would not constitute an important obstacle to the acceptance of Schenk's hypothesis by many men. At any rate, the hypothesis has rather gone by default in that it never had in its primary forms, as far as is known, with the exception of its orig- A Eeview of Theoeies op Sex Detebmination" 61 inator, any defenders. Its chief interest is an Mstorical one in that it excited when first published wide com- ment and discussion. Tadpoles often seem to retain a neutral sexual state for quite a long period of time and sometimes even seem to be developing into a certain sex for a time, when, without apparent cause, the characteristics of the opposite sex acquire predominance. As they thus apparently offer a favorable field for testing the effect of nutrition or other external agencies upon sex, Born^^ started the first series of experiments in 1881; he was followed by Yung,''* and Yung by Cuenot;^^ but Pflueger's^^ experiments contradict them, and Mor- gan, as well as others, have acutely criticised their results. With respect to the effect of the character of food in the determination of sex, Pflueger's conclusions have been verified by Helen Dean King,"" who has care- fully investigated the effects of different kinds of feed- ing in the determination of sex in tadpoles, with results that must be to the advocates of nutritional theories of sex determination singularly disappointing. Her experiments seem to show that with bufo, at least, the character of the nutrition cannot be looked upon as even a minor factor in the determination of sex. In her paper she summarizes the results of her experiments in Table IV, which we abstract. In final comment she says: "Of the total of 1,536 individuals in which sex was ascertained, 823, or 53.58 per cent., were females. The excess of females, there- fore, is but 1.7 per cent, more than the normal excess as ascertained by the examination of the sex of 500 young toads which had developed under normal condi- tions. The number of females is greatest in the lot of tadpoles fed on the yolk of egg, being 8.1 per cent. 62 Sex: Its Obigin and Determination above the normal; and it is least in Lot C, where it falls 5.9 per cent, below the normal. These figures are, however, well within the limits of possible normal va- riation for the frog as determined by the investigation of Pflueger and Griesheim, and presumably, therefore, they are also within the limits of normal variation in bufo. Character of food given Total number of indi- viduals Sex not as- certained Males Females Per Cent of Females Total sex as- certained Meat .... Wheat . . . Mixed food Yolk of egg 500 500 500 400 36 54 151 123 218 195 189 111 246 251 160 166 53.01 56.27 45.84 59.92 464 446 349 277 Total. . . . 1900 364 713 823 53.58 1536 "Taking into consideration the entire number of in- di\iduals used in the experiments, it is found that in the total of 1,900 tadpoles, 823, or 43.31 per cent., de- veloped into females; 713, of 37.52 per cent., became males, leaving 264, of 19.15 per cent., in which the sex of the individuals was not ascertained. If we assume, for the moment, that all of the individuals belonging to this 19.15 per cent, would have developed into fe- males (although the investigation of the sex of the in- dividuals that died during the course of the experi- ments does not warrant such an assumption), the num- ber of females would then be increased to 1,187, or 62.47 per cent., of the whole number of individuals; on the other hand, if all the individuals in which the A Eeview op Theobies of Sex Determination 63 sex was not ascertained had developed into males, then the number of males would be 1,077, or 56.68 per cent., of the whole number of individuals. On neither of these assumptions is the proportion of the sexes changed sufficiently to justify the conclusion that the nutrition has any influence in the determination of sex in bufo. The results of these experiments, taken as a whole, seem to show that sex is not determined either by the quantity or quality of the food. This conclu- sion agrees with that reached by Cuenot from the re- sults of his investigations on frogs, moths and other forms, and by SchuUze from his experiments on mice. ' ' Influence of Parents' Age Hof acker" and Sadler'^ studied independently about 4,000 births, and from these concluded that the relative age of the parents determined the sex of the offspring. They found that where the husband is younger than the wife there are born as many boys as girls; when they are about the same age there are 1,027 boys to 1,000 girls, and in those cases where the age of the husband exceeded that of the wife there are born 1,057 boys to every 1,000 girls ; but these results are directly contradicted by a much larger body of statistics of Stieda from Alsace-Lorraine and also those of Ber- ner,^^ from Sweden. Some botanists have thought that age of parents ex- erted a considerable influence upon sex of plants. As far as this factor is concerned the conclusions of Thompson and Geddes is that most of the results in regard to the influence of age upon sex are extremely unsatisfactory and conflicting. They affirm that the law of Hof acker and Sadler cannot be regarded as in any sense confirmed. 64 Sex: Its Obigin and Deteemination A Mathematical View Simon Newcomb,^" in a publication of the Carnegie Institute, sets forth what might be called a mathemati- cal view of sex determination. His method is entirely statistical, and he comes to the novel conclusion that sex is determined accidentally, in the sense that the fac- tors of determination are too numerous and too minute ever to permit of analysis. He says that sex is not absolutely determined at any one moment or by any one act, but is the product of a series of accidental causes, some acting in one direction, some in another until with a preponderance in one direction the organ- ism finally acquires sexual distinction. Furthermore, he believes it unlikely that there is any way by which parents can affect the sex of their offspring. This is an ingenious presentation of what we may term the pessimistic view of the question, but it is difficult to see how it can ever be experimentally verified ; yet as proving to be ultimately the solution, it is by no means inconceivable and is more plausible than many of the more constructive theories to be met with. It will not be necessary to here consider in detail such theories as the influence of suggestion in deter- mining sex, the time of day of conception, the relative ardency of the parents, the ability of the more passion- ate parent to stamp the sex, the theory, already men- tioned, which holds that ova of one sex are produced one month and ova of the opposite sex the next, alter- nating and thus maintaining the equilibrium between the sexes ; or psychological theories which advocate the view that a mother of strong character produces male offspring and vice versa. None of these ideas have ever enjoyed a very wide adherence. Some of them, as in the instance where sex is referred to the alternate monthly generation of male and female ova, may be A Eeview of Theoeies of Sex Detebmination 65 readily disproved, hence they never obtain much vogue, while others, because the determining factor is con- ceived to be one which, after all, is relatively very in- definite, can never be disproved to their originator's satisfaction or proved to the satisfaction of any one else. The Ideas of Van Luit and Starkweather Van Luit^^ has lately advanced an hypothesis some- what reminiscent of the theory of Starkweather, which later will be considered in some detail. Van Luit ex- presses the belief that the ova and spermatozoa express the extremes of fine cellular differences.. They typify in themselves the psychological and somatic differences between the adult male and female organism. He also holds that there is an antithesis between the germ cell born by an individual and that individual. In brief, the spermatozoa are essentially female, and ova male, thus each adult organism typifies the primitive her- maphroditic unity of sex, which he postulates. This being true, he believes that if a relatively feeble ovum be fertilized by a vigorous spermatozoon the qualities of the spermatozoon will be dominant, the offspring re- sembling the father, but of the female sex. Sons are the result of vigorous ova fertilized by feeble sperma- tozoa. He states that the somatic cells must balance the sex cells and, therefore, they will be female and the offspring will be male, but resembling the mother. Eeverting very closely to the oldest of theories of sex determination, that of Hippocrates * an early writer *The ideas of Hippocrates on the determination of sex are as follows. He says: "Bach seed contains both male and female germs; and th« stronger necessarily predominates in the formation of a boy; and of a girl if the weaker excels. A proof of both male and female germg ex- isting in the seed of both sexes is deduced from the circumstance that 66 Sex: Its Obigin and Detebmination on the subject, Giron^"^ in 1828, concluded that the more vigorous parent determined the corresponding sex. This marked the beginning of modem theories of com- parative vigor. The idea does not seem very plausible, for if such were the ease we would look for a great preponderance of one sex over the other when sub- jected to certain conditions. There would be nothing to maintain a balance, and hence the opposite theory- has always possessed considerably more standing in court. This, the theory of Starkweather,^^ I will now consider. Perhaps one of the most plausible of this class of solutions of the problem was that of Starkweather. He believed that he had discovered the law governing the determination of sex, and briefly sums it up in the following words : ' ' Sex is determined by what I shall designate as the superior parent, also the superior parent produces the opposite sex." While there may be much difference between any two individuals of the opposite sex, he holds that the sexes are equal in the aggregate, male equalling female, as true physiological equivalents. He further says that, with reference to individuals, ' ' superiority means anything which tends to increase functional energy in any part of the system," and that "the superior germ rules, as su- periority is sure to do wherever it is placed, and bal- ancing the other, turns the scale of sex, but subject to the unvarying law of opposites which we conceive to be the principle of universal equilibrium, produces its opposite. Hence if the mother be more highly en- dowed, or even but temporarily more favorably condi- many women who had borne only girls to one man have, in union with another, given birth to boys; and so in the case of a man who, having only girls with one wife, has, with another, given origin to boys, or reversely." (Hippocrates on Generation. Gardeils Trans, ii., page 386.) A Eeview of Theories op Sex Determination 67 tioned than the father, the offspring will be of the male sex and endowed with more of the mother than the father. The converse of this will, of course, obtain, and a superior father on the same principle will be- get a daughter." The theory may appropriately be designated that of "superior opposites." It will be readily seen that this hypothesis accounts remarkably well for the general equality in numbers between the sexes. A superior father, young, and the chances for life good, produces daughters, but as he grows older, passing the prime of life, and his wife, whom we will assume is some years younger than he, as is generally the case, approaches her prime, she rather than he stamps the sex of the children, pro- ducing sons. Anything which might throw one sex of a species below par and thus threaten a disturbance of the balance is compensated for by the consequent ability of the superior parents to stamp the future off- spring with the opposite sex. Leaving all secondary sexual characters out of consideration, it will be con- ceded that the male or female of a mated pair run equal chances of possessing those qualities which confer superiority. Starkweather fuTtheT says: "That there exists a law of equilibrium in regard to sex as in all of nature 's operations is a fact upon which I have in- sisted. It is no mere assumption that there is a self- adjusting principle connected with sex, for it is a fact as visible as it is indispensable and immutable. Its workings are to be seen on every hand as easily as the vivifying effects of the sun's rays upon the face of nature. It must be so or the sexes would not show the invariable tendency toward equilibrium through- out the world as they do now." After a discussion of numerous sex theories he says that he soon learned to test the truth of any of these theories by ascertaining 68 Sex: Its Origin and Determination whether or not they contained any principle of balance. It will Hot be necessary to follow Starkweather through the detailed enumeration he makes of the qualities he considers superior and inferior. He lays stress on cerebral development, nervous energy, will, temperament, physical development, and nutrition ; in- telligence, facial features, etc. Criticism of Starkweather's Theory The first objection to be urged against this theory is the one already stated as applying to many others; that is, so many of the factors are relatively very in- definite. Hence there would always be room for con- siderable difference of opinion as to what would con- stitute superiority in any particular instance. In man we would be able to recognize superiority and in- feriority more easily than in any other animal, because we are more familiar with the factors involved, but when we take any particular mated pair we find that in a great majority of instances any factor denoting superiority, for instance in the male, is offset by one denoting inferiority; or superior traits in the female are met or contrabalanced by other superior traits in the male. Had the originator of this theory taken one or two factors and been content to rest his hypothesis upon these, there would not have been so much room for a difference of opinion, but he evidently found early in his inquiry that no limited number would prove suflScient; he was, therefore, obliged to greatly enlarge his list of determinants running the whole scale from the lowest physical to the highest intel- lectual qualities. Now, a state of things is reached which renders it easy for any upholder of his theory to find in any particular case plenty of evidence for it, but there is also the opportunity for any one so in- clined to dispute almost every argument adduced. A Eeview of Thboeies of Sex Deteemination 69 The second objection to this hypothesis is one based simply on observation. Almost every one can note among acquaintances families where boys or girls alone have been the rule. Then, perhaps, a child of the op- posite sex makes its appearance without any obvious change of superiority between the father or mother. There might be room for a difference of opinion as to which of the two parents was originally superior, but there can be no doubt that there has been to all appearances no superiority alternation. Starkweather affirms that his theory will apply to the whole animal kingdom as well as to man. Here he must encounter another objection, for in many species one sex is immensely and constantly superior to the other. In the course of a few years a stallion may be bred to a great number of mares. He is in all proba- bility a superior animal to every one of these. He is, in fact, selected as a sire, because of his superiority in every respect to the ordinary run of horses; yet the sex of the offspring varies. Many other examples of this might be cited, as in the arachnoidea, where the females are often very superior, and with the bonellia viridis there is a great difference in size, the female being markedly the superior. Furthermore, besides those species with which one sex is constantly superior to the other, there are in- stances where, as with polygamous species, a number of females are ruled by one male, who for a long period of time kills or drives away any younger males as- piring to the leadership. Notwithstanding the leader's proved superiority, just as many males are born. The American bison is a case in point. This fact would also account for the majority of females noted in some species. Another objection which may be here urged against 70 Sex: Its Origin and Determination Starkweather's hypothesis will be one which also will serve to test many other theories. This is simply the birth of twins of both sexes. The term "twins" is used here in its popular meaning of two children born of the same mother as a result of the same pregnancy. True twins are always conceived at the same time, originate in the same ovum, and are always of the same sex, but two ova may be impregnated at the same time or at different times varying from twenty-four hours to one month or more apart and yet the children be bom at the same parturition, constituting not true twins but rather double conceptions. These may be of the same or of different sexes. Where there is the fact of a double birth it is quite possible for the two children to possess different fathers. Instances of this have been recorded in medical literature. Now, where we have a male and fenaale child conceived, we will say scarcely twenty-four hours apart, we must suppose, under the Starkweather hypothesis, that the superiority of the parents has been subject to a very rapid alternation. Twins and the Size and Fertilization of the Ova The subject of twins and double births will be dis- cussed in detail in another chapter; here it will be sufficient to refer to an observation of Loeb,^* who sees in the phenonenon of twins proof of the very early sexual differentiation of the ovum and consequently the disproof of many theories of sex determination. He says : ' ' There is one condition under which twins have invariably the same sex ; namely, when they come from the same egg. Twins can arise when the con- tents of the egg are cut in two during the early periods of development, e. g., when the cleavage spheres be- come separated from each other. In the case of mam- A Review of Theobies of Sex Determination 71 malian or human twins we possess a criterion for the fact that they come from one or two eggs in the condi- tion of the egg membranes. Twins coming from differ- ent eggs have separate chorions. In all cases where twins have a common chorion they also have identical sex. This indicated that the sex of the embryo was determined before the germ was split into two parts, and as this must occur in the earliest stages of develop- ment it follows that the sex is definitely determined very early; how early can only be guessed at in mam- malians, but in certain species it can be shown that the sex is pre-established in the egg before it is even fer- tilized. A striking example of this assertion was dis- covered by Korchelt in dinophilus apartis, a worm of the group of turbellarians. As Korchelt' s paper is not accessible to me I will quote the observation after Lenhossek.^^ Dimophilus lays two kinds of eggs, one large and opaque, the other small and transparent. The eggs are fertilized inside the body of the female and are afterwards deposited in the water. Korchelt separated the two types of eggs and found that the large eggs gave rise to females, the small transparent eggs to males. If this observation is true there can be no doubt that in this case sex is already determined before the egg is fertilized." CHAPTER IV A Review and Ceiticism op Theobies op Sex Detebmination (Concluded) Size and Fertilization of the Ovum. — Is Sex an Inherited Char- acter? — Selection. — Heredity and Nutrition. — The Inheri- tance of Acquired Characters. — The Equality of the Sexes in Numbers. — Criticism of the Nutritional Hypothesis. — Conclusions of Morgan and Thompson. — ^The Hermaphro- ditism of the Ova and Spermatozoa. Bize and Fertilization of the Ova as Sex Determinants The final observations of the last chapter agree with the conclusions of Beard and others already mentioned who hold that sex is predetermined in the ovum. This idea is quite contradictory to the one that affirms that sex is dependent upon fertilization. Loeh further says in this respect: "In bees the unfertilized eggs give rise almost or quite exclusively to males, while females can only (or perhaps mainly) arise from fertilized eggs. This seems to indicate that the entrance of a spermat- ozoon may give the egg a female character. Lenhos- sek believes that it is possible that in bees, or perhaps in most animals, two kinds of eggs exist, one for each sex ; that for some reason the male egg is not fertilized when it is laid, while the female is fertilized. It is, however, difficult to harmonize such a view with the fact that old queens whose supply of sperm is ex- hausted and virgin queens lay only male eggs." The final conclusion of Loeb is that sex is undoubtedly de- termined in the germ cell prior to fertilization or is determined soon after fertilization. Mme. Brocadello and Joseph^" have also suggested that the size of the ova may have some influence in 72 A Review of Theories of Sex Determination 73 the determination of sex, for they called attention to the fact that in several different species the large eggs seemed to develop into females and the small into males. Morgan, however, concludes that instead of the size of the egg determining the sex a tendency of the female eggs to become larger than the male eggs is responsible, and urges the same objection against this we have against Beard's theory of a distinctive male and female ovum irrespective of size. This ob- jection is that the explanations are scarcely more than verbal, since they do not get rid of the difficulty but only transfer it to another field. Influence of Beredity The possiblity of modifying or developing character- istics by breeding has long been recognized by stock- men. Since the elaboration of the doctrine of evolu- tion this method of improving a strain has been more carefully worked out and carried to extremes not be- fore thought possible. 'The ability to secure desirable qualities in offspring by selection of parents possessing these qualities naturally led breeders to hope that they might in time be able to produce a desired sex in oif- spring by selecting the parents from strains in which the tendency to produce one sex or the other predomi- nated. Professor Bateson" of the University of Cam- bridge, in a recent work has suggested that eventually we may find that a definite sex is an hereditary char- acter, inferring that a definite sex may be obtained by breeding, just as we may thus obtain any other Men- delian variation. Theoretically this might be considered by some as possessing possibilities of an effective control, and Copeman and Parsons^^ indeed conducted extensive 74 Sex: Its Obigin and Detebmination experiments with mice in an attempt to verify and systematize this method, but without apparent suc- cess. Their failure, we believe, might have been predicted had it been recognized that sex differs very ma- terially from other characteristics. Sex as such ad- mits of but two variations, while any other character- istic admits of variations which may be considered as infinite ; moreover, the very fact of breeding for a certain sex presupposes the admission as a factor in the process of the sexual element opposite to the one desired in the offspring. This necessarily counts half, as we cannot hope for a preponderance of one or the other influence in the parents, or, the conditions being of course the same, in the grandparents, and so on back. We thus see that as far as hereditary influences are concerned, by the very nature of the conditions there must be a tendency toward the maintenance of an equilibrium between the sexes. Selection It may be of interest here to consider the bearing which natural selection may be considered to have on the question. In his "Descent of Man," Darwin^^ says: "Suppose the case of a species which, from unknown causes, produces an excess of one sex, say males — an excess of males being superfluous and use- less — ^by natural selection could the sexes be equalized? We may feel sure from the fact that characteristics being variable, certain pairs would produce a somewhat less excess of males over females than would other pairs. The former, supposing the actual number of offspring to remain constant, would necessarily pro- duce more females, and would, therefore, be more pro- ductive. On the doctrine of chances the greater num- A Eeview of Theories op Sex Deteemination 75 ber of the offspring of the more productive would survive, and these would inherit a tendency to pro- create fewer males and more females. Thus a tendency toward equalization would be brought about." 'He apparently does not advance this hypothesis very confidently, and later he evidently felt that it would require considerable modification, for he says: "I formerly thought that when the tendency to pro- duce both sexes in equal numbers was advantageous to a species, it would follow from natural selection, but I now see that the whole problem is so intricate that it is best to leave its solution to the future." The Influence of the Age of the Ovum Busing" was probably one of the earliest of investi- gators to sum up the results of all previous theorists on sex determination and to point out that while, per- haps, no one hypothesis explains adequately the phe- nomena of sex determination in every species, yet each explanation contains some germ of truth, and that in all probability the ultimate explanation will embrace and coordinate a number of different factors rather than consist of the statement of some broad general principle covering the manifestations of sex in all liv- ing matter. Busing believes that the sex of the organism about to develop is not independent of the parent organisms, but that it depends directly on their state of vigor and metabolism. He upholds the commonly accepted view that females are a product of over-nutrition and males a product of under-nutrition ; or, in other words, what- ever tends to place the parent organism above par, whether it be food, moisture, heat or light, tends to produce female offspring, while the opposite conditions favor the development of males. The factor of early 76 Sex: Its Obigin and Detehmination fertilization, Busing held, would favor the production of females, because the ovum, being younger, might be supposed to be better nourished and more vigorous. Some have attempted to show a connection between Hof acker and Sadler's conclusions and this theory, but even if their results had not been overthrown by later and more voluminous statistics, it would be difficult, indeed, to coordinate the influence of the relative age of the parents and their state of vigor or nutrition. Even if the ages were not relative but absolute, diffi- culties would be encountered, as it is impossible to say that because a wife is older or younger than her husband she is otherwise more or less favorably con- ditioned. The experiments of Albini with fowls have already been mentioned in this connection. Now, the attempt to make the possibly more fre- quent development of females when the ovum is fer- tilized early in the menstrual month support the nu- tritional theory must meet somewhat the same ob- jection. The ovum when young is supposed to be better nourished or conditioned, and consequently if it chance to be then fertilized a female organism is the result; but later, when approaching dissolution, it is under- nourished and feeble, hence, if then fertilized, a male organism is the result. Here, it will be immediately remarked, an assumption is made that feebleness and a state of reduced anabolism is characteristic of old age, but not of youth. On the contrary, if during any part of the life of an organism, whether that organism be a germ cell or a more complex body, it may be said that a state of over-nutrition exists, it is after that organism has reached middle age or attained its full growth. Prior to having reached that stage a greater proportion of nourishment absorbed is consumed in the katabolic processes. After growth is completed A Eeview of Theories of Sex Deteemination 77 any extra food assimilated is laid by as reserve prod- uct principally in the form of fat. This refers to that period lying between mid-life and the beginning of dissolution. Of course, there must eventually come a time when assimilation, being greatly retarded, kata- bolic processes rapidly ensue; however, this period in comparison with the whole life of the organism is a very short one. There is therefore as a matter of fact no a priori reason for the assumption that the ovum is better nourished early in the menstrual month, and hence more likely, if then impregnated, to develop into the female organism. Another point should here be noted; that is, the well-known fact that conception is much more likely to occur early in the menstrual month or, in other "words, within certain limits the younger the ova are, the more likely they are to be fertilized by the sper- matozoa. Windsor is said to have investigated the date of conception in 1,960 births. In these 1,753 conceptions occurred between the fifth and tenth days after the menstrual period. Seven days after menstruation 458 occurred, and from this date the frequency diminished in both directions to three occurring the first day and none on the sixteenth. Whether or not these statistics have ever been verified (and the difficulties in the way of such verification are obvious) it is very doubtful ; but there can be no doubt of the validity, as a general proposition, of these results. There is, indeed, a com- mon and widespread faith in the rule among the laity, and there is a reason to believe that the catamenia in the human species corresponds closely to certain such periodical states in the higher animals, and it is gen- erally impossible in them for fertilization to take place outside of these periods. 78 Sex: Its Origin and Determination Now, if the theory that an early fertilization or, in other words, the fertilization of young ova by the sper- matozoa produces females is true, we should expect to find, since there is a much greater liability of fer- tilization early in the menstrual cycle, that a great preponderance of births would be female. But this is certainly not the case, and it has even been held by some that the male births exceed the female. While this is probably in general not true — and in fact in this volume the thesis that there is a constant tendency toward a numerical equality in numbers between the sexes will be upheld — ^yet it is much more likely to be true than would any proposition to the effect that the female births exceed the male. These considerations, combined with the fact that practical experiment has failed to sustain the claims of its advocates, justify one in ruling out the theory that sex is determined by the time of fertilization with respect to the age of the ovum, whether that theory be advanced as offering a sufficient guiding principle in itself or as merely sustaining the nutritional hy- pothesis. Geddes and Thompson,*" following an interesting historical review and summary of many of the differ- ent theories of sex determination, concluded that nu- trition plays an important part. The experiments of Yung and Pflueger with tadpoles, von Seibold with wasps. Treat and Gentry with moths and butter- flies, and other observers with plants of various species, all are reviewed and commented upon. A primitive hermaphroditism is recognized, and the ana- bolic character of the female sex and the katabolic character of the male are emphasized. They say in conclusion, "Such conditions as deficient or abnormal food, high temperature, deficient light, moisture and A Ebview of Theories of Sex Determination 79 the like, are obviously such as would tend to induce a preponderance of waste over repair, a katabolic habit of body, and these conditions tend to result in the pro- duction of males. This is not all, however. The above conclusion is indeed valuable, but it acquires a deeper significance when we take it in connection with the fact . . . that males were of a smaller size, more active habit, higher temperature, shorter life, etc., and that the females were larger, more passive, vegetative and conservative forms. Theories of inherent maleness or femaleness were rejected, since practically nearly verbal; more accurately, however, they have been in- terpreted and replaced by a more material conception, which binds the bias of the whole life, the resultant total activities to be predominance of the protoplasmic processes, either on the side of disruption or construc- tion. . . If influences favoring katabolism make for the production of males, and if anabolic conditions favor females, then we are strengthened in our previous con- clusion that the male is the outcome of predominant katabolism and the female of equally emphatic anabol- ism. ' ' The conclusions of Thompson and Geddes;m so far as they may be said to favor the idea that sex can be determined by nutritional experiments, have en- joyed a very limited acceptance. The whole trend of modern thought is away from the idea that somatic changes in the mother can exert any influence upon the embryo or upon the cell from which it develops. These authors have attributed considerable importance to the case of tadpoles experimented upon by Jung, but here we have a species unique, in that a state of her- maphroditism is persisted in for an indefinite period following birth, and their sex is not determined by al- tering the nutrition of the mother, but by altering their 80 Sex: Its Oeigin and Determination own nutrition, so tliat in this instance, at least, there is no alteration of a germ cell through a parent organ- ism. In the vast majority of species sex is determined so very early that any possibility of determining or altering the sex of the young or embryonic organism is absolutely precluded. If any environmental influ- ence can be brought to bear at all, it must be through the parent organism during or prior to fertilization. Even if Tung's conclusion had not been overthrown by the experiments of Helen Dean King, which have already been referred to, the special case of tadpoles could scarcely assist us to any extent. If it is impos- sible to alter or determine the sex of the germ cell, in the vast majority of species, early in its career, it is impossible ever to do it. Present opinion tends to emphasize the inviolability of the germ cell. The conclusions of Weismann, to the effect that ac- quired characters are never inherited, may have, per- haps, undergone some modification, but they have never been broken down. Experiment after experiment has gone to show that, in the higher animals at least, the germ plasm, if not entirely uninfluenced by any ac- quired characters in the parent organism, it is very slightly so. Starkweather, Schench and others have given numerous rules for altering the physical condi- tion of one parent or the other for the purpose of altering the sex of the child yet to be conceived, but all these methods recommended as favoring the deter- mination of sex in the germ cells by the acquirement of superiority on the part of one or other of the parents, such as exercise, rest, feeding, fasting, fatigue, a cer- tain mental state or attitude, produce at the best but the merest temporary somatic variations, and it is consequently hardly reasonable to suppose that they exert any influence whatever upon the germ cell, since A Eeview of Theories of Sex Determination 81 it has been shown many times that characteristics ac- quired by the parents for generation after generation do not make their appearance spontaneously in the off- spring. Weismann*^ says in this respect : ' ' The trans- ference of sex has usually been looked upon as an act of transmission. This cannot be the case, inasmuch as every germ plasm contains the primary constituent for both sexes, and the process of transmission itself has evidently nothing to do with the determination of sex. As already mentioned, it does not by any means follow that because a child is a female its primary and secondary sexual characteristics will resemble its mother's. This, indeed, has long been known, but has not led to the general recognition that sex is not trans- missible at all, and that on the contrary the primary constitutents of hoth sexes are passed on from both sides." Heredity and Nutrition Geddes and Thompson recognize this fundamental contradiction between the nutritional theories of sex determination and the Weismann theory of heredity, but instead of regarding Weismann' s views on her- edity, which are certainly more generally accepted and more firmly established than any theory of sex, as tend- ing to invalidate their own position, they rather take the stand that these nutritional experiments seriously weaken Weismann's position. It would seem, however, that the burden of proof should rest upon those who, held to the view that the germ plasm can be altered by bringing about some somatic change in the parent or- ganism. The first well-authenticated case of the in- heritance of a scar or mutilation has, as far as we know, yet to be produced; never yet has any one pointed out an instance of the inheritance of an ac- 82 Sex: Its Origin and Detebmination quired deformity. A wMte race may inhabit a tropical country for generations, acquiring a deep tan, yet chil- dren bom to them are as white as their northern cousins. Our grandmothers for generations have had the lobe of the ear pierced for the deception of ear- rings, yet no babe has ever been born with this char- acteristic. The same may be said of those savage tribes whose practice is to pierce the lips or the nose for the same purpose and with about the same aBsthetic re- sult. The Jews since the time of Abraham have prac- tised the rite of circumcision, yet children born of Jew- ish parents do not show any larger proportion with shortened or absent foreskins than do the children of other races. Some dogs, such as the fox-terrier, have had the tail amputated for many generations, yet the young of this variety are born with just as long tails as their ancestors. In fact, the well-known experiment of the amputation of the tails of young mice for a num- ber of generations, without any apparent lessening of the length of the tail even by a millimeter, could really only verify what has already been known or what might easily have been predicted. In medicine the element of heredity is less and less insisted upon, and as this is so and other factors are accorded their full aetiological value the methods of prophylaxis and treatment have been improved. The stimulus accorded medicine by the Weismann hypoth- esis has been decided, and the consequent reaction from the fatalistic tendency toward the explanation of all disease phenomena, the cause of which may be obscure, by the word "heredity," has been beneficial. In tuberculosis alone the disregarding of heredity and the emphasizing of infection as the chief aetiological factor has marked a distinct advance. There are signs that cancer will soon be looked upon in the same light. A Eeview op Theoeibs of Sex Determination 83 With these facts before us, it would scarcely seem possible that the altering of nutrition in the mother could bring about a radical change in the constitution of the germ cell or embryo. That a state of hyper-nu- trition is in very many species characteristic of the female is readily admitted (and it is in their demonstra- tion of this fact that has resulted in the observations of Thompson and Geddes having proved themselves of such great value when coordinated with my own theory of sex determination). Yet, that anabolism is the cause of femaleness must be questioned. It is not difficult to explain why the female is anabolic in character. That such anabolism is not more pronounced is more to be wondered at than its mere existence. It, of course, is the inevitable result of selection. The egg is usually a larger reproductive element than is the spermatozoon, and it contributes considerable nutri- tion toward the support of the developing embryo dur- ing the early stages of its existence. In many lower forms of life, even where the eggs are fertilized after having been deposited in the water by the female, as with frogs and fishes, the maturition of the ova, never- theless, makes a considerable demand upon the parent organism; while in those higher forms of life where the offspring are supported for a period of time in utero and nourished at the breast after birth, it is ob- vious that the mother must possess a considerable re- serve supply of material for tiding, not only the mother herself, but also her offspring over critical periods. In the course of the article upon sex in the Encyclo- paedia Britannica, Thompson*^ explains menstruation as "the means of getting rid of an anabolic surplus in the absence of its foetal consumption," and again, in conjunction with Oeddes*" in the "Evolution of Sex," after discussing briefly the different explanations of 84 Sex: Its Origin and Determination menstruation, says, "The process (menstruation) may, however, be expressed in more general and at the same time more fundamental terms. If the female sex be, indeed, preponderatingly anabolic, we should expect this to show itself in distinctive functions. Menstrua- tion is one of those, and is interpretable as a means of getting rid of the anabolic surplus in the absence of its consumption by the developing offspring, just as it is intelligible that the process should stop after fertiliza- tion when replaced by the demands of the practically parasitic fcetus. In the same way the occurrence of lactation after this internal parasitism has been termi- nated by birth is seen to be reasonable. The young mammal is thus enabled to become what is practically a temporary ecto-parasite upon the unfailing maternal anabolic surplus ; and when lactation finally ceases, we have the return of menstruation, from which the whole cycle may start anew. So in the widely different yet deeply similar world of flowers the distinctly anabolic overflow of nectar ceases at fertilization and the sur- plus of continual preponderant anabolism is drafted into the growing seed or fruit." In another chapter the whole subject of the anabol- ism of the female and the katabolism of the male will be considered in greater detail. Here it will be suffi- cient to admit the fundamental importance accorded the distinction by Geddes and Thompson. It has un- doubtedly been preserved by natural selection, for it is easy to see that those females endowed) with the larger store of anabolic surplus enjoy a decidedly bet- ter chance of preserving their offspring against the dangers of starvation ; hence, the function would tend to be perpetuated by heredity. This characteristic thus follows, even constitutes, the female sex. In no case can it be shown to originate that sex. It would A Review of Theoeies of Sex Detebmination 85 seem that in the reasons usually given for a nutritional determination of sex an effect has been mistaken for a cause. That a state of anabolic surplus is character- istic of the germ cells of the female of many species may be quite true; but that an anabolic surplus con- ferred upon the germ cell or developing organism from without is the cause of the female sex should be seri- ously questioned. That the female sex in all proba- bility originates in the anabolic phase of the cell cycle an attempt will be made to show, but that this sex originates because of an actual increase in the nutri- tion of the cell, or that it can be determined by in- creasing the nutrition of the maternal organism or cell itself, unless some more convincing evidence than that yet produced is forthcoming, must be doubted. Equality of the Sexes in Numbers There is another objection which may be urged against those hypotheses of a nutritional determination of sex. If sex is determined by the state of nutrition in the parent organism, there is no adequate provision for a maintenance of a general equality in numbers between the sexes. This equality has been noted and commented upon by very many observers, but none have ever, so far as is known, adequately explained this phenomenon. The controlling principle has gen- erally been looked upon as so obscure that this mani- festation of a constant tendency toward an equality in numbers between the sexes has been frequently spoken of as "mysterious." Writers on this problem of the determination of sex have usually depended largely upon statistics showing the proportion of male and female births, with differ- ent classes or races, or in different districts during ^certain periods of time. From these they have drawn 86 Sex: Its Origin and Detebmination conclusions usually favoring their own hypothesis. It should be unnecessary to call attention to the unrelia- bility of this method, unless it is carried out with more thoroughness and followed up through a longer period of time than, as far as we are aware of, has ever been hitherto attempted. The statistical method here is subject to the same objection that may be urged against it as applied to any other problem. That is, it must be more or less limited to certain districts or countries and to certain periods of time. We know there are some problems to which, from their very nature, it may be applied even in a limited degree without feeling that it may be instrumental in leading us astray, but this question of the predominance of male or female births is not one of them. It is, indeed, doubtful if for every set of tables from a country showing a pre- dominance of a certain sex, another series from another country showing a predominance of births of the op- posite sex might not be advanced to offset them. Sta- tistics have been brought forward to support the most widely divergent theories, some requiring a predomi- nance of births of the male sex and others demanding a predominance of female births for their support. While a minority may dispute this question, the belief that there is a continual tendency toward the mainte- nance of an equality in numbers between the sexes is prevalent not only among biologists and sociologists, but among mankind in general. It may be considered as almost self-evident that there is something which maintains the balance, for if there were any definite factor (such as nutrition) creating a tendency in one sex to predominate, it is extremely doubtful if, acting over extended periods of time, or being augmented or diminished under certain conditions, its existence would not have been recognized long ere this. Darwin held A Review op Theobies of Sex DETEBMii»iii t.inTi fnr thp AHvH.Tlp PTnont. nf SpipTIpp N. Y. 1906. CHAPTER V Twin Births and Theib Relation to the Peoblem of THE Determination op Sex The Sex of Twins and Triplets. — Homologous and Heterogenous Twins. — Superfcetation. — Origin of Twins. — Conjoined Twins, Their Similarity of Sex and Dissimilarity in other Characters. — Simultaneous Fertilization their one Factor in Common. — Conclusion. Some years ago, when discussing the subject of the determination of sex with a well-known surgeon and gynecologist, and while advocating the view that sex was determined not by any material factors, but by the time of fertilization, he interrupted the argument with the question: "How about twins?" The point was well taken, and at that time a satisfactory reply to his question was not at hand. However, on giving the matter some thought it was concluded that this consti- tutes no real objection to this theory, and that when the question of twins and their development is studied, it will be seen that the phenomenon really supports the main contention of this volume. Two children subjects of the same gestation, born of the same mother and at the same parturition consti- tute twins. It can scarcely be supposed that, the other conditions being the same, their births being separated by a short interval, would remove them from this cate- gory. Twins may be of the same sex or different sexes. In the same way with triplets; they may all be of the same sex or one may be of one sex, and the other two of the opposite sex. Twins are of two sorts, and the distinction is an im- portant one, although it is made by very few physi- Twin Bieths 97 cians. First, there are ordinary twins or simply the products of a double birth, and then there is the sec- ondary class, known as homogenous or homologous twins. The important distinction between these two classes lies in the fact that while the two children in the first class, or ordinary twins, may or may not be of the same sex, the sex of those in the second class, or homologous twins, must always be identical. The distinction is due to the fact that twins of the first class arise from two separately fertilized eggs, while twins of the second class are products of the same egg or ovum. It will readily be seen that if the sex of the embryo depends upon any physical or mental state of the mother, twins of opposite sexes would be an impossi- bility. This fact, therefore, serves as an important check upon many theories of sex determination. Stark- weather remarked that he was able to judge of the value of a theory of sex determination by the manner in which it explained or failed to explain the general equality in numbers which nature seems to maintain between the sexes. It would seem in the same manner that the simple fact of twin births likewise should serve to eliminate many theories of sex determination, for of all twin births about thirty per cent, are of chil- dren of the opposite sex. Ordinary or dissimilar twins are simply the prod- ucts of two conceptions ; it being obvious that there is no bar to a second conception following the first, pro- vided the second follow at a date early enough to per- mit the already occupied uterus to take care of the second. Perhaps, except in rare cases, the extreme period at which this may happen is one month; and even with this difference between the ages of the ma- turing embryos it is possible for them to be born as 98 Sex: Its Obigin and Deteemination two healthy or at least viable children. It is rare, in- deed, where dissimilar twins are born to find them equal in size or vigor, and not infrequently one suc- cumbs while the other survives. Superfeetation Dissimilar or heterogenous twins may not only be a result of two conceptions, but cases have been re- corded in which they have had different fathers. This probably occurs in many instances where the fact would be difficult or impossible to demonstrate ; but in cases where one of the twins constitutes the product of a union between individuals of two distinct races, such as the white and the black, there can be no question but that one is the child of one father and the other of another. There have been many cases recorded of negresses who have borne twins, one being black and one being mulatto, as the result of intercourse with their black husband or lover, followed in a few hours or days by the same indulgence with a white man. Gould and Pyle^ detail cases reported by Parsons, New- lin, Archer and Delmas. Other instances may be found in medical literature. All cases of twins conceived at different times are considered examples of superfcetation, but all cases of superfoetation do not constitute twins strictly speak- ing, for cases have been recorded of the birth of a fully developed second child some three or four months after the delivery of the first. Harvey, also quoted by Gould and Pyle, reports a case of a girl who gave birth to one child in September and another in Decem- ber of the same year. It is very probable that in the majority of instances of dissimilar twins conception has taken place at an interval of days or even weeks apart, and that the births are close together only be- Twin Bibths 99 cause the uterine contractions excited by the one hav- ing reached full term expels the younger, and because the two placentae having, as is usually the case, anasto- mosed the dislodgment of one from the uterine wall is necessarily followed by the freeing of the other. When there is too great a disparity between the ages of the twins the one less developed usually succumbs, but, of course, may survive if development has not proceeded for a period of time very much less than eight months. Same Egg, Same Seat Jehring'^ first called attention to the fact that organ- isms springing from the same egg are always of the same sex. He was led to this view by finding in an armadillo eight embryos all of the same sex enclosed within a single chorion. P. MarchaP verified this dis- covery in a parasitic hymenoptera, where he found a chain of individuals all of the same sex springing from a single egg.* Jacques Loeb has testified to the same fact." He says : ' ' There is one condition under which twins have invariably the same sex, and that is when they come from the same egg. . . . From one egg twins can arise, namely, when the contents of the egg are cut in two during the early periods of development, e. g., when the first two cleavage spheres become sepa- rated from each other. In the case of mammalian or human twins we possess a criterion for the fact whether they come from one or two eggs, in the condi- tion of the egg membranes. Twins coming from differ- ent eggs have, as a rule, separate chorions. This fol- lows from the development of the chorion. In all cases where twins have a common chorion they also have identical sex. This indicates that the sex of the em- bryos was determined before the germ was split into 100 Sex: Its Oeigin and Deteemination two parts, and as this must occur in the earliest stage of development it follows that the sex of the embryo is definitely determined very early." Edgar'' has well summed up the matter particularly as to the arrangement of the membranes of the em- bryos. He says: "Twins may be derived from one ovum from each ovary, from two ova from one ovary, or from a double ovum both neuclei being fertilized, or from a division which takes place in the blastoderm giving rise usually to conjoined twins." He further remarks that twins originating from a single ovum are always of the same sex, and thus describes the arrange- ment of the membranes: "The decidua vera is in- variably single, the decidua reflexa is double when the ovum is attached to parts of the uterine wall widely separated. The chorion, since it takes its origin from the zona pellucida, is invariably single, where the twins are derived from two nuclei within a single ovum, but double when they originate from separate ova. Orig- inally the amnion is always double, for it is derived from the embryo ; although before delivery there may be an absorption of the septum between the products of conception. Primarily the placenta is double, for each foetus produces its own allantois and the placental region resulting therefrom. In the case of twins re- sulting from different ova the placentae may remain separate, but fusion generally occurs. There is, al- most without exception, an anastomosis of the vessels of the placentae of twins from a single ovum, hence if there are two distinct ova there may be expected two sets of membranes, while in the case of one ovum there will be a double amnion with a single chorion and pla- centa. In a very rare number of cases only one am- nion has been found, but the partition between the two has probably been absorbed." Twin Bieths 101 The Placenta Notwithstanding this conception has been placed upon such a substantial foundation of fact, there seem to be many physicians who are inclined to doubt it, at least to the extent of holding that twins of different sexes can be attached to but one placenta, although the very nature itself of the development of the em- bryo and its membranes precludes any such idea. In the course of a series of controversial letters pub- lished a few years ago in the Medical World a number of physicians cited their personal experiences as dem- onstrating the possibility of twins of dissimilar sex possessing but one placenta. I pointed out that in all probability had a closer examination been made dis- tinct evidences of a fusion of the two separate placentae would have been observed. One case was related in which the attending physician, in my absence at a twin birth, stated positively to me the following morning that although the children were of opposite sex there was no evidence whatever of more than one placenta. Fortunately, it was not then too late for verification, and at considerable trouble the placenta was procured and a distinct line of demarcation between two pla- centae, fused, perhaps, at some early stage of develop- ment, was pointed out. I have attended a very con- siderable number of twin births, but have never yet discovered an exception to this rule. True, similar, homologous, or homogenous timns are always of the same sex nourished through one placenta, enveloped in one chorion; while on the other hand, dissimilar twins of the same sex or twins of different sexes are always enveloped in separate chorions and nourished through two distinct, if not always separate, placenta, True twins, while always of similar sex, may and frequently are very much alike in other ways (although 102 Sex: Its Origin and Determination that they may be dissimilar in mental and physical characteristics and yet have sprung from the same egg I intend to show later), it being not infrequently neces- sary for mothers themselves to improvise marks of distinction between the two. Frequently also between them there seems, to exist an almost preternatural sym- pathy, it having been noted that when one falls ill the other is apt to be similarly affected, and temperamental changes may appear simultaneously, even though they be widely separated. The Origin of Twins We will now study briefly the origin of homogenous or similar twins. It was formerly supposed that where two individuals arose from the same egg or ovum the phenomenon was the result of either a fertilization of the egg by two spermatozoa or some peculiarity of structure, such as a doubling or duplication of parts within the nucleus itself. Hence, when this anomolous or double Qgg was fertilized, development commenced and proceeded in the two parts, resulting in two indi- viduals. The first of these theories, i.e., that true twins are the result of the fertilization by the ovum of two spermatozoa, was early given up, for it was frequently shown by actual observation that for some reason or other and without exception the female germ cell can be fertilized by but one spermatozoon. The process of fertilization has been watched from that stage characterized by the change within the cell known as the "maturition of the ovum" (evidently designed to prepare it for fertilization), through fertilization and the development of the resultant organism, in a great many widely divergent species of animals, and no exception to this rule has ever been observed. It is usually the ease that an ovum is surrounded and Twin Births 103 attacked by more than one spermatozoon, but as soon as one succeeds in forcing its way through the limiting membrane the others quickly give up the struggle, at least as far as that particular ovum is concerned. It is thus manifestly impossible that an ovum, one divi- sion of which has been fertilized by one spermatozoon, should have the other division (if the possibility of a second division is admitted) fertilized by another sper- matozoon happening to come in contact with the ovum at a later period. Weismann'', in no uncertain tone, states that in no group known has an example of polyspermia or the fertilization of the ovum by more than one sperma- tozoon been noted. Loeb^ has added the weight of his evidence to the belief now generally held that the ovum can be fertilized by but one spermatozoon. He says that "as a rule only one spermatozoon enters the egg; as soon as this has entered no further spermatozoon can enter." This is also true for fragments of an egg. First 0. and then R. Hertwig, and later Boveri, Delage and many other authors showed that a piece of unfer- tilized egg can be fertilized by a spermatozoon, while Jausseno has recently observed that if a piece of proto- plasm be cut off from a fertilized egg this can no longer be fertilized. It is not impossible that the entrance of a spermatozoon alters the surface tension of the proto- plasm of the egg, making it thus impossible for another spermatozoon to enter. One Ovum, One Spermatozoon Wilson,^ it is only fair to state, does not hold this view as unqualifiedly as do Jacques Loeb and Weis- mann. He says that the entrance of mote than one spermatozoon can take place in certain groups of animals, such as the reptiles, earthworms, etc. In the 104 Sex: Its Origin and Detebmination sea urchin he has observed that when more than one spermatozoon enters, the egg development is limited to an early stage and is never complete. But in cases where several spermatozoa normally enter the egg (physiological polyspermy) he calls attention to the fact that only one of the sperm nuclei normally unites with the egg nucleus, the supernumerary ones usually degenerating. We may thus conclude that in the higher animals at least there is no evidence whatever to the effect that an ovum can ever he normally fertilized by more than one sperm. Hence, we cannot look for the origin of twins in any such manner as this, and as a necessary consequence it must be admitted that similar or true twins, since they originate in the same egg, were fer- tilized simultaneously. Twins are undoubtedly the result of a complete split- ting from some cause or another of the cleavage sphere of the developing embryo, hence they always originate after and not before or during fertilization. Delage' has found that after cutting the fertilized eggs of the starfish and jellyfish each part possessed the power of developing into a perfect whole. If it happens, how- ever, that the cleavage of the cell mass is not complete yet development of the embryo proceeds, we may ex- pect the living organism at birth to present certain deformities possessing possibilities of so great a varia- tion that their study and classification comprises a whole department of medicine, that of the Teratology or the Science of Monstrosities. If it is supposed, for instance, that the developing cell mass, subject to some accidental traumatism, in- stead of being split wholly into two parts, and as a con- sequence developing into two normal individuals, or twins, received the minimum amount of injury capable Twin Bieths 105 of showing any effect whatever, such as a small nick or indentation at some point in the circumference of the cell mass, in the individual at birth a small deformity only would be the result, such as a duplication of one of the fingers or toes. Such deformities are not un- common, and constitute what is known as polydactyl- ism. The duplication, however, is not confined to the fingers and toes, but may affect any part of the body, depending upon the position of the arrested line of cleavage in the original embryonic cell mass. A hand, an arm, a leg, an ear, an eye, the genital organs or even the head may be duplicated. One point should be remembered ; the distinguishing charcteristic is duplication of some part or another due to a greater or less early cleavage. It may be well enough here to remark that while this cleavage has been stated to be dependent upon some mechani- cal injury of the embryo this need not be considered the sole cause. That it may be one cause has well been demonstrated experimentally with the lower forms of life, but that there may be other factors involved can- not be doubted, for it has been noted by many students of heredity that the results of both the slightest degree of cleavage, as well as complete cleavage resulting in the first instance in a mere duplication of a finger or some other minor part, and in the second instance in a complete duplication of the individual {i.e., true twins), may be manifested as an hereditary trait. A tendency to bear twins has been noted in many women, and this quality has been transmitted to their female offspring, while, on the other hand, polydactylism has frequently been observed in several generations of the same family. We must, therefore, regard the cause of the cleavage as obscure in many cases ; but that the condition is a result of cleavage cannot be doubted. 106 Sex: Its Oeigin and DBTEBMiiirATioiT When division of the cell mass is almost but not quite complete, the result is frequently two individuals joined at some part of the body and constituting con- joined twins. The most familiar instance of this type of anomaly is the Siamese Twins, who have been so frequently described and written about. There have been, however, a number of similar cases described in medical literature; but few of these individuals have lived as long or acquired the fame enjoyed by these brothers. Their case will be studied in greater detail in an appropriate place. At present it is necessary to point out one feature which all conjoined twins possess in common, and that is like parts and never unlike parts are joined. An arm is never attached to a leg or the pelvis to the thorax, but the pelvis of one is attached to the pelvis of the other, or the thoraxes are connected, as was the case with the Siamese Twins. In the investigation of the origin of these anomalies this curious fact gave rise to a theory first expressed by Geoffrey St. Hilaire, frequently spoken of as the Verwachsungstheorie. Hilaire held that all conjoined twins arose from a single ovum, but from the fertiliza- tion of two distinct embryonic traces within this ovum, and that in the process of development a fusion be- tween the two developing organisms took place. This fusion proceeded because of a certain affinity between like parts of the developing embryos. This theory con- stituted the first attempt at an explanation of the phenomenon of conjoined twins. It was upheld by Schultse and in a qualified form by Dareste. Fusion versus Fission The hypothesis of St. Hilaire soon gave way to what was termed the fission or Spaltungstheorie. This view was first expressed by Ahfeld, who held that the em- Twin Births 107 bryonic mass is cleft by some special pressure from without; hence, by variations in the degree of this cleavage all variations of separation from a cleft finger or toe to complete or normal twins are possible. Bauber accepted Ahf eld's explanation with some modifications, he believing that there existed an hereditary predispo- sition to cleavage in the egg prior to its fertilization. This view was supported by Gerlach, who, while watch- ing the development of a chick in an egg some sixteen hours after the first evidence of development was visible and without exerting any external pressure, ob- served a division of the cell mass and a subsequent development of a head at the termination of each di- vision. The modern ideas on the subject may be said to be a combination of the theories of Ahfeld and Rauber. Laboratory experiments with completely and partially divided eggs go to show that a mechanically produced cleft or division can give rise to anomalies of duplication, while the evidence of heredity, as has been noted, implies a possibility of a tendency toward such divisions being latent in the egg. There can be no doubt but that homogenous twins are always of the same sex, but the question of their possessing other qualities in common naturally arises. If it is found that such is invariably the case we are not justified in attributing any special significance to their similarity in sex, for it might be supposed that subject to the same egg environment and fertilized by the same sperm cell they would be similar in this as in other qualities. The fact that they are frequently very similar in qualities of physique and temperament has been alluded to — ^but are there no exceptions to this rule? At the very beginning of this inquiry we are eon- fronted with a serious difficulty, due to the dearth of 108 Sex: Its Oeigin" and Determination o'bservations. Every one knows that some twins great- ly resemble one another, while others look no more alike than we would expect to find any two children of the same parents ; yet not very many physicians, unless they have paid particular attention to teratology, em- bryology or obstetrics, are ever acquainted with the distinction between these classes of children; while a still fewer number would think of noting when attend- ing a twin birth the condition of the membranes, the placentae and the degree of resemblance. Yet if this were done, considerable light might be thrown upon a still obscure phenomenon of heredity. It is hoped, how- ever, in this chapter to call attention to the impor- tant bearing this double development within the ovum has upon the question of the determination of sex. After birth has taken place there can be no certainty that two children born at the same parturition are homologous twins. If they look very much alike, it is generally supposed that they are. Some authorities seem to be of the opinion that this is necessarily the case. If they are of the same sex, it is more likely than not that they spring from the same ovum, yet it is possible that they originated in separate ova chanc- ing to be fertilized at about the same time. We, there- fore, can be absolutely certain that two children have sprung from the same ovum only in one class of cases, and that is where we find them joined together. This being true, there can be no question but that they have developed in the same egg, for any other explanation of their origin involves the assumption of an anatomic impossibility. Since then we can be certain that we are concerning ourselves with true twins, only when we consider conjoined twins we will study briefly this class of terata, or anomalies. Twin Bieths 109 The Evidence from Conjoined Twins Conjoined twins are two children joined at birth to a greater or less degree. That is to say, they may be united by a simple band of tissue (perhaps only the skin and underlying structure), or they may be so com- pletely fused together that from the waist down they possess but one body in common. This gives a broader meaning to the word than it generally possesses; but as we are not here concerned with the anatomic char- acter of the connection between the two individuals so much as with the fact of the connection itself, the reader will not be burdened with the rather ponderous teratological nomenclature. As with the ordinary "similar" twins, the sex of conjoined twins is always the same. Gould and Pyle^ cite only anomalies of duplication that have been born alive and lived some time after birth. They have di- vided all the cases commented upon into twelve classes. Of these, five classes can properly be considered, for our present purpose, as conjoined twins. They are: Children united by a connecting band. Two distinct children united by an osseous junction of the cranial bones. Two distinct children united and having one or more parts eliminated by the junction. Fusion of two children by a bony union of the ischius. Fusion of two children below the ischius into a com- mon lower extremity. They describe in all about thirty-five such cases. In no instance were they of opposite sex. George Jack- son Fischer^" says with an unmistakable tone of con- viction : ' ' For the past quarter of a century the writer has taken pains carefully to examine several hundred specimens of human double monsters, and even larger 110 Sex: Its Obigin and Deteemih-ation numbers among the lower animals, which are to be found in the pathological museums in the principal cities of the United States, and he is able to state that he has never seen an exception to this law. The litera- ture of teratology contains reports and references to no less than five hundred cases of human double mon- sters and also great numbers belonging to the beasts and birds, and there is not a single modern instance in which the male and female organs are found to co-exist. It is safe to say that duality of sex will never be seen in a double monster. Hirst and PiersoV^ have taken pains to confirm this observation. The Remarkable Dissimilarity in Conjoined Twins A similarity of sex is not, however, the most re- markable fact to be elicited in the study of these twins. In ordinary homologous twins a considerable and not infrequently striking resemblance between them can be noted. This has given rise to the popular idea that they always look very much alike ; but that such is not always the case, as is proved by the study of conjoined twins, which are only a special class of homologous twins and, except for the physical connec- tion, differ in no essential respect from the latter. Per- haps the best known and most carefully studied anom- aly of this sort were the previously mentioned famous Siamese Twins. These brothers were born in Siam in 1811, and were first seen by a white man in 1824. They were exhibited in many different countries and examined by physicians of prominence in the United States and elsewhere. The first scientific description of them was given by Professor Warren, of Harvard University. For some time the possibility of separat- ing them by means of an operation was discussed in different medical journals, but it was never attempted. Twin Bibths 111 They finally settled in North Carolina, married sepa- rate wives, and each became the father of a number of children. They died within a few minutes of each other in 1874, at the age of sixty-three. One (Eng) was of a very delicate constitution, while the other (Chang) was strong and healthy. Their photographs show a considerable difference in facial features, and one was one-half inch taller than the other. On the other hand, they were said to have been temperamental- ly very similar, although one toward the end of their lives developed a taste for liquor, which the other es- caped. At Szony, in Hungary, in 1701, were born two sisters, christened Helen and Judith, They were joined at the lumbar region, thus existing throughout their lives at- tached back to back. They created in the eighteenth century almost as much discussion as did the Siamese twins in the nineteenth. They suffered from small-pox and measles, being affected simultaneously but to a different degree. Gould and Pyle observe that there was between them a considerable difference in strength, intelligence and temperament. ' ' Helen was larger, bet- ter looking, more active and intelligent, while Judith at the age of six became hemiplegic and afterward was rather delicate and depressed. . . . The emotions, inclinations and appetites were not simultaneous." They died at the age of twenty-two. Millie-Christine were negro children born of slave parents in Columbus County, North Carolina, July 11, 1851. (Died October, 1912.) Similarly to the preced- ing case they were joined back to back. Not enough is known of them to warrant the belief that there were any striking physical or mental differences between them. In an analogous case, however, Eosa-Josepha Blazek, born in Bohemia in 1878, one or two marked 112 Sex: Its Origin and Deteemination differences of taste were recorded. These twins pos- sessed a common pelvis and pelvic organs, otherwise they were of distinct and pleasing appearance. A photograph of them shows some considerable differ- ence in height and features. Gould and Pyle further observe that many of their appetities were different, one preferring beer and the other wine, one relishing salad, the other detesting it, etc. Bateman and Bueff describe twins similar to the above united at the back and born in 1552, in which a remarkable difference of temperament drew the attention of the observers, one twin being of a cheerful and the other of a melancholy disposition. Montgomery's case was born in County Rosscom- mon, Ireland, in 1827. These twins were united at the pelvis, but not back to back, rather lying in a straight line end to end. The most important fact in connection with their appearance was that one was a decided blond and the other a brunette. GoodeW^ described the case of Minna and Minnie Finley. They, similarly to the foregoing case, were fused together along a common axis, having but one pelvis. Goodell says that one was extremely delicate, while the other was strong and healthy. Perhaps the most remarkable case yet was that re- ported by Dr. Huff.^^ The Jones twins were born in Indiana, in June, 1889. The spinal columns were joined at the lower end. Their photograph shows their bodies joined at the umbilicus, of which there is but one, and lying longitudinally, with scarcely a depres- sion at the point of juncture. These remarkable chil- dren died when scarcely two years old. They differed in facial features, in complexion and in the color of the eyes and hair. Gould and Pyle state that Eitta-Christina, born at Twin Bibths 113 Sassari in Sardinia, March 23, 1829, were joined a little below the mammae, while below this point they had a common trunk and single lower extremities. The right one, they say, who was christened Eitta, was feeble and of a sad and melancholy countenance; the left, Christine, was vigorous and of a gay and happy disposition. Giovanna Batista Tocci and Giocomo Tocci were bom in Turin, Italy, in 1877. They have been well described by Harris.^'' They had separate heads and arms and each possessed a perfect thorax down to the sixth rib. Below this point they possessed but one body in com- mon. These boys do not resemble each other very greatly in conformation of the head and in facial fea- tures, while there is said to be quite a pronounced con- trast between the two in temperament, mind and char- acter. One also is more vigorous than the other. Harris in his discussion of them takes pains to point out that such twins are rarely on a physical equality. He further says that "United twins rarely hear a strong likeness to each other, and in this respect are quite in contrast to normal twins and triplets of the same sex. ... As a rule, they are unlike in physical conformation, in measure of health and strength, in taste, and in mental characteristics." We are now confronted with an interesting series of facts, which carefully considered should throw not a little light upon the obscure problem of sex determina- tion. Since offspring of the same parent, born at the same parturition and conceived very close together in point of time, are frequently of opposite sex, we know that sex is determined at a very early stage in the life of the embryo. This single fact eliminates for us some ninety-nine out of every hundred theories of sex de- 114 Sex: Its Origin and Detebmination termination. Therefore, all theories which attempt to produce or control sex after conception has taken place may be disregarded. Furthermore, it has been shown by Weisman/n and others that temporary variations or acquired characteristics in the parents cannot effect any change in the germ-plasm. Hence, we may dismiss as worthless all theories of sex determination which look for some somatic change in the parents prior to the fertilization of the ovum or conception as exercis- ing some influence upon the sex of the organism about to develop. In other words, we can no longer consider any theory of the control of sex which depends upon altering the physical condition of one or both of the parents either at any time before impregnation or dur- ing gestation. Again, to repeat a former statement in slightly different form: in no ovum which nor- mally undergoes fertilization has sex been determined prior to fertilization, while, on the other hand, embryologists have traced the existence of sex-differ- entiation in the embryo back to almost the time of fertilization. Conclusions from the Btudy of Twrns We are, therefore, prepared for the first generaliza- tion : sex is determined at or near the time of fertilisa- tion of the ovum by the spermatozoon. Shultze as long ago as 1854 showed that, irrespective of the number of individuals, there could arise from the Qgg but one sex. Any egg whether single or double can be fertilized by but one spermatozoon, and therefore can be fertil- ized but once. Conjoined twins of whose origin from the same egg there can be no doubt are, as we have seen, always of the same sex. But sometimes, notwith- Twin Births 115 standing the fact that these twins are always of the same sex, they may differ in other characteristics. Sex must, therefore, be placed in a distinctly different cate- gory from other characters and cannot be explained in ordinary terms or heredity. To group the results of our inquiry : It is possible to have a double ovum, capable of but one impregnation by but one spermatozoon, fertilized with a resultant de- velopment of two individuals which, originating within the same egg, fertilized at the same time, may differ in other characteristics, but are always and necessarily of the same sex. Now, it is in order to ask ourselves this question: What have conjoined twins, such as the Jones chil- dren before referred to, in common? Considering them as developed individuals, since they may differ in form, vitality, constitution, disposition, and even in the color of their hair and eyes, the answer is obvious, that they need have necessarily but one character in common, and that is sex. Next, with reference to their origin, let us again ask ourselves what such twins have in common. Three facts are plain and insistent : they must have come from one and the same ovum ; and, as it has been shown one ovum can be fertilized but once, they must have been the product of one fertilization by but one and the same spermatozoon; and hence as a corollary of the above they must have been the product of a simultaneous fer- tilization. Similarity of sex of such children must be dependent upon one of three primitive conditions or factors. It must be dependent upon the fact that they have originated from the same ovum, or upon the fact that they possessed, as primarily developing organisms, the same parent spermatozoon, or upon the fact that they were conceived simultaneously. But, as will be 116 Sex: Its Origin and Deteemination shown conclusively in the following chapter, a definite sex cannot be attributed to the ovum but only to the embryo. The ovum is never permanently of either sex, but truly doubled sexed or hermaphroditic; hence it cannot be claimed that their origin in the same ovum is the primary reason for their sameness of sex without falling back upon the supposition that the ova are of a definite male or female sex, which view, because it conflicts with known facts of heredity, has long been given up by biologists. The possible claim that their origin from the fertil- ization of one spermatozoon accounts for their sexual identity must meet the generally accepted view that the spermatozoon has no power to confer sex. This view is entirely justified by the frequently demonstrated phe- nomenon in certain species, of parthenogenic or unfer- tilized eggs developing into both male and female in- dividuals. With this the spermatozoon as such may be eliminated from the equation. There now remains but one other element to be con- sidered. Since such twins originate from but a single egg (whether that egg might have shown a double primitive trace or a partial cleft makes no particular difference here), and since a single egg can enjoy but one fertilization, they must have originated through a simultaneous fertilization, and the only thing they pos- sess in common besides sex, which cannot as a factor in sex determination be eliminated, is the time of fertil- ization. The principal factor, then, in the determination of sex is the time of fertilization. This chain of argument was, in practically this same form, set forth by me in the Medical Times of Septem- ber, 1906, to January, 1907, and since then I have en- countered no facts or objections which have seemed to me to weaken it in any particular. Twin Births 117 references iGouLD and Pyle. — ^Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine. 2JEHRING. — Ueber GenerationswechBel bei Saugethieren. Arch. f. Anat. und Phys. 1886. sMarchal, p. — Eeehgrches sur la biologie et le developpement des hymenoptfires parasites. Arch. Zool. Exp. et Gen. 14th Ser. 11. 1904. iMoBGAN, Thos. Hdnt. — Experimental Zoology. 1907. bLoeb, Jacques. — The Dynamics of Living Matter. 6EDQAR. — Practice of Obstetrics. 'Wbismann. — The Evolution Theory. Vol. 1, page 298. sWiLSON. — The Cell in Development and Inheritance. sDelange. — ^Archiv. de zool. experimentale. Vol. 7, pages 388-5. loFisHER, Geoeqb Jackson. — Teratology. 1889. "Hirst and Piersol. — Human Monstrosities. 1891. 12G00DELL. — Medical Times, Philadelphia, 1870. 13HUFP. — American Jour, of Obstetrics. Vol. XXII. i^Harris. — ^Amer. Jour, of Obstetrics. 1882. CHAPTEE VI The Complete Hebmaphboditism of the Ovxtm Primitive Methods of Reproduction. — The Evolution of Sex. — Hermaphroditism a Stage in the Evolution of Sex. — ^Alter- nating Hermaphroditism. — Inheritance of Secondary Sex Characters. — Assumption of Secondary Sex Characters of Opposite Sex. — Sex in the Psychic Sphere. — ^The Evidence of Psychopathology. The belief that the ovum is not primarily male or fe- male, but that it contains the determinants of both sexes and is equally capable of development at some period of its existence in one direction or another has long been held. Lately the idea that the spermatozoon also contains the determinants of both sexes has also been expressed. A very great many of the. phenomena of heredity have been cited in support of this belief, some of which will be referred to later. It is impossible to explain many facts on any other basis. It is supposed by all those who have abandoned a be- lief in the theory of a distinctively "male" and "fe- male" ovum, so ably defended by Beard and others, that the ovum is primarily in a state of delicate equi- librium, and that at an early period of its history some influence operates to turn the scale for male or female, as the case may be. It is the nature of this influence which determines the sex, upon which so many have agreed to disagree. It cannot be doubted that both sexes are potentially existent in both the male and female germ cell. But few biologists can now be found who uphold the idea of two forms of ova corresponding to the two sexes, and furthermore the somewhat similar thesis that in the egg are two separate and distinct forms of male and female matter is also being abandoned. 118 The Complete Hebmaphboditism of the Ovum 119 The question of the nature of the influence which op- erates to initiate the development of the fertilized cell in a definite sexual direction constitutes the parting of the way for many investigators. This phase of the problem will be discussed later, but at present it is nec- essary to prepare the way for the following proposi- tions by a review of a few of the facts which have led to a belief in the fundamental unity of sex. Methods of Reproduction In general, reproduction is brought about by the union of two distinct elements. But the fact must be recognized that with very many forms of animal and plant life there is no obvious differentiation of the sexes whatever, and hence no sexual reproduction. With these multiplication is accomplished in a variety of ways, the simplest of which is the direct cell division, so well exemplified in the amoeba and other unicellular forms. This is a cleavage of the nucleus followed by a division and separation of the protoplasm. Or again, where there is a beginning of functional specialization, certain cells of a multicellular organism, apparently differing in no way from their fellows, are set apart as reproductive cells, and when ripe are detached from the parent body. This we may speak of as budding or germination process. It is the common method of re- production with many polyps and infusorians. Next a sort of free or multiple bud formation, known as sponilation, as is the method of reproduction with the arceUa, constitutes another step. Then with some forms there is a specialization of certain cells which, by over-development, resemble true ova ; but no fertil- ization is necessary to their development. Here sexual repr oduction is more clearly app roached. 120 Sex: Its Oeigin and Detebmination" Between these types and the volvox there is another transition form of reproduction — namely, that of the rotifers, which lay eggs in summer capable of develop- ment without fertilization, but in winter fertilization is necessary to initiate the amphimixis. In the volvox both male and female cells may be de- veloped in the organism, certain cells developing fla- gellae while others come to resemble ova. These cells, even though springing from the same organism, are interf ertile, and on uniting a development of new indi- viduals is initiated. Eaeckel considers this auto-fertilization the simplest form of sexual reproduction among existing animals, and as found in the gastraeads, the lower sponges, and in the hydroid polyps, he thus describes the process in the haliphysema and plynthus: "The whole body is a simple intestinal pouch, which is only essentially dis- tinguished from the gastrula by the fact that it is adherent at the end opposite the mouth. The thin layer of the pouch consists only of two primary germ layers. As soon as it is sexually mature, single cells of the wall become female egg cells, others become male sperm cells or seed cells, the former growing large, as they form a considerable number of yolk granules in their proto- plasm, and the latter, on the contrary, by continued di- vision become very small and modify into movable pin-shaped spermatozoa. Both kind of cells sever themselves from their birthplace, the primary germ layers, and fall either into the surrounding water or into the intestinal cavity and there unite by amalgama- tion.'" Following these forms there should be included a great number of species, in which the phenomenon of parthenogenesis, or alternating generations, is com- mon. Sexual or non-sexual reproduction takes place The Complete Heemapheoditism of the Ovum 121 apparently at will, as with bees or in ferns and many jelly-fish, in alternating generations. In the hydra, on the other hand, cells of both the ovnlary and spermatozoic type arise from the same in- dividual, but they are not generated at the same time, hut alternately. Still further along are species which possess two dif- ferent sets of sex organs, and ova and spermatozoa are generated alternately, as with oysters and clams. This constitutes true hermaphroditism. Eeproduction in its simplest form, as has been noted, is by simple fission or diversion. Sometimes the cells divide directly, or again they manifest an intermediate phase, known as karyokinesis. In some higher forms of life, where the cells are grouped or organized into a sort of animal form, it is not necessary for each in- dividual cell to divide when reproduction becomes nec- essary. A few only manifest greater growth and more rapid division, and as a result we note in some part of the organism a kind of cell processus or new growth, in brief, a bud. This soon splits off from the parent organism and becomes a free and complete individual. Here we observe the early beginning of germ cell spe- cialization. In other forms this bud formation is multiple, and we find what is frequently termed a free bud formation, spore, or endogenous form of reproduction. In the hydra, a transition form, particularly if the organism, is favorably conditioned, processes can sometimes be noted projecting from the body of the animal. These soon break off and the tiny offspring shift for them- selves. This method of reproduction occurs more fre- quently when these small water animals are plentifully supplied with food; if, however, food is not so abun- dant they frequently resort to the sexual method of re- 122 Sex: Its Obigen akd Detebmination production. When this occurs they give rise to both eggs and sperm. Both of these classes of the cells are fertile, but they are not interf ertile ; that is, the eggs must be fertilized by the sperm of some other individ- ual and the sperm must fertilize the eggs of another organism. Here we have an example of a true hermaph- roditism, i.e., a double sexed animal displaying the ability to produce both the male and the female primi- tive cells. Hermaphroditism thus constitutes but one link in the evolution of sex from a simple cell division, as noted in the protozoa up to the definite and distinct duality of sex, as noted in all the higher animals and man himself. Hermaphroditism a Stage in the Evolution of Sex Hermaphroditism is not, however, confined to the species taken as an example, but is found existing in a very great many of the lower forms of animal Ufe. It is very doubtful, however, if it has ever been ob- served in a true and complete form in the higher animals. Haeckel says that "Hermaphroditism is prevalent in the lower animals of the most different groups ; in these each different individual when sexually mature con- tains male and female cells, and is therefore capable of self-fertilization and self-reproduction. Thus not only in the lower plant animals (the gastrseads, chalk sponges and many hydroid polyps) do we find egg cells and sperm cells, but many worms (for example, the bascidians, earthworms and leeches), many snails (the common garden snail), and many vertebrate animals are also hermaphroditic. "All the early invertebrate ancestors of man from the gastrseads up to the chordoma must also have been hermaphroditic So probably were also the earliest The Complete Heemaphboditism: op the Ovum 123 skulled animals. One extremely weighty piece of evi- dence of this is afforded by the remarkable fact that even in vertebrates, in man as well as other vertebrates, the original rudiment of the sexual organs in hermaph- roditic. "The separation of the sexes (gonochorism), the as- signment of two kinds of sexual cells to different in- dividuals, originated from hermaphroditism only in the further course of tribal history." Self-fertilization while rare, yet still exists and il- lustrates another type of reproduction. By this is meant the fertilization of the ova by the sperms of the same individual, Thompson and Geddes ("Evolution of Sex") call attention to the fact that it not infre- quently occurs in several forms of the marine flat worm, the tremotodes, and with the cestodes, or tapeworm, the phenomenon is constant. They suggest that it may be one of the conditions of parasitic degeneracy, for in general self-fertilization is extremely rare. In a form of thread worm, the angiostonum, still an- other form of hermaphroditism has been studied. Here is an organism these authorities observe, which is anatomically a female, yet the reproductive organs start by producing spermatozoa which fertilize the sub- sequent ova. The animal is thus physiologically her- maphroditic and at the same time self -impregnating." Thompson and Geddes,^ who have studied in much detail the evolution of animal forms, from the non- sexual through the hermaphroditic to the sexual type, I will continue to follow, italicizing in places their words. In considering transition types between true hermaphroditic and unisexual forms they remark that, "Many sponges are only known in a unisexual state, while others are generally hermaphroditic. But among the latter it is not uncommon to find (e.g., sycandra 124 Sex: Its Origin and Determination raphanus) that the production of one set of elements preponderates over the other, and thus we have her- maphrodites with a distinctly male or female bias. In other words, they are verging toward unisexuality. It does happen, in fact {e.g., in oscarella lobularis), that a species normally hermaphrodite may exhibit uni- sexual forms. "It is possible, of course, that in such cases one set of sexual elements may have been wholly discharged or overlooked in observation, but there is no improbability against the supposition that a preponderance of favor- able nutritive conditions might induce a form normally hermaphroditic to become wholly female. This, as we have seen above, is what some believe takes place in the individual history of higher forms. " As a transi- tion type they mention the members of the coelente- rates, which are higher in having the production of sex cells more restricted to definite regions, tissues and organs or even "persons'"? "The highly active ceteno- phores, like beroe, are all hermaphrodite and that very closely. On one side of meridional branches of the ali- mentary canal ova arise, on the other side sperma- tozoa. Among sea-anemones and coral the hermaph- roditic condition appears in a number of cases, but it is sometimes obscured by the fact that the two kinds of elements are produced at different times correspond- ing to different physiological rhythms in the life of the organism. The corralium rubrum (the red coral of commerce) is peculiarly instructive. The whole colony may be unisexual, or only one branch of a colony, or only certain individuals on a branch, while genuine hermaphroditism of individual polyps may also occur. "Among hydrozoa (zoophytes, swimming bells, jelly fish) hermaphroditism is a rare exception, or we might almost say reversion. The common hydra, which is a The Complete Hbemapheoditism of the Ovum 125 somewhat degenerate type, is hermaphroditic, although at the same time individuals may be found with only ovaries or only testes. Elutheria is also hermaphro- ditic, and abortive ova occur in the male of gonothyrea loveni. Sometimes a colony is hermaphrodite, but the individuals unisexual (certain sertularians). Among jelly fish the genus chrysaora is known to be hermaph- rodite." As we follow the animal scale to the higher forms we find normal, adult hermaphroditism no longer oc- curring. Thompson and Geddes remark that "on the threshold of the vertebrate series it is found constantly only among the tunicata, and above these forms it has been observed only in two genera of fishes and in one genus of amphibians. A testis is constantly found im- bedded in the wall of the ovary in chrysophrys and serranum, and the last-named fish is said to be self- impregnating. In some species of toad {e.g., bufo cinerens) a somewhat rudimentary ovary is always present in front of the testes. All other cases among vertebrates are either casual or partial. "In many species which are normally unisexual a casual hermaphroditic form occasionally presents it- self. The embryonic equilibrium or bisexuality — one of the two must in a variable degree exist — ^is retained as an abnormality into adult life. Even as far up in the adult series as birds and mammals such casual and yet true hermaphrodities occur. In most cases at least the result is sterility. Among amphibians, which abound in reproductive peculiarities, hermaphroditism exceptionally occurs apart from one case where it is known to be constant. ' ' The common frog, so much dissected in our labora- tories, has supplied several "good illustrations. Thus Marshall notes that the testis may be associated with 126 Sex: Its Obigin and Deteemination genuine ovary, or an ovary may occur on one side and a testis with anterior ovarian portion on the other. Bourne gives a case of a frog with an ovary well de- veloped on the right side and opposite this an ovary replaced by a testis. One of *he toads (pelobates fuscus) seems to he frequently hermaphroditic, the male being furnished with rudimentary ovary in front of the testis. A similar hermaphroditism is not at all infrequent in cod, herring, mackerel and several other fishes. "As another form of the phenomenon a pseudo- or superficial hermaphroditism has been observed. Here the secondary sexual characters are at variance with the primary. In most of such cases one is safe in saying that there is no true internal hermaphroditism in any degree. Arrest of maturity or puberty secession of reproductive functions, removal or disease of the essential organs and the like may alter the secondary characters from female toward male or less frequently vice versa. "A female deer may develop a horn or a hen a spur, and in such cases the ovaries are generally found to be diseased. The prettiest cases of superficial hermaph- roditism occur among insects and especially among butterflies and moths where it happens that the wings on one side are those of male and on the other those of female. It has been shown by dissections that such superficial blending may exist along with internal uni- sexuality, or in a few cases with general internal her- maphroditism. A beautiful case of intimate blending of sex superficial characters have been described by W. de Van Kane, of Kingston. A specimen of butter- fly (encholoe enphenoides) showed the anterior half of the fore-wings and part of the hind-wings with the characteristic white ground of the female, while in The Complete Heemapheoditism of the Ovum 127 the posterior half of the fore-wings and on most of the •hind-wings the characteristic sulphur of the male. In other ways minor characteristics of the two sexes which are well marked were intimately blended. Similar cases are on record. ' ' Finally these authors clearly express their conclu- sions on the subject of hermaphroditism. They say: "There can be very little doubt that hermaphroditism was the primitive state among multicellular animals, at least after the differentiation of sex elements had been accomplished. In alternating rhythms, eggs and sperms were produced. The organism was alternately male and female. Of this primitive hermaphroditism there is probably more or less of a recapitulation in the life history of all animals. Gegenbauer states the com- mon opinion in the following cautious and terse words : 'The hermaphroditic stage is the lower, and the con- dition of distinct sexes has been derived from it.' Uni- sexual differentiation by the production of one kind of sexual apparatus takes place at very different stages in the development of the organism and often when the sexual organs have a very high degree of differen- tiation. The first structural stage in the separation would probably be the restriction of areas in which the formation of two kinds of cells still went on at different times in one organism. In different individ- uals the opposite tendencies, we have already spoken of, more and more predominated till unisexuality evolved out of hermaphroditism." The bisexual rhythm here hinted at is a clew that will be followed in another chapter. At present it will be appropriate to follow up in other fields facts that must place the thesis of the fundamental unity of the two sexes upon a substantial basis. While few distinctions are so obvious to the zoolo- 128 Sex: Its Oeigin and Deteemination" gist as that of sexual form and function in the animal kingdom it should be remembered that the likenesses are very much more numerous than the differences. In a few species it is true the sexes differ so greatly that at first the males and females were sometimes supposed to constitute widely divergent species, but these instances are not common. Leaving out of con- sideration the primary sex organs, such secondary sexual characters as the brilliant and gorgeous plum- age and the beautiful song notes possessed by many male birds in marked contrast to their absence in the female. The special markings that distinguish sex in butterflies, the shaggy mane of the lion, antlers of the stag and many other instances of the more magnificent vesture of the male can be shown to be due to natural or perhaps sexual selection, and hence in comparison with sex itself are of comparatively recent and super- ficial development. In all explanations of their origin their previous non-existence is assumed. On the other hand, with many species distinctly sexual, particular- ly in the lower forms of life, the sexes are so much alike both in the primary organs and general bodily structure that only the most painstaking examination serves to distinguish them. Cunningham, with reference to variation and the likeness between the sexes, says: "For my own part I am inclined to doubt whether there is any essential difference between the sexes with regard to variation. In vast numbers of species the individuals of opposite sexes are so much alike that it is difficult to distinguish them without examination of the generative organs. Examples of this fact among mammals are furnished by the mouse, cat, hyena, hare and many others. Among birds examples are abundant. Darwin found that there were six classes into which birds might be The Complete Hebmaphkoditism of the Ovtjm 129 divided according to the differences and similarities between the sexes. In two of these classes the male resembles the adult female, examples of which condi- tion are afforded by the robin, the kingfisher, parrots, crows, and rooks and the hedge-warbler. In fishes the sexes are more often alike than different, and among the lower animals special peculiarities in the male are by no means always present."* The remarkable analogies that exist between the pri- mary sexual organs of the two sexes in man have long been noted by anatomists and physiologists. Each pe- culiarity of one set has its counterpart in the other. This is commented upon in almost every text-book on gynecology or embryology, and in brief is a matter of such popular knowledge that it should be unnecessary to enter into the details of the resemblance here. Secondary Sex Characters Next it should be noted that the secondary sexual characters of one sex exist in a more or less rudimen- tary form in the opposite sex. They depend in some degree upon the presence or activity of the primary characters, as is demonstrated by their atrophy, de- generation or complete disappearance after castration or ovariotomy and also as a result of old age. Under these same conditions other manifestations of more importance, as far as the present discussion is concerned, may be observed. As a result of the destruction of the integrity of the primary sexual organs it is not unusual to meet along with a disappearance of the secondary sex characters of one sex, a simultaneous tendency toward the devel- opment of the secondary sex characters of the opposite sex. Darmn," in the course of a discussion of the 130 Sex: Its Okigin and Detebmination phenomena of latent characters, cites instances of the development of characters of the opposite sex in animals. He says: "The most obvious illustration of latent characters is afforded by secondary sexual characters. In every female all the secondary male characters, and in every male all the secondary female characters apparently exist in a latent state ready to be evolved under certain conditions. It is well known that a large number of female birds, such as fowls, ducks, various pheasants, partridges, pea-hens, etc., when old, diseased; or when operated upon assume many or all of the secondary male characters of their species. In the case of the pheasant hen this has been observed to occur more frequently during certain years than during others (Yarrell, Phil. Transact, 1827, p. 23). A duck ten years old has been known to assume both the winter and summer plumage of the drake (Archi. Skand. Beitrdge zur Naturgesch. VIII., 397- 413). ^^Waterton in his essays on natural history 1838 {Hewitt gives analogous cases with his hen pheasants in the Journal of Horticulture, July 12, 1864, p. 37, and Isidore Goffery St. Hilaire in his 'Essais de Zoolog. Gen. Suites a Buffonn,' 1842, pp. 496-513) has collected such cases in ten different kinds of birds. It appears that Aristotle was well aware of the change in the mental disposition of old hens. He gives a curious case of a hen which had ceased laying and assumed the voice, plumage, spurs and warlike disposition of the cock. When opposed to an enemy she would erect her hackles and show fight. Thus every character, even to the instinct and manner of fighting, must have lain dormant in this hen as long as her ovaries continued to act. The females of two kinds of deer when old have been known to acquire horns ; and, as Hunter has The Complete Hebmapheoditism op the Ovum 131 remarked, we see something of an analogous nature in the human species. "On the other hand, with male animals it is notori- ous that the secondary sexual characters are more or less completely lost when they are subjected to castra- tion. Thus if the operation be performed on a young cock, he never, as Yarrell states, crows again. The comb, wattles, and spurs do not grow again to their full size, and the hackles assume an intermediate ap- pearance between true hackles and the feathers of the ihen. Cases are recorded of confinement which often affects the reproductive system, giving analogous re- sults. But characters properly confined to the female are likewise acquired by the male. The capon takes to sitting upon eggs, and will bring up chickens, and what is more curious the absolutely sterile male hy- brids from the pheasant and fowl act in the same way, their delight being to watch when the hens leave the nest and take upon themselves the oflSce of sitter. The admirable observer, Reaumur, asserts that a cock by being long confined in solitude and darkness can be taught to take charge of young chickens, he then utters a peculiar cry, and retains during his whole life this newly acquired maternal instinct. "The many well-ascertained cases of various male animals giving milk shows that their rudimentary mammary glands retain this capacity in a latent con- dition. We thus see that in many, probably in all cases, the secondary characters of each sex lie dormant or latent in the opposite sex, ready to be evolved under peculiar circumstances. We can thus understand how, for instance, it is possible for a good milking cow to transmit her good qualities through her male offspring to future generations; for we may confidently believe that. thfiSfi nnfllitifia nrp nrpoonf thoUgh latent, in the 132 Sex: Its Obigin and Detebmination male of each generation. So it is with the game cock, who can transmit his superiority in courage and vigor through his female to his male offspring; and with man it is known that diseases, such as hydrocele, neces- sarily confined to the male sex, can be transmitted through the female to the grandson. Such cases are intelligible on the belief that characters common to the grandparent and grandchild of the same sex are pres- ent, though latent, in the immediate parents of the op- posite sex."° It has been noted by Cunningham that the female deer undoubtedly inherits a tendency to produce ant- lers. "This is," he says, "necessarily the case, be-"* cause the female individual, like the male, arises from the union of male and female germ cells. It is also proved to be the case because the female transmits to her progeny peculiarities of the secondary sexual char- acters of her own father and even occasionally, when young and is no longer fertile, develops to some extent such characters herself."* Morgan is inclined to doubt the possibilty of the as- sumption of secondary characters of one sex by an individual of the opposite sex, and believes that in many cases the facts may have been mis-interpreted, and that all that has occurred is simply a return to the characters of youth. As an instance, after castration in man the voice assumes a treble character, and Mor- gan points out that this need not necessarily be thought of as the assumption of the higher pitched voice of the female, but that it may as well be considered to be merely a return to the pitch characteristic of the youth prior to puberty.' This view correlated with others has led some to the belief that the female is simply an undeveloped male. We, however, feel that such a thesis cannot hold The Complete Hebmapheoditism of the Ovum 133 if certain evidence is given the place it deserves. Notably the well-attested cases to which Darwin has called attention and the undoubted instances of the de- velopment of antlers in the female deer. Rorig has called attention to three cases where this phenomenon has been observed, and it is difficult to see how the fact that the ovaries in these cases were slightly abnormal can diminish the importance of this evidence, as Mor- gan has claimed it does do. Another important piece of evidence is the frequent- ly quite pronounced growth of beard that with some women can be observed at about or following the meno- pause. There can be no doubt that this is a distinct assumption of a male character and not one of youth. On the other hand, the well-known fact that the mam- mary glands of the male have frequently been observed to develop and functionate as freely as those of the female, proves the assumption of a distinctly female (and not merely youthful) character by the male. The view that each individual of whatever sex con- tains all the elements of both sexes, whether they be latent or active, is supported by another class of facts having to do with heredity. Darwin has in the re- marks we have cited called attention to the fact that a good milking cow can transmit this quality through her male offspring to the females of the third genera- tion. He mentions hydrocele as being a disease of the primary sex organs in the male that can be transmitted through the female. He does not give his authority for this statement. The hereditary nature of hydrocele is itself extremely doubtful. We have, in fact, been un- able so far to find evidence of the inheritance of pe- culiarities of the sexual organs per se from a grand- parent through a parent of the opposite sex. In all probability, however, such peculiarities of transmission 134 Sex: Its Origin and Determination have occurred and been overlooked. If this last bit of evidence could be secured it would constitute a fact of great importance. As far as secondary sexual char- acters are concerned, we are on firm ground. Darwin has called attention to the fact that variations of these characters, such as a peculiarity in the growth or color of the beard, may be inherited from a grandparent through a parent of the opposite sex. Inheritance of Secondary Sex Characters All these characters which greatly predominate in one sex, but which are common to both sexes, are called tertiary sexual characters. The term, we believe, was introduced by Havelock Ellis. The greater weight for height in women, the more pronounced muscular de- velopment in men, the difference of muscular couture, in bony structure, in brain weight, in configuration of the skull, differences in nutritional tendencies and cer- tain dyscrasias common in both sexes, but occurring more frequently in one, such as color blindness, gout, haemophilia, etc., constitute examples of these. Any of these tertiary characters may be inherited (if they are not acquired characters) from a grandparent through a parent of the opposite sex. Color blindness is much more frequently found in men than in women. It is always an inherited defect and usually comes down from a grandfather through the mother to the son, the mother being free from the dyscrasia. In haemophilia we have a dyscrasia which is almost always of hereditary origin, and it has been found to occur eleven to thirteen times more frequently in males than in females. It is marked by the existence of some constitutional defect in the walls of the blood vessels or a defect in the coagulability of the blood, resulting in a very excessive bleeding whenever the individual so constituted receives the slightest cut or other wound The Complete Hermapheoditism op the Ovum 135 in which the continuity of the skin or mucous mem- brane is broken. This dyscrasia, as with color blind- ness, is usually inherited from father to son, but can be and frequently is inherited by a grandson from his grandfather through a mother who is herself free from the defect. In a well-known family of Massachusetts this bleeding tendency has been traced through seven generations.^ In the Clitheron family, where the defect was observed over a period of two hundred years, out of thirty-five of the descendents whose histories could be traced, fourteen were male and all of the males but two were bleeders. Of the remaining twelve one in- herited the dyscrasia direct from his father and six inherited the bleeding tendency from their grandfather through their mother, who did not herself have the dys- crasia, and in the four the bleeding habit was inherited from the great-grandfather through a mother and grandmother who did not themselves have the defect. None of the female members of the family was afflicted. In my own practice I have come in contact with but one family having this bleeding tendency in a marked degree. The children are seven in number — four girls and three boys. The girls are free from the dyscrasia, but the boys are all bleeders, and at times even the most trifling wounds cause much trouble and no little anxiety. This tendency was inherited from the grand- father through the mother, who is exempt. This disorder and color-blindness are the best ex- amples of hereditary disease known to medical science. They are but rarely found in the female sex, but are more frequently transmitted through that sex than di- rectly from father to son. It would be difficult to find better examples of semi- sexual characters transmitted through the female in whom they remain latent. 136 Sex: Its Origin and Detbemination Sea in the Psychic Sphere The intermixture of male and female characters in one sex, as well as the fact of the spontaneous origin or possibility of cultivation of characteristics of one sex in persons of the opposite sex, is quite as striking psychologically as it is physiologically. The mental phenomena of man are better understood than are those of any other animal. His mental move- ments and reactions are subject to our constant obser- vation, whether we will or no. It is scarcely recog- nized by the casual observer upon what a different mental basis rests the psychical activity of man and woman. There is no implication here that one is of higher order or that the other is of a better order than its opposite. Although many attempts have been made to demonstrate a necessary mental superiority of one sex over the other, their success has been doubtful. If we include the whole psychical content and exclude manifestations dependent upon purely local or temporal conditions, it will probably be rather generally admitted that the sexes are approximately equal. Whether or not some may consider one or the other sex the su- perior, depends largely upon what they may consider superior qualities, superiority, as has been before re- marked, constituting in itself a factor of considerable haziness of outline. However, that the sexes in man differ widely as far as mental processes are concerned, is a fact admitted by all. It is, indeed, one of the pieces of the coin of current wisdom. Among many species of animals this psychical variation is not to be noted at all, and even with some savage tribes the women are essentially men in their capacity for fighting, hunting, fishing and the rougher and heavier forms of labor. In many savage tribes the psychical difference be- The Complete Heemapheoditism of the Ovum 137 tween the sexes appears to be slight. However, as a more complicated society arises and the inter-relations of the sexes become less free and more constrained than they are under savage and barbaric conditions, there develops a more pronounced psychological dis- tinction. Consider dress alone, which is certainly largely a manifestation of this distinction. With primitive peo- ple there is often no difference in the apparel of men and women. Even with the early Greeks the difference was not marked. But as any civilization reaches its flower, this difference between the sexes becomes pro- nounced. Under such conditions there arise distinc- tions in education, in ideals and morals; in aesthetic appreciations, in habits of thought — in the whole psychical content. The thesis of Spencer, that there is continually taking place an evolution from the simple and homogenous to the complex and heterogenous holds good in the evolution of sex manifestations as well as in the evolution of solar systems. Sex may be considered as a sphere of influence. It will be observed, first, that this sphere is very homog- enous and very small. At first sex is but a differ- ence in a nutritional state. Then merely a cell more or less distinctly separated from its fellows. Later it becomes specialized not only in function, but also in form. Higher in the evolution scale the sphere of sex comprehends the germ cells proper and also other cells set apart to assist them in properly expressing their function. Any such a thing as a psychological distinc- tion still does not exist. Following the separation of simple primary sex cells, the sphere of sex again en- larges and includes the secondary sexual characters, such as the antlers of the stag, the spurs of the cock, the magnificent tail of the lyre bird, the song notes of 138 Sex: Its Oeigin and Determination other birds, differences in color markings, weapons and the like. Finally, there can be noted a difference in the tertiary characters. Ultimately this sphere of sex comes to include those things that merely appertain to one or the other sex. Sexual Distinction m Psychic Function There is a division of labor, the women occupying themselves with one kind of labor and the men with another. Hence, have arisen different customs, dress, and habits of thought. These grow more complex and accentuated until finally it comes about that man does not only differ from women physically, but also mental- ly. The sphere of sex now comprehends even thought itself. It may be observed in passing how very many motives, customs, habits and ideals are dependent upon the sex impulse. Men and women are continually moved by it, and at the same time they may be abso- lutely unconscious of its existence as a dominant in- fluence. All these highly varied differentiations of or- ganic structures, of psychical functions, and of race customs, it is interesting to note, possess, after all, but one purpose, and that is to favor and make more cer- tain the union of the two primary germ cells. If they belong to the sexual sphere in its evolution and at any time cease to aid the sexual processus, their disap- pearance must be expected. Notwithstanding all of these minute and complex dif- ferentiations, it should be remembered that there is no hard-and-fast line of demarcation between the mascu- line and feminine. This whole chapter has gone to show that. It has been seen that the simple cell is non- sexual or double-sexed ; that the simple organism can secrete both kinds of cells ; that very many of the lower forms of life are hermaphroditic, and that with the The Complete Hermaphroditism of the Ovxjm 139 higher forms partial hermaphroditism is not uncom- mon, and that under certain circumstances secondary sexual characters of the opposite sex are easily as- sumed ; that tertiary sexual characters are still to such an extent sexually unordered, that they exist merely as the possession of the majority of the individuals of one or the other sex. Between the masculine and feminine temperaments there is also no sharp distinction. There are in every masculine temperament strains of the feminine, and in every feminine traces of the masculine. Very mascu- line men and feminine women constitute one extreme, while the feminine man and masculine woman ex- emplify the other extreme. A recent writer* urges the cultivation in men of feminine qualities and in women of masculine qualities as a tendency to produce in each a more complete and highly developed character. It can scarcely be doubted that one of the factors which go to make some forms of genius particularly in the fields of art and literature, is a blending and accentua- tion of certain male and female characteristics. The Evidence from Psycho-Sexual Evolution and Pathology Krafft-Ebing^ and others have in recent years care- fully studied the psycho-pathological phases of sex. They have called attention to and classified many dif- ferent forms of sexual inversion and perversion, but the class upon which it is here necessary to comment is that one characterized by the existence of psycho- logical characteristics of one sex combined in the same individual with the somatic characters of the opposite sex. This condition is known as sexual inversion, and while it is not particularly uncommon and has been mentioned and commented upon since ancient times, it until recently has been but incompletely understood. 140 Sex: Its Oeigin and Determination The condition of inversion may be congenital or it may be developed. In direct contradistinction to the nor- mal, the invert never feels the slightest sexual attrac- tion for any individual of the opposite sex and cannot appreciate such an attraction. He, on the contrary, is inclined to fall in love with one of his own sex, and if by chance this is reciprocated a sort of marriage is con- summated. Newspaper reports of the discovery of such unions may occasionally be seen. The homosexual individual is a modified invert, since here the sexual impulse may manifest itself toward either sex indiffer- ently. If we admit that the psychological distinction be- tween the sexes is of an importance equal to the physi- cal distinction, we have here an instance of adult hermaphroditism in a sense at least. A perfect sum of the psychical qualities of one sex is combined with a perfect sum of the physical qualities, dominating the individual. Frank Lydston^" and Kiernan^'^, as quoted by Krafft- Ehing, explain this condition first on the fact that bisexual organization is still found in the animal king- dom and on the supposition that mono sexuality gradu- ally developed from bisexuality. Kiernan assumes, in trying to subordinate sexual inversion to the category of hermaphroditism, that in individuals thus affected retrogression to the earlier hermaphroditic forms of the animal kingdom may take place at least functionally. These are his words: "The original bisexuality of the ancestors of the race, shown in the rudimentary female organs in the male, could not fail to occasion functional if not organic reversion when mental or physical mani- festations were interfered with by disease or congenital defect. It seems certain that a femininely functionat- ing brain can occupy a male body, and vice versa." The Complete Hermaphboditism of the Ovum 141 Havelock Ellis^^ following a careful and extensive review of the subject, regards sexual inversion as a congenital defect comparable to color blindness, in that the invert is congenitally blind to the sexually attrac- tive qualities of the opposite sex. Ulrichs^^ has brought the subject to the highest de- gree of systematization, and he explains the whole problem very simply as a mixture in various degrees of a male body and a feminine soul, or a female body joined to a masculine soul; in other words, the com- monly accepted theory of psycho-sexual hermaphrodit- ism. He regards the conditions as essentially a failure of psychic differentiation in the course of psycho- sexual evolution, just as in hermaphroditic forms what occurs is a failure of somatic sexual differentiation in the course of intra-uterine development. Ulrichs re- gards the condition as essentially congenital, Ellis believes Ulrichs' explanation to be essentially vague and verbal, and thinks that the idea of a brain of one sex combined with the physical organism of the opposite does not go sufficiently far by the way of ex- planation. There are, he says, certain subtle approxi- mations to persons of the opposite sex in inverts. As- suming that in the normal at conception the organism is provided with equal capacity to evolve in either di- rection, one or the other trend assumes a dominance. But in the homosexual person and in the invert the process has not proceeded normally, on account of some peculiarity in the number of characters of either the original male or female determinants. The Ideas of Weininger This explanation, it seems to me, is quite as vague and verbal as is the one of Ulrichs; at least, it can scarcely measure up in value to that of Weininger,^* 142 Sex: Its Obigin and Deteemination who believes that all the cells of the body have without exception a male or female trend, and that every in- dividual is of a bisexual disposition, with one or the other element dominant. This disposition may be con- sidered as being made up of an infinite number of char- acters, each one of which falls upon one or the other side of an imaginary line, which constitutes the theo- retic division between the sexes. Hence, it is not diffi- cult for Weimnger to imagine an individual with a physically male constitution possessed of a strong fe- male trend in the psychic sphere. The male characters he calls plus characters, the female minus. The plus exactly complements the minus, and on this basis he explains the phenomenon of sexual attraction. For in- stance, a man with a small number of minus or female characters would be attracted in the strongest degree by a woman possessing exactly the same characters, but in her dominantly male. This explains a fact of every-day observation, the attraction of the strongly feminine type of woman for the strongly masculine type of man, or the feminine type of man for the masculine type of woman. In the first instance the masculine man possesses a vast num- ber of masculine characters, which can only be satisfied by an equal number of feminine characters. In the second instance the masculine type of woman possesses a rather large proportion of masculine characters, which can only find their complement in a man with the corresponding characters feminine. That is to say, suppose a woman possessing feminine characters amounting to 75 per cent, of her whole personality, mind and body, the remaining 25 per cent, being mascu- line, she would find her exact complement in a man possessing 75 per cent, masculine characters and 25 per cent, feminine, the feminine characters in the man The Complete Hekmaphboditism of the Ovum 143 exactly corresponding to the masculine characters in the woman. Of course, this is a theoretically perfect example. In actual practice such an exact adjustment probably rarely, if ever, occurs. Cases of sexual inversion, then, would be explained on the basis of an individual possessing the primary sex organs of one sex, but in the secondary and tertiary sex characters so predominantly of the opposite sex that no one of the opposite sex in primary sex char- acters can be found who can supply the complements to the dominating need of the secondary and tertiary characters. The libido, therefore, taking the way of least resistance, finds its outlet in an attraction toward one of the same sex. Sex, therefore, according to the Weininger thesis, is a purely relative term, sexuality a relative state in man, just as we have found it to be in the lower forms of life. This I believe to be a simple statement of Weininger 's ideas as I have been able to understand them. His contribution to the sub- ject is one of considerable interest. Views of Freud However, by far the most valuable study in the psy- chology of sex is that of Sigmund Freud." Freud has traced the evolution of the impulse in the psychic sphere in man with the same degree of care that Thompson and Geddes have exercised in their study of the morphological evolution of sex. Freud divides sexuality into the sexual impulse and sexual object. The sexual impulse does not come into being at puberty, as is the common idea, but is inherent in the constitution of every one, and faint traces of its ex- istence can be noted very early in child life. In its search for an object it seeks the pathway of least re- sistance. In early childhood it finds its easiest outlet 144 Sex: Its Obigin and Deteemination toward self, hence we observe the autoerotic tendencies of children. At this time it is scarcely yet localized, but is spread more or less over the whole body, and is closely connected with, in fact scarcely to be differen- tiated from, the nutritional impulse or food hunger. The earliest sexual manifestation is thus, for example, frequently the habit of sucking the thumb. Later it tends to become more localized to definite regions, and such non-sexual parts as the mouth and thumb become less able to afford gratification. In other words, the love-hunger separates itself from food-hunger. When the auto-erotic tendency fails to evolve naturally, it continues to late in life in the form of some perver- sion and lays the foundation for nervous or mental dis- ease. The general auto-erotic impulse is termed Nar- cissism, after the god Narcissus. After a few years the impulse tends to seek and find an external object, and it is indifferent as to whether that object be of the same or opposite sex. The im- pulse is here in the homosexual stage. Later it is di- rected permanently toward the opposite sex. If an in- hibition arise to prevent a perfect evolution of the first stage, adult auto-erotic tendencies are the result; if to the second stage, adult homosexual tendencies or inversion result, or the heterosexual stage may have been reached and a regression to the more primitive types of the expression of the sexual impulse take place. Freud has shown that in paranoia such a re- gression constitutes the essential pathology. Jung be- lieves that similar regressions may be detected in de- mentia praecox." It will readily be noted that the description of Freud, evolved from a study of the psycho-neuroses, corre- sponds beautifully in the psychic sphere with the evo- lution of sex in the somatic sphere. At first the primi- The Complete Heemaphboditism op the Ovum 145 tive organism is sexually indifferentiated, just as in the babe one part is just as sexual as the other, so that the child can even gain a sexual satisfaction from thumb sucking. Later in the primitive forms of life, certain definite parts give rise to the special sex-cells, as with the polyps and infusoria, just as in the child certain parts become evolved in a more sensitively specialized direction. Then comes the homosexual stage, corresponding to the stage of primitive hermaph- roditism in the lower forms of life, which, as with the gastraeads, chalk, sponges, hydroid polyps, which, as Haeckel observes, give off both male and female cells. Later we observe the psychic state in man correspond- ing to the physically sexually differentiated form fa- miliar in the higher animals. Conehiaions from our Study of the Present Chapter The results of the study of the present chapter may now be briefly summarized. A review of the evolution of sex shows clearly that sexual reproduction has evolved from non-sexual re- production. The first stage of this evolution being exemplified in those animals which, normally non-sex- ual, can on certain occasions take on a form of sexual reproduction. Then follow various types of hermaphro- ditism, each on approach a little nearer to the normally bisexual type, which is finally reached. We have found that all the determinants of one sex are normally pres- ent in the opposite sex, but in a more or less dormant or latent form. Every organism is therefore normally bisexual, or hermaphroditic, and what we call sex is merely the outward manifestation of a greater sexual activity in one direction or the other. Furthermore, the work of Freud and others goes to show that sex is not limited to definite anatomical areas. 146 Sex: Its Obigin and Detbbmination but that every cell in the whole organism possesses some sexual coloring or over-tone, every part tending somewhat in a male or female direction. Weininger ihas also shown that this sexual trend may not be al- ways in the same direction even in the same individual. This idea is borne out particularly from the psycho- logical standpoint by Freud and his students, who find by psychoanalysis that the deeper mental complexes in an individual frequently partake of the psychic quali- ties of the opposite sex. Further, the studies of Freud demonstrate that the evolution of sex in the psychic sphere parallels beautifully the morphological evolu- tion, as worked out by Thompson and Geddes. Our conclusion must be that sex is nothing more than a function or physiological trend, that bisexuality is universal, and that to expect to find in either the ova or sperms prior to fertilization manifestations of a dominant sex is a hopeless task, since even the devel- oped organism is found to possess all the determinants of both sexes. It remains now for us to attempt a defi- nition of the force or forces that constitute the essen- tial nature of sex, or in other words, having reviewed its various manifestations, we have yet to gain a clear conception of what it is. REFERENCES iHabckei., Ebnest. — ^Evolution of Man. Chap. 25. sHaeckel, Eenest. — The Evolution of Man. Vol. II. Chap. XXV. sThompson and Geddes. — ^The Evolution of Sex. ^Cunningham. — Sexual Dimorphism in the Animal Kingdom. 1900. bDabwin. — ^Animals and Plants under Domestication. Vol. II. Chapter XIII. 6M0RGAN, Thos. Hunt. — Experimental Zoology. tPeppeb. — A System of Medicine. Vol. II. sLeland, Chables Godpeey. — The Alternate Sex. 1904. »Kbaft-Ebing. — Psychopath] a Sexualis. ioLtdston, Feank. — Phil. Med. and Surg. Reporter, Sept., 1888. The Complete Heemapheoditism of the Ovum 147 iiKlERNAN.— Med. standard. Nov., 1888. 12ELIJS, Havelock. — Sexual Inversion. 1908. isUlmchs, Memnon. — ^Die Gesehleehtsnatur des mannliebenden Urn- ing3, Eine naturwissentschaftliehe Darstellung. Schleiz. 1868. kWeiningeb, Otto. — Sex and Character. Sixth Grerman Ed. Trans. 1906. 16FREUD, SlQMUND. — Three Contributions to the Sexual Theory. Jour. Ment. and Nervous Dis. Monograph Series. 1910. I'JuNQ, C. — The Psychopathology of Dementia Prsecox. Jour, of Ment. and Nervous Dis. Monograph Series. 1910. CHAPTER Vn The Sex Cycle of the Gekm Plasm The trniversal JiTature of Ehythm. — Physiological Ehythms. — The Hermaphroditism of the Ovum. — The Sex Ehythm of the Ovum. — Sex Determined by the Time of Fertilization. The Sex Rhythm Since the ovum is perfectly hermapliroditic, possess- ing in full quota aU the male and female elements, its sex being merely manifested by some intracellular re- lation of parts functioning in one direction or another, the question arises : how and when does this sex func- tion act? Is the ovum in a state of hermaphroditic equilibrium up to the moment of fertilization, its sex function being started in one direction or another by the entrance of the spermatozoon? The reply to this question must be a negative one, since it has been shown that in a limited number of instances at least the ovum may develop into a male or a female organ- ism without any fertilization by the spermatozoon at all. The next question which we may ask ourselves is this : If sex is merely a function, may it not be possible that prior to fertilization the ovum is functioning as male or female ? To admit this is practically to return to the theory of Castle and Beard — that there are male and female ova. There has never been adduced any evidence in support of this theory, and it has been criticised by Morgan^ as well as elsewhere in this vol- ume. Furthermore, it is improbable that a cell possessing in equal quota both male and female elements should function permanently in one sex direction. Next it is 148 The Sex Cycle op the Geem Plasm 149 equally improbable that it maintains a perfect herma- phroditic equilibrium. If we hold such a view, it is necessary to explain when and how such an equilibrium is disturbed, which is a question which once asked amounts to the same thing as the question, what de- termines sex, and leaves us, as far as the crux of the problem is concerned, exactly where we started. The only escape from this dilemma is to assume that the genoblast or ovum functions first as male, then as female in alternate and equal rhythms. That this as- sumption is an entirely justifiable one we think can be shown. The Universal Rhythm All forces in nature seem to move directly, but on analysis it is found that the progression is never di- rect, but always by alternate deviations, first to one side, then to the other of a common mean or norm. We look in vain for perfect equilibrium or absolute stasis. Wherever we appear to find it, we find only a change of one form of rhythm into another. The spiral nebulae manifest a form of rhythm, as do the rev- olution of double stars. Coming within the bounds of our own solar system, since revolution is but a complet- ed rhythm, the revolution of the planets about the sun are examples of rhythm ; the revolution of the earth on its axis and the revolution of the axis itself about a mean point, the North pole, as well as a thousand other minor forms of rhythm which complicate the great as- tronomic rhythms. Light and sound progress through rhythmical vibration of the air and ether. Flowing water and air are always rhythmical in motion. The rhythm of the revolution of the earth on its own axis and about the sun produces the diurnal and seasonal 150 Sex: Its Origin and Detebmination rhythms, which in turn are responsible for rhythms in plant and animal life. Atoms and molecules are known to be in a constant state of vibration, and some physicists are now teach- ing that the elements differ only in the rate and ampli- tude of the vibration of their electrons. That every- thing is in constant motion, that change is continuous, is an observation as old as Heraclitus and Buddha. Nothing ever is, everything is only becoming. Even truth cannot be considered at rest and absolute. Noth- ing progresses directly but only by spiral or vibratory motion. Matter that seems to be motionless and at rest is only in a state of higher vibration than matter that seems to be in motion. Huxley has said in regard to rest and motion: "The more we learn of the nature of things, the more evident is it that what we call rest is only unperceived activity; that seeming peace is silent but strenuous battle. In every part, at every moment, the state of the cosmos is the expression of a transitory adjust- ment of contending forces, a scene of strife in which all the combatants fall in turn. "What is true of each part is true of the whole. Natural knowledge tends more and more to the conclusion that ' all the choir of heaven and furniture of the earth' are transitory forms or par- cels of cosmic substances wending along the road of evolution, from nebulous potentiality, through endless growths of suns and planets and satellites; through all varieties of matter ; through infinite diversities of life and thought ; possibly, through modes of being of which we have neither a conception, nor are competent to form any, back to the indefinable latency from which they arose. Thus the most obvious attribute of the cosmos is its impermanence." Motion being always vibratory and motion being The Sex Cycle op the Gebm Plasm 151 universal, everything may thus be said to be in a state of vibration. But the vibrations of different forms of matter differ themselves in rate and amplitude. Therefore, while it may be said that every form of matter is in continuous vibration, any particular form of matter or force is strictly held to its own rate and amplitude of vibration. It must vibrate within the limits of its own nature, just as it is impossible for a pendulum to beat outside the limits of the arc of a circle of which its own length is the radius. Spencer on Physiological Rhythms All this may seem very trite and obvious to many readers and scarcely to the point. We shall, therefore, not attempt to catalogue further instances of general rhythms, since the subject may in general be found considered in detail in the chapter on the Ehythm of Motion in Herbert Spencer's "First Principles."" Or- ganic or physiological rhythm is of more importance to us in this respect. Spencer's remarks upon physio- logical rhythms in section 85 of his "First Principles" will serve as a basis for departure. He says: "Per- haps nowhere are the illustrations of rhythm so nu- merous and so manifest as among the phenomena of life. Plants do not, indeed, usually show us any decided periodicities, save those determined by day and night and by the seasons. But in animals we have a great variety of movements, in which the alternation of op- posite extremes goes on with all degrees of rapidity. The swallowing of food is effected by a wave of con- striction passing along the oesophagus ; its digestion is accompanied by a muscular action of the stomach that is also undulatory ; and the peristaltic motion of the in- testines is of like nature. The blood obtained from this food is propelled not in a uniform current, but in 152 Sex: Its Obigin and Deteemination pulses ; and it is aerated by lungs that alternately con- tract and expand. All locomotion results from oscillat- ing movements; everywhere it is apparently continu- ous, as in many minute forms the microscope proves the vibration of cilia to be the agency by which the creature is moved smoothly forward." Primary rhythms of the organic actions are com- pounded with secondary ones of longer duration. These various modes of activity have their recurring periods of increase and decrease. We see this in the periodic need for food, and in the periodic need for repose. Each meal induces a more rapid rhythmic action of the di- gestive organs ; the pulsation of the heart is accelerated and the inspirations become more frequent. During sleep, on the contrary, these several movements slack- en. So that in the course of twenty-four hours those small undulations of which the different kinds of or- ganic action are constituted undergo one long wave of increase and decrease, complicated with several minor waves. Experiments have shown that there are still slower rises and falls of functional activity. "Waste and assimilation are not balanced by every meal, but one or other maintains for some time a slight excess ; so that a person in ordinary health is found to undergo an increase and decrease of weight during recurring intervals of tolerable equality. Besides these regular periods there are still longer and comparatively ir- regular ones, namely, those alterations of greater and less vigor, which even healthy people experience. So inevitable are these oscillations that even men in train- ing cannot be kept stationary at their highest power, but whea they have reached it begin to retrograde. Further evidence of rhythm in the vital movements is furnished by invalids. Sundry disorders are named from the intermittent character of their symptoms. The Sex Cycle of the Gebm Plasm 153 Even where the periodicity is not very marked, it is mostly traceable. Patients rarely, if ever, get uni- formly worse; and convalescents have usually their days of partial relapse or of less decided advance. Eavelock Ellis^ says: "The sense of rhythm, on which it may be said that the sensory exciting effects of hearing, including music, finally rest, may probably be regarded as a fundamental quality of neuromuscu- lar tissue (italics mine). Not only are the chief physi- ological functions of the body like the circulation and respiration definitely rhythmical, but our senses in- sist on imparting a rhythmic grouping even to an absolutely uniform succession of sensations. It seems probable, although this view is liable to be disputed, that this rhythm is the result of kinesthetic sensations, sensations arising from movement or tension started reflexly in the muscles by external stimuli — impressing themselves on the sensations that are thus grouped. This view has been more especially developed by J. B. Miner* "We may thus say with Wilks that music appears to have its origin in muscular action. Whatever its ex- act origin may be rhythm is certainly very deeply im- pressed upon our organisms. The result is that what- ever lends itself to the neuro-muscular rhythmical tendency of our organisms, whatever tends still further to heighten and develop that rhythmical tendency ex- erts upon us a very decidedly stimulating and exciting influence. "All muscular action being stimulated by rhythm in its simple form or in its more developed form, as music, rhythm is a stimulant to work. It has even been argued by Bucher^ and Wundt" that human song has its chief or exclusive origin in rhythmical accompaniments to systematized work. This view, however, cannot be 154 Sex: Its Origin and Detebmination maintained : systematized work can scarcely be said to exist even to-day among most very primitive races : it is much more probable that rhythmical song arose at a period antecedent to the origin of systematized work in the primitive military religious and erotic dances, such as exist to a highly developed degree among the Australians and other savage races who have not evolved coordinated systematic labor. There can, how- ever, be no doubt that as soon as systematic work ap- pears the importance of vocal rhythm, in stimulating its energy, Is at once everywhere apparent. Bucher has brought together innumerable examples of this as- sociation. In the march music of soldiers and the heav- ing and hoisting songs of sailors we have instances that have universally persisted into civilization, al- though in civilization the rhythmical stimulation to work, physiologically sound as is its basis, tends to dis- appear. "Even in the laboratory the influence of simple rhythm increasing the output of work may be demon- strated, and Fere' found with the ergograph that a rhythmical grouping of the movements caused an in- crease of energy which often more than compensated the loss of time caused by the rhythm." Social Rhythms Ellis might have further pointed out that such labor rhythms while not set to music, nevertheless do per- sist into civilization to a great degree. In fact, in so far as labor is what he terms systematized, it becomes to that extent rhythmical. That is, certain efforts in certain directions tend to recur at more definite inter- vals, the more the work is systematized. When, as an instance, factory employes are expected to report at a definite hour each day for work instead of any hour The Sex Cycle of the Geem Plasm 155 they please, their work to that extent is systematized; that is, it becomes rhythmical, from that aspect possess- ing a daily rhythm. All civilization tends to do its work systematically, that is, rhythmically. We thus see that all progress along a line of least resistance is rhythmi- cal. What we accomplish we accomplish through con- stantly recurring stimuli. Boris Sidis^ has even shown that to bring about that very negative state, sleep, the principal factor involved is a rhythmical one, i.e., mo- notony of stimulation ; sleep itself is rhythmical in its recurrence. We thus see why organic functions all tend to become rhythmical. Nature must key her minor rhythms to her major ones. Rhythms in Mental Disease In every structure, in every tissue, physiological rhythms may be observed, the heart, the lungs, the kidneys and secretory glands and the uterus. Psychi- cally all the action is rhythmical, attention varying every few seconds, every few minutes and daily, rhythm within rhythm. Emotional states are likely to be alternating, and hence rhythmical or cyclic, depres- sion alternating with exaltation; while in the field of mental disease Kraepelin has shown that every mania contains the potentialities of a melancholia and that every melancholia lays the groundwork for a mania — that they are, in brief, but alternating phases of tl^e same disease. When this rhythm approaches a per- fect cycle this disease has long been known as circular insanity, which is included in that great group of men- tal disorders constituting the manic-depressive psy- choses. Lately it has been shown that similar alternating states may be detected in health, every individual dis- playing to a greater or less degree periodic depression 156 Sex: Its Origin and Determination and exaltation of minor degree, constituting what has been termed one's "good days" and "bad days." It is highly probable that on such bad days, periods when the vital energy is at its lowest ebb, susceptibility to infection is greatest, and at other times such infection may be resisted. Certainly the opsonic index has been shown to fluctuate within moderate limits, even in the most healthy. Ehythm in disease must, because of its importance, be considered separately. It is probable that sleep, hunger and all minor physiological rhythms are but variations of or minor rhythm grafts upon that great biological rhythm cycle of anabolism and katabolism or, considered as one, metabolism. The Menstrual Rhythm Sexually man is highly rhythmical. Menstruation is, perhaps, the most pronouncedly rhythmical sexual function in the human animal. There have been many theories put forth to account for this function ; its constant occurrence in the human female, its absence in the lower animals, its definite rhythmical periodicity, etc. However, of all the theories of menstruation, per- haps the simplest and most plausible is that of J. Arthur Thompson, who in his article on sex in the En- cyclopaedia Britannica explains menstruation as the means of getting rid of an anabolic surplus in the ab- sence of its foetal consumption. Menstruation we know ceases during pregnancy and lactation. In practically all mammals in their wild state the female is subjected to a continuous succession of gestations and lactation periods, and hence the ana- bolic surplus being constantly consumed there is no need of menstruation ; but in the human female many other activities take the place of child bearing, and this becomes more the case the higher the civilization; The Sex Cycle of the Germ Plasm 157 hence, instead of the function of menstruation dying out, as some authorities seem to believe it is, we should rather expect to see it become a more important factor in the life cycle of the human female. Havelock Ellis has called attention to the possibility of the existence of a rudimentary menstrual cycle in man.* As menstruation corresponds to an increase of activity in the organs of generation in the female, should there be a cycle in the male, it would probably be represented, as suggested above, by an increase of sexual desire. Now, this corresponds closely to the facts. There is in man such a monthly cycle, but upon this are grafted lesser cycles of one week, and three and a half days' duration. Menstruation in woman occurs on an average every twenty-eight days ; should there be a delay it is usually three and one-half days, or one week, in duration. The most natural duration of the flow is three and one half days. It thus may be readily seen that the function of men- struation is directly connected with the great cycle of metabolism, it forming one of the points of contact be- tween those two closely related and fundamental or- ganic functions of metabolism and sex. To sum up this whole question of physiological rhythms in man some general principles reveal themselves. First, all physiological functions tend to be expressed rhythmi- cally, and the more healthy and normal the function, the more clear and well defined is the rhythm. Next, the impact of external rhythms, such as music, inter- rupted electric currents, light, heat, possess a distinct- ly stimulating effect upon neuro-muscular tissue. The whole group of trophisms and related phenomena, now so carefully studied by biologists, goes to prove this. Next, it is well known to the neurologist that whenever we observe an excess and consequent over- 158 Sex: Its Obigin and Deteemination flow of neuro-muscular energy, such excess of energy tends to express itself rhythmically in all cases. This is, perhaps best exemplified in spasms, tics and trem- ors, of which there are a great variety. Sexual Rhythms Thompson and Geddes connect the general physio- logical rhythms with the sexual rhythms ; thus in the chapter on growth and reproduction in the "Evolution of Sex" they say "The life of organisms is conspicu- ously rhythmic. Plants have their long period of vegetative growth and then suddenly burst into flower. Animals in their young stages grow rapidly, and when growth ceases reproduction normally begins. Or again, just as perennial plants are strictly vegetative through- out a great part of the year, but have their stated re- currence of flowers and fruit, so many animals for pro- longed periods are virtually asexual, but exhibit pe- riodic returns of a reproductive or sexual tide. In some cases periods of active and preponderant nutri- tion are followed by times of fasting, at the end of which reproduction occurs. Foliage and fruiting, pe- riods of nutrition and crises of reproduction, hunger and love, must be interpreted as life tides, which will be seen to be but special expressions of the funda- mental organic rhythm between sleep and waking, rest and work, upbuilding and expenditure, which are ex- pressed on the protoplasmic plane as anabolism and katabolism." The opinion that sex is not so much a morphological as a physiological distinction has already been ex- pressed. We know that in all organic life one may note through long-continued and close observation progres- sive change. This change isi both structural and func- The Sex Cycle of the Geem Plasm 159 tional. It is progressive, but in any one direction it is not constant. There is a fluctuation backward and for- ward, a swinging of the pendulum from one side to the other of a mean, or a movement forward and a rest. For a structural change in a living organism to take place there must be a preceding functional change. At first thought or to the average man the morphological distinction between the sexes is the real distinction, but what I wish to call attention to is the underlying and essential distinction. Of structure and function we may say that function is in general the most susceptible to variation. Its variation is at once the most dependent upon, and, in some respects, the most independent of environment. There are some hereditary rhythms of function in all life cells, whether simply or complexly arranged, that seem to bear, like the germ plasm, a charmed existence, so that nothing short of the destruction of the organ- ism itself suffices to break their continuity. In the preceding chapter conclusive reasons were given for holding the view that the germ plasm is primarily hermaphroditic, containing all the elements of both sexes; that this condition is not lost even in the developed organisms; that morphological sex dis- tinction is the result merely of a tendency on the part of the developing organism to functionate more active- ly in one direction than another ; and that this tendency is conferred upon it at the moment of fertilization by the spermatozoon. Now, knowing that all functional activity displays a strong tendency to periodically fluctuate first to one and then to the other side of a mean, it would be un- reasonable to suppose that the germ plasm does not follow this universal law, or that it occupies a position of fixed equilibrium between male and female ten- 160 Sex: Its Obigin and Determination dencies. On the contrary, there is every reason for be- lieving that the germ plasm is in a state of constant fluctuation from one sex extreme to the other. Struc- turally possessing the elements of both sexes, the ovum undoubtedly at one time by a slight functional change is actively female, but soon by an equal and op- posite reaction, functions as male. Attention has already been called to the very sug- gestive fact that this is actually what does occur in some hermaphroditic animals, in some where the sex organs are the same, or in others where the same in- dividual possesses both sets of organs, the sperms and ova are secreted alternately, as in the group strepto- neura of the snails, and in oysters and clams. In re- gard to this fact Geddes and Thompson,^" in calling attention to the fact that hermaphroditism may par- take of a greater or less degree of intimacy, say: "An entire plant, the arum, is hermaphroditic, with female flowers on the better nourished lower portion and male flowers above. This may be paralleled by red coral, which is sometimes female as regards one branch and male as regards another. If we keep, however, to hermaphroditic individuals it is evident that an orchid with stamens and carpels united is more closely her- maphroditic than a buttercup flower. So in a leech, with the ovaries far forward and independent of a long row of testes, the hermaphroditism is less intimate than in a tunicate, where the testes and ovary may form one mass, the male cells spreading over the surface of the ovary. In the same way the organ of a scallop, which exhibits more or less distinct male and female por- tions, is in a state of less intimate anatomical hermaph- roditism than the oyster, where the same calices of the same organ fulfil both functions at different times." This last caution must be kept in view throughout. The Sex Cycle of the Geem Plasm 161 If the hermaphroditism be very intimate, that is, if the seats of ovum and sperm production be very close to one another, it is not to be expected that the devel- opment of two kinds of cells will go on simultaneously. Such, indeed, would be a physiological impossibility. Antagonistic protoplasmic rhythms may rapidly alter- nate, but cannot coexist. Whether hermaphroditism be anatomically intimate or not, there is throughout a tendency toward periodicity in the production of male and female elements. The Sex Rhythm of the Ovum Since it has been conclusively shown that hermaph- roditism necessarily extends to the ovum, it is only necessary to assume that an alternating hermaphrodi- tism lies one step beyond where it can be microscopi- cally demonstrated, that is, in the unfertilized ovum. In other words, we know that in the ovum the hermaph- roditism must be intimate, and, as has been shown by Thompson and Geddes, to the extent that hermaph- roditism is intimate, it must necessarily he alternating. Therefore, we are led directly and inevitably to this conclusion: The ovum is neither distinctly male nor female, hut double sexed; but since it cannot function as both male and female at one and the same time, it must necessarily, as do other forms of primitive life, function first in a male direction and then in a female direction. Now, in obedience to the general law of functional rhythm, the universal necessity of which this whole chapter has been devoted to demonstrating, we know that this sex function of the germ plasm must be equal and alternating. In other words, the whole course of the evolution of sex demonstrates conclusively the her- maphroditism of the ovum, and the universal law of 162 Sex: Its Oeigin and Detebmikation functional rhythm demonstrates conclusively its func- tional and regularly alternating sex rhythm. Since the germ plasm is of alternating sex and since upon beginning development this alternation is obvi- ously overthrown, the ovum proceeding, as the micro- • scope has shown, from almost the moment of fertiliza- tion to develop dejSnitely into a male or female organ- ism, the question arises: What fixes the sex? The an- swer must now be obvious. Since before fertilization the ovum has been shown to be of alternating sex, func- tionally speaking, and since it has further been shown, in very many species at least, that from almost the mo- ment of fertilization development of the organism pro- ceeds no longer in alternating sex rhythms, but steadily in one sex direction, then the sex must be fixed by fer- tilization. Time limitations preclude the consideration of any other factor. Fertilization thus determines the sex, but only in the sense that it checks the sex rhythm of the ovum, and the future organism is male or female depending upon whether this sex alternating rhythm was checked by such fertilization in its male or female phase. In other words, the determination of sex may be said to depend not so much upon fertilization per se, but rather upon the time of fertilization. Seal Determined hy the Time of Fertilization If now my discussion of the question of twins and double births be recalled, it will be observed that this thesis is further strengthened by the conclusions ar- rived at as a result of my study of that subject. There it was pointed out that however much two individuals developing from the same ovum may differ in other characters, they are in all instances of the same sex. To account for this it was necessary to consider what they might have in common with reference to their origin. The Sex Cycle op the Geem Plasm 163 First it was shown that the fact of a common ovum was not alone sufficient because, if we assume this, it is reverting to the theory that some ova are male and some female, a theory now well disproved by many facts of heredity. Next it was pointed out that the fer- tilizing agent being common to both could not explain the sameness of sex, as the facts of parthenogenesis for- bid us to look upon the sperm cells as having any influ- ence whatever in the determination of sex. There re- mains but one other common denominator — simultane- ous fertilization. Two independent lines of reasoning, the first that of the chapter on twins, the second that of this chapter, hence bring us to but a single conclusion — sex is de- termined by the time of fertilization. Important as this conclusion is, it still lacks prag- matic value unless we are able to determine the factors which give the hermaphroditic cycle of the germ plasm a definite time value when measured by some external unit of duration with which we may be familiar. In order to arrive at this factor, it will first be necessary to define more closely than by the terms male and female the nature of the sex rhythm in the ovum or egg. This will be attempted in the chapter to follow. REFERENCES iMoEGAN. — Experimental Zoology. Page 414. 2SPENCEB, Herbert. — Rhythm of Motion. First Principles. sEllis, Havelock. — Sexual Selection in Man. ^MiNEE, J. B. — ^Motor, Visual and Applied Rhythms. Psychological Review. Monograph Supplements. Vol. 5, No. 4. 1903. cBtrCHER. — ^Arbeit und Rhythmus. 3rd ed. 1902. oWtJNDT. — ^Volkerpsychologie. 1900. Part 1, page 265. 7F£Kfi.— Travail et Plaisir. Chap III. 1904. sSiDis, Boris. — ^An Experimental Study of Sleep. Boston, 1909. oBlus, Havelock. — ^Man and Woman. Contemporary Science Series. ioGeddes and Thompson. — ^The Evolution of Sex. Chap. VI. CHAPTEE VIII The Essential Nattjee of Sex, a Distinction in Metabolism Tertiary Differences "between the Sexes. — They Express Differ- ences in Metabolism. — The Anabolic and Katabolic Dis- tinction in the Sex Cells. — Maleness — Katabolism. — Fe- maleness — Anabolism. — The Sex Cycle of the Germ Plasm. — The Argument Eestated and Extended. The Essential Nature of Sem, a Distinction in Metabolism It is the popular opinion that the dis tinction between the seiEes is~confineOo or manifeste d principa lly in a particular^ sphere or grou£jof_orgaris^but this vigw sKould be rejecte3, since the essential qualities of male- ness or feinaleness can be shown to be of a much more all-pervading and fundamental nature. Un doubtedly every cell, no matt er wh ere situated in the female or- ganismjjdi^rs^in on e impor tan TpaH rcuIsuTfro m s imi- lar cells in the male organism. In other words, any female organism is predominantly* female, any male organism predominantly male, even the most remotely situated cell partaking of the character of the primary or germ cells. Suppose in seeking for some fundamental distinction between the sexes we first observe our own kind. How does woman differ from man? In the generative mechanism, of course, but that is in a limited way. In the shape of the skull, the pelvis, the thorax, the facial angle, the greater fulness of breasts, the absence of beard, etc. But these are again all particular ways ana- tomically limited and possessing no common distinc- •A word less open to criticism than "predominantly" might be "all- pervadingly," which indeed perhaps more closely expresses the thought. 164 The Essential Natuee of Sex 165 tion. If we seek for a more all-pervading distinction, we are forced to take our stand upon this simple propo- sition — height, for height woman weighs more than man. In any particular case this may certainly not be true. There is always the chance of modifying influences; as in individuals, so even in certain animal species the male may be larger and heavier than the female, but considering the human race as a unit — even as we may look upon the whole animal kingdom as a unit, it will be found that in the female anabolic influences pre- vail, while with the males in general katabolic influ- ences hold sway. In any man approaching closely to the normal in type, we find a greater development of the bony and muscular structure, due to the greater ac- tivity of the male. (Activity being essentially a kata- bolic character, such a muscular development should not confuse one into the supposition that it is any indi- cation of an anabolic trend in the male ; and since bony structure develops to a great extent secondarily to the muscular, the same observation holds good.) In the male the bones and muscles lie rather superficially be- neath the skin, outlined, particularly in spare or ath- letic types, with a considerable degree of clearness. With women the case is quite different, for even in the slender type of women the most marked charac- teristic is a layer of adipose tissue distributed over the whole body. It is this that gives the roundness of line and curvature to the female form, emphasized by paint- ers and sculptors of all ages. This tendency in women toward the acquisition of fatty tissue is not wholly due to a greater inactivity, for it may be observed in the most active women, even women athletes preserving the roundness and softness of outline so characteristically feminine ; but if it could be shown that it was the re- 166 Sex: Its Origin and Determination suit of a greater inactivity, the argument would not be invalidated, because inactivity itself is essentially an anabolic quality. Furthermore, such an exuberance of fatty tissue in the female is not entirely subcutaneous, for it can be shown that in the female the fat globules are widely distributed through the whole body. Have- lock Ellis^ quotes the results of Bischoff", who took the trouble to investigate the actual proportion of the different tissues in a man, woman and boy who all died accidentally while in perfect physical condition. The man was thirty-three, the woman twenty-two and the boy sixteen. He found the following relations between muscle and fat : , , ..^ „ Man Woman Boy Muscle 41.8 35.8 44.2 Fat 18.2 28.2 13.9 To quote further, Ellis says that it is owing to this tendency to put on fat that, ' ' as Quatelet found, while man reaches his maximum weight at forty, woman reaches hers only at fifty. This same tendency causes a liability to morbid obesity, which all authorities agree to find more common in women ; thus, for instance, of Bouchard's eighty-six cases, sixty-two were in women and only twenty-four were in men." Passivity is an essential characteristic of anabolic states. The female in general is, in contradistinction to the male, the passive sex. In the first paragraph of the introduction of the above quoted work, as a result of his investigations of woman's work in savage tribes in all parts of the world, Ellis says: " 'A man hunts, spears fish, fights and sits about,' said an Australian Kumai, once', 'the rest is woman's work.' This may be accepted as a fair statement of the sexual di- vision of labor among primitive peoples. It is a division of labor that is altogether independent of race and cli- The Essential Natuee of Sex 167 mate. Among the Eskimos in their snow houses npon the other side of the earth there is the same division of labor as among the Australians*. The tasks which demand a powerful development of muscle and bone, and the resulting capacity for intermittent spurts of energy, involving corresponding periods of rest, fall to man ; the care of the children and all the various indus- tries which radiate from the hearth, and which call for an expenditure of energy more continuous but at a lower tension, fall to woman." There are other significant facts of metabolism which go to show that katabolic or destructive proc- esses are more active in men, while women are more anabolic or metabolically stable. In man. the red blood corpuscles are more numerous than in woman, in woman the more stable element of the blood, the plas- ma, exceeds in quantity the plasma of the male. That the percentage of haemoglobin is higher in the male is another evidence of a katabolic trend. That the pulse rate is higher in woman seems to be contradictory, but this is probably due to her smaller size, particularly when we take into consideration the muscular structure which demands the larger part of the blood supply. (In general with all animals the pulse rate varies; inversely with the size.) Eespiration rate also varies with the size, but the fact of greatest importance in this respect is the greater production of carbonic acid gas by the adult male than by the female, demonstrating conclu- sively the greater katabolic activity in the male. As to temperature, Ellis remarks that we are prob- ably justified in agreeing with those physiologists who assert that no sexual difference has yet been estab- lished. But with Davy, Roger, Mignot, Delanney and Stocton Hough the greater weight of authority seems to rest in the opinion that in man the body temperature 168 Sex: Its Obigin and Determination is about 5° C. higher than it is in woman, at the same time being subject in man to a wider scale of variation. This is at least in accord with other facts that have been adduced in proof of the preponderant katabolism of the male. In regard to urinary secretion, says El- lis, it is generally agreed by physiologists that in point of quantity women secrete more urine than men. Ir- respective of the statistics of Biequerel and Bodiei^, Yoon and Berlioz", McKendrick and Wosler', the fact is that the capacity of the bladder of woman has been demonstrated to be almost one-third greater than is that of man. This might again at first thought seem to show a preponderance of katabolic processes in woman, were it not met and much more than offset by the more pertinent observation to the effect that the solid constituents of the urine are in men considerably in excess, and if it were necessary to depend upon one element alone for measuring katabolic or anabolic trend, no better one could be selected than the increase or decrease of urea. The foregoing facts all point to but one conclusion : Man is active and possesses a relatively meagre supply of reserve tissue and a rich fund of energy, of which at any one time not so much may be available as in woman ; but in woman, drawn upon in greater modera- tion, it is not so readily exhausted as is that of the op- posite sex. In other words, he is essentially katabolic; she anabolic. The AnaboUsm and Katabolism of the Sex Cells It is now necessary to consider the primitive sex cells, the ova and spermatozoa. Here we are removed the furthest possible away from the adult organism, yet at the same time the sex cells possess potentially all the characters of the developed organism and, there- The Essential Natuee of Sex 169 fore, if there were any one character in the female or any one character in the male that impresses us with its dominating maleness, we might confidently expect to find these characters in the germ cells. Now when we observe the germ cells, we are struck by the intensely female or anabolic character of the ova and the active or katdWdUcaTaraHerofthe spermatozoa. However mucEthese qualities may be obscured or held in check by circumstances of environment in fully evolved or- ganisms, in the germ cells they are exhibited in all their striking and primitive simplicity. Beneath the microscope the spermatozoa present the appearance of flagellated cells a little more than 1/500 of an inch in length. A head and a tail seem to com- prise the cell. The head is of a flattened, conical shape, and the tail terminates in a thread-like portion known as the terminal filament. The excessive activity of the spermatozoa is their most striking characteristic. In fact, size for size the spermatozoa are, perhaps, the most active of all organisms. The ovum, on the other hand, is considerably larger than the spermatozoon, possess all the elements of any other cell, but is quite round in shape and absolutely passive. If we contrast the shape of two cells, the katabolic qualities of the one, the anabolic qualities of the other are most impressive. The spermatozoon is admirably adapted for spontane- ous movement, for making its way through membranes, along tortuous passages and through viscid fluids. The ovum in contrast has the shape of those cells and organisms which, instead of depending upon their own spontaneous movements for getting from place to place, are best adapted to take advantage of move- ments or currents in their environment. The shape most admirably adapted to this function is the spheri- cal. In other words, these cells are best fitted to sur- 170 Sex: Its Oeigin and Deteemination vive and fulfil their proper function under rather pre- carious conditions by taking on two exactly opposite characters, the one being preponderatingly active, the other wholly passive. Thus what we see outcropping in species after species through the animal kingdom, we find most clearly and beautifully exemplified in the germ cells themselves, the essential hatabolism of the male, the anaholism of the female. Is this active character of male and passive character of female organisms a real or only an apparent distinc- tion? We believe that it is a real one and a very basic one at that, having in all probability given rise to dis- tinctions which are now more obvious. It is at least a phase of sex that has attracted the attention of biolo- gists to a greater or less degree for some time. Thomp- son in his "Zoology" calls attention to it, and later, in conjunction with Professor Oeddes, in ' ' The Evolution of Sex," dwells upon it at greater length. Thompson says in this respect (if the re-quotation of a passage al- ready called attention to in my discussion of different theories of sex determination, since it possesses some- what different bearing in this respect, may be per- mitted) : "Most animals are either males or females, the former liberating actively motile elements or spermatozoa, and the other forming and usually liber- ating passive egg cells or ova." This writer further says: "All through the animal series, from active in- fusoria to passive gregarines, from feverish birds to the most sluggish reptiles, we read antithesis between activity and passivity, between the lavish expenditure of energy and the habit of storing. The ratio between disruptive (katabolic) processes and constructive (ana- bolic) processes varies from type to type. We believe the contrast between the sexes is another expression of this fundamental alternative of variation.^" The Essentiai. Nature of Sex 171 Thompson and Geddes on the Metabolic Distinction of Sex In Chapter II of "The Evolution of Sex" many in- stances illustrating this important fact of the inherent activity of the male and the passivity of the female are cited. They say: "The female cochineal insect, laden with reserve products of the well-known pigment, spends much of its life, like a mere quiescent gall, upon the cactus plant. The male, on the other hand, in his adult state is agile, restless and short-lived. Now, this is no mere curiosity of the entomologist, but in reality a vivid emblem of what is an average truth throughout the world of animals — the preponderating passivity of the females and the predominant activity of the males. These coccus insects are martyrs to their respective sexes." In the fourth chapter of this same work, where the question of the determination of sex is dis- cussed, this view is again emphasized. They continue : "Such conditions as deficient or abnormal food, high temperature, deficient light, moisture and the like are obviously such as would tend to induce a preponder- ance of waste over repair, a katabolic habit of body, and these conditions tend to result in the reproduction of males. Similarly the opposed set of factors, such as abundant and rich nutrition, abundant light and mois- ture favor a constructive — i.e. make an anabolic habit of body, and these conditions result in the production of females. This is not all, however. The above con- clusion is indeed valuable, but it acquires a deeper significance, when we take it in connection with the fact that . . . males are of smaller size, more active habit, higher temperature, shorter life, etc., and that the females are the larger, more passive, vegetative, and conservative forms. "Theories of inherent maleness or femaleness were rejected, since practically nearly verbal; more accu- 172 Sex: Its Origin and Detebmination rately, however, they have been interpreted and re- placed by a more material conception, which finds the bias of the whole life, the resultant total activities, to be predominance of the protoplasmic processes, either on the side of disruption or construction. This conclu- sion has still to receive cumulative proof, but one large piece of evidence is forthcoming. ... If influences favoring katabolism make for the production of males, and if anabolic conditions favor females, then we are strengthened in our previous conclusion that the male is the outcome of predominant katabolism and the fe- male of equally emphatic anabolism."* It will be seen from this above quotation that these authors incline to the view that sex can be influenced by the nutrition of the parent organism. We have shown that at least as far as the higher animals are concerned this view is to be discredited. It is desirable that at- tention be more particularly directed to the rejection by them of all theories of "inherent maleness or female- ness, ' ' and their advocacy of the view upon which the thesis of the present volume to a degree depends and with which it has been attempted to impress the reader; namely, that maleness is the outcome of katabolism and femaleness of anabolism, or as it was concluded from the data adduced in the previous chapter, the essen- tial distinction between the sexes is functional rather than morphological. Maleness, Katabolism; Femaleness, Anabolism To put the results of this chapter still more succinct- ly and accurately, it may be said that in the end and es- sentially, maleness, rather than the outcome of kata- bolism, is katabolism itself, and femaleness is ana- bolism. But since in every organism and cell anabolic and katabolic processes are proceeding simultaneously, The Essential Nature of Sex 173 all cells and organisms are hence both male and female, that is, hermaphroditic. We thus find that in ap- proaching the problem of sex from the standpoint of metabolism we necessarily arrive at the same conclu- sion reached after the consideration of an entirely dif- ferent group of facts in the chapter on hermaphro- ditism, namely, the essential hermaphroditism of all organisms and cells, including, of course, the germ cell itself. The ovum is thus both male and female, dis - pla ^g superficiall£.j La^]iahQlk.trPTiii, buluLalLproi?- S MiKf, as has been shown in the chapter on rhythm, the germ plasm-aIt£rnat,in>nrit,iTnatelv fromlmal^ess to femaleness. Wli£njraceJtiie,JacLthat.sex js not the resuH of but rather is a state of metabolism become s cTear, a ttoo d of li^ht is thrown upon the whole question ot Its determination by nutrition. We see first why it 'mnnvtr' Ve~determined by aitenn ^''ltUtrtttUW^''Ti:ndrW'e detect next the reason why the scientif ic worldTseem s fo S6 per sist ently jeei mat it can . Failure after failure has been the only result of a long line of such experi- ments, yet they will not down. Just as often as the th esis that sex may be determined by alt ering nutrition ha°s been msposed of, just as,j}|tfijLagajyB„is it offered. What^ismore common to-day among biologists th an the observation that sex is largely a^^istinction of met'aboIiSgrT what, tJien, could be ihore ha fufallhan the^cohclusion "To "pro3uce a definite se^^ alter metabolism.'' ' " ""' " "" «---~»~.»»-^- ~It has"b"e5TEI supposed that anaboli c qualities were the cause ot femaleiieijS, katabolic qualities the cause of maleness! This view is entirely too superficial! Aiia- bol ic qualities , as has been notecr~are"lemalen e^s. katab olic qualities are male ness. We cannot discon- nect them and have remaining any definite sex at all, any more than we can take the form, color and fra- 174 Sex: Its Oeigin and Determination grance from the flower and still have left either the qualities of the flower or the flower itself. Hence, if a cell or organism has acquired a katabolic trend, we can- not change such a tendency no matter how early we may begin by extra nutrition, any more than by paint- ing a yellow rose red we can make it really a red rose. It is still a yellow rose, only superficially covered with an artificial pigment. So we may feed a tadpole destined to develop into a male frog all the rich and tempting food we can induce it to take, and yet it will not turn out a female. We may alter the diet of the human mother, yet if the cell that chances to be fertil- ized is trending in a katabolic direction, nothing can change the essential maleness of the developing organ- ism to f emaleness. In my resume of the many different theories of sex determination that have been offered the world, one author was quoted who dispairingly con- cluded that to determine the sex of a child one would not only have to begin by altering the mother's diet be- fore the child was conceived, but it would be necessary to go still farther back, alter the child's grandmother's diet before the mother was conceived, or even to make it more certain alter the great-grandmother's diet before the grandmother of the child whose sex we might wish to determine was herself conceived. Amusing as this suggestion seems, it, nevertheless, shows clearly that its author possessed an intuition of what I believe to be an important truth; that is, sex cannot be de- termined by such methods, simply because it is impos- sible to begin far enough back. Suppose one were suc- cessful in carrying out such an interesting experiment in dietetics, what effect could that have upon the germ plasm? Would it not be necessary to alter the meta- bolism of the ovum itself, its parent cell, the parent cell of the parent cell, and so on back for uncountable generations? The Essential Natuee of Sex 175 The Sex Cycle of the Oerm Plasm It was shown in the chapter on Hermaphroditism that the ovum must be hermaphroditic. Furthermore, since, even in a normal hermaphroditism qualities of one or of the other sex must be at any one time domi- nant, the more intimate the hermaphroditism is the more necessarily alternating it is. The ovum, being the most intimately hermaphroditic structure we know, must therefore be necessarily alternating in its sexual trend. This is what I have chosen to call the sex cycle of the germ plasm, and it formed the title of the paper'" I published in 1906-1907. The present chapter un- dertakes to demonstrate that this sexual alternation of the germ plasm must be of a metabolic character, since it has been shown that sex distinction itself is funda- mentally but a distinction of metabolism, or, as was concluded in the chapter on Hermaphroditism, the es- sential distinction between the sexes is functional rather than morphological, maleness being ever asso- ciated with a primitive katabolic trend, and femalenesa being a primitive inherent anabolism. This being true, we should suppose that the sex cycle of the germ plasm might resemble in some way or pre- sent an analogy to the anabolic and katabolic cycle which is constantly present in multicellular or- ganisms. This is undoubtedly really the case, and it is plainly unnecessary to postulate some mysterious interplay of cellular forces, when we have at hand this cycle of metabolism so plainly manifested in all animal life, from the simple cell up to man himself ; and especially when it has been shown that these conditions of anabolism and katabolism, passivity and activity, are so extremely typical of the sexes. 176 Sex: Its Origin and Determination The Argument Restated and Extended In no ova which normally undergo fertilization has sex been detected prior to fertilization. On the other hand, embryologists have traced the existence of sex distinction in the embryo back to almost the time of fer- tilization. Sex, therefore, is determined at or near this time. However, since fertilization constitutes the crisis in the life of any particular ovum, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the sex of the future embryo is decided at exactly the moment of this crisis. As was noted in Chapter V, in our study of twins, Shultz, as long ago as 1854, showed that irrespective of the number of individuals, there could arise from one egg but one sex. Any egg, whether single, double or partially cleft, can be fertilized by but one spermato- zoon, and therefore can be fertilized but once. Con- joined twins, of whose origin from the same egg there can be no doubt, are always of the same sex. But some- times, notwithstanding the fact that they must have originated from a simultaneous fertilization, they dif- fer remarkably in other characteristics. The hermaph- roditism of the ovum has been proved; that the spermatozoon can have nothing per se to do with de- termining sex is generally admitted. We are now pre- pared to group our results thus far within a single statement — thus: It is possible to have a double her- maphroditic ovum, capable of but one impregnation by but one spermatozoon, fertilized; with a resultant de- velopment of two individuals, which, originating from two divisions within the same egg, fertilized at the same time, and acquiring sex distinction at the same time, may differ in other characteristics, but are always and necessarily of the same sex. There is but one con- clusion to be drawn from this: Sex is determined at The Essential Natuee of Sex 177 and hy the time of fertilization. If this statement is coordinated with, the results of the present chapter, the words "by the time of fertilization" wUl be seen to mean nothing else than the time with reference to the metabolic period through which the germ plasm hap- pens to he passing when fertilization takes place. If it is katabolic, the embryo is male and the developed or- ganism exhibits katabolic or male qualities ; if the ovum is passing through an anabolic stage, the opposite sex is the result. The question now arises. What was the origin of the sex cycle of the ovum? If it can be shown that in the course of evolution of animal life from the primitive single cell to the developed organism conditions of cos- mic enviroimient were ever so grouped that some such cycle naturally resulted as one factor in the struggle for existence to which all life is subjected, such a demonstration would not only constitute the last link in the chain of my argument, but would, in supplying a clew as to the possible length of time through which that cycle moves, suggest in turn the use that might be made of it in the practical control of sex. In the suc- ceeding chapter the possible evolutionary basis of this metabolic rhythm of the germ plasm will be discussed. REFERENCES lElxis, Havelock. — ^Man and Woman. 2B18CHOFF. — ^Man and Woman. 3FI80IT and Howitt. — ^Kamilaroi and Kumai. 1880. 4BANCE0FT, H. H. — ^Native Races of the Pacific States. VoL L sBiEBQtnBEi. and Rodieb. — Tait^ de Chimie Pathologique. 1854. •Yooir and Beblioz. — ^Revue Med. Vol. VIII. tMcKerdbick and Wosus. — ^Archiv des Vereins fiir gemeinsehaft. Arbeiten zur Fordenmg der Wissen. Heilkunde HI. sThompson, J. Abthdb. — Outlines of Zoology. Chap. IV. sThompson and Geddes. — ^The Evolution of Sex. Chap. n. ioReed, T. E.— The Sex Cycle of the Germ Plasm. N. Y. Med. Times. Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec., 1906. Jan., 1907. CHAPTEE IX The Determination op the Sex Cycle The Equality of the Sexes presupposes Equal and Alternating i Time Periods.— The Eelation of Vital Functions to Tidal Periods. — The Aquatic Origin of Life. — The Twelve-hour Lunar Cycle. — The Lunar Month. — The Influence of the Lunar Month in Acute Disease. — ^The Influence of the Lunar Month in the Sexual Life of Man. The Determination of the Sex Cycle We are now in a position where it may be assumed as proved that sex is determined at and by the time of fer- tilization. The implication is, of course, that occurring at one time the offspring will be female and at another time male. The general equality between the sexes compels the conclusion that these time periods must be approximately equal. This may be readily illustrated. Let us suppose merely for the sake of an illustration (for we do not believe either of these hypotheses ten- able) that girls are conceived one hour and boys the next, or that one sex is the result of impregnations tak- ing place during one menstrual month, and the opposite sex the result of impregnations taking place during the succeeding month. The sex thus depending upon regu- larly alternating, equal time periods. Other things being equal, it now follows that the periods of time during which individuals of one or the other sex may be conceived being equal, the sexes in the aggregate must maintain approximate equality in num- bers. But from the same reason a continual fluctuation must be expected; at times a greater number of boys will be bom, again the girls will predominate, the very 178 The Detebmination of the Sex Cycle 179 law of chance which maintains an approximate equality between the sexes preventing, except for very short periods of time, an actual equality. To make this point clearer, let us suppose that a coin is tossed into the air. At every toss the chances of its falling "heads" or "tails" are equal. If the experiment is continued, one or the other will predominate, but in time this lead will be gradually lost, and an exact equality will be reached. This equality will not be long maintained; the other side of the coin will soon show the greater number of times, and after predominating for a time the process will be repeated with the same result. There is thus a continual fluctuation from one to the other side of an equality or equilibrium not unlike the stroke of a pen- dulum. Now, it is evident that whether one or the other face of the coin is found in the lead will depend al- together on when the experiment is discontinued. In the same way, there being an equal chance for the con- ception of males and females, it is also evident that a predominance of the male or female sex will depend al- together on when and where the statistics are taken. (It may be remarked in passing that statistics col- lected by numerous authors, showing a slight pre- ponderance of male births over female in many differ- ent parts of the world, offers no serious objection to the present position taken or to the theory proposed in this volume. In an appropriate place this will be consid- ered and its agreement with our general thesis set forth.) However important a minor preponderance of male births may be, it has been conclusively demonstrated in this volume and by Starkweather and others that any theory of sex determination must explain the general equality in numbers between the sexes. It has also been shown that if we suppose the sex distinction to 180 Sex: Its Origin and Detebmination depend upon the time of impregnation, this equality is accounted for. Looking at the question from this point of view, we conclude that in the first place should the time of impregnation be a determining factor, it could not, for obvious reasons, depend upon any artificial di- vision, such as the hour or the week, except in so far as this artificial division expressed some definite relation to a natural period of time. We must, therefore, look to some natural time cycle in the external world, such as the regular alternation of day and night, the lunar month, or the year ; or we must attempt to determine whether or not sex is influenced by the time of impreg- nation, in its relation to some natural cycle of change within the organism itself, such as rest and fatigue, hunger and satiety, wakefulness and drowsiness, the regular period of digestion, excretion and secretion, the rise and fall of sexual desire, the anabolic and katabolic cycle through which every organism is constantly mov- ing; or whether by its relation to that great cycle in women, the menstrual month. Finally we must con- sider whether or not sex may be determined by any periodic change with the germ plasm itself. We may first eliminate the year as being too long a cycle to consider ; furthermore, experiments devised to show any possible effect of temperature on sex have yielded but meagre results. The lunar month must also be rejected as a factor in the determination of sex for the same reason ; it constituting too long a period, and thus failing to account for double conceptions or preg- nancies where both sexes are represented. The theory of Busing and Thury, that sex is determined by the time of impregnation with respect to the menstrual crisis, has been discussed and the unfavorable verdict of Schroeder already referred to. Impregnation with respect to the time of the solar day may be dismissed The Deteemination of the Sex Cycle 181 without much comment. It is probably not unreason- able to believe that the time of day may exert some in- fluence on plants, but it has never been shown to exert any influence over animal life, as far as the determina- tion of sex is concerned. The other factors, such as hunger or fatigue, or, in brief, any superficial somatic variation in the female organism, as we have pointed out, in all probability do not exert any influence what- ever upon the ovum; its essential characteristics, whether they be functional or structural, are laid down at its organization, and any variation of nutrition in the parent organism can have no effect upon them. The Relation of Vital Functions to Tidal Periods In a footnote in his "Descent of Man"* Charles Darmn sets forth an observation that is pregnant with suggestion. We deem the entire passage worth italiciz- ing. He says: "All vital functions tend to run their course in fixed and recurrent periods, and in tidal ani- mals these periods would probably be lunar, for such animals must have been left dry or covered deep with tvater, supplied with food or stinted during endless gen- erations at regular lunar intervals. If, then, the verte- brata are descended from an animal allied to the exist- ing tidal ascidians, the mysterious fact that with ihe higher and now terrestrial vertebrata many normal and abnormal vital processes run their course according to lunar periods, is rendered intelligible. A recurrent period, if approximately of the right duration, when once gained would not, as far as we can judge, be liable to be changed; consequently it might be transmitted to almost any number of generations. This conclusion, if it could be proved sound, would be curious, for we rould then see that the periods of gestation in each 'mammal, and the hatching of birds' eggs, and many 182 Sex: Its Oeigin and Determination other vital processes still betrayed the primordial birthplace of these animals." Haeckel," after calling attention to tlie fact that the human ovnm is essentially similar to the egg cells of other animals, says: "From the one-celled organi- zation of the human egg and of the eggs of other ani- mals the conclusion directly follows — that all animals, including man, descend originally from a one-celled organism." The Aquatic Origin of Life And again: "The ancestors of the higher animals must be regarded as one-celled beings similar to the amoeba which at the present day occur in our rivers, pools and lakes. The incontrovertible fact that each hfiman individual develops from an egg cell, which, in common with those of all animals, is a simple cell, most clearly proves that the remote ancestors of man were primordial animals of this sort of a form equivalent to the simple cell.'" It is generally conceded that life took its origin in sea water, since only in the great depths of the sea do we find a stability of environment in respect to temper- ature and a chemical culture medium sufficiently pro- longed to permit the development of that form) of pro- toplasm known as gymnocytoda, and it was only by what was, perhaps, a very slow process that variations in the gymnocytoda became sufficiently marked to per- mit of its survival under different conditions, such as in shallower and fresher waters. The bathybius de- scribed by Huxley probably marks an intermediate stage between the gymnocytoda and the lapocytoda, and from the lapocytoda nucleated cell life was no doubt evolved. The view that the primitive home of the remote an- The Detebmination op the Sex Cycle 183 cestors of man was undoubtedly the ocean depths is further strengthened by the fact that the fish constitute the lowest order of the vertebrata, and hence man must have descended from a fish-like type. But the evidence is still more striking when we consider the fact that all life, at least all animal life, can exist only as long as the animal cell enjoys a greater or less degree of aqueous solution. But still another link to the chain of evidence for the view that the depths of the sea con- stitute man's primordial birthplace rests in the fact that not alone must the animal cell enjoy an aqueous solution, but it has been shown by bio-chemistry that this solution is always a salt solution, and a not unim- portant discovery in modem medicine is constituted in the recognition that a deficiency of one or more of these cell salts or an inability on the part of the cells to properly assimilate them results in some disease direct- ly dependent upon such deficiency or a possible reduc- tion in cell resistance and a consequent victory for bacterial infection. It has long been noted by embryologists that the de- veloping organism in the womb of its mother passes through many different stages, recapitulating the line of ancestry of its species. This idea has been so well developed and the process so well studied that it will be unnecessary for us to do more than mention it here. The supreme proof lies in the fact that the ovum before fertilization resembles the simplest of known monocel- lular organisms, from which the vertebrata, of which man is the supreme example, originally sprung. The philosophy of evolution has also taught us that those variations or characters acquired in the later periods of the development of a species are the most easily lost or altered, while those acquired earliest are more re- sistant to internal variations or impingements from the 184 Sex: Its Oeigin and DETEBMiNATioiir environment. Function must precede structure, and while it may be supposed that a function may be in- hibited with greater ease than a structure may be de- stroyed, yet biologically speaking this is not so, since it is impossible to permanently inhibit any function mtJiout certainly destroying the structure which it at- tends. As an example of the marked persistence of functional rhythms in the higher forms of life, respira- tion and the heart beat may be cited; these rhythms persisting with great intensity even under very adverse circumstances. Functional rhythms are preserved ac- cording to the protection they enjoy or the use they subserve. It is not then unreasonable to suppose that while these functional rhythms, fluctuating, as sug- gested by Darwin, according to lunar intervals, may be to a degree lost or distorted in the developed organ- ism, in the more highly protected sphere of the germ plasm they retain all the regularity which characterized the anabolic and katabolic changes in the ancestral cells that inhabited for so many millions of generations the seashores and tideways of our planet. The environment of an organism, as Cunningham has observed, is made up of many factors, great and small as judged by their visible effect, some continu- ous and constant, some variable, some occasional or periodic. Among continuous factors the following may be mentioned: First, the atmosphere, the com- position and character of which is unchanging; second, the water, which possesses the same composition, the same solvent and carrying power; third, gravity, a force of uniform strength; fourth, the earth, the character of which changes but slowly within certain limits. If these factors are not absolutely continuous, taking infinite time into account, they are continuous and unchanging as far as millions of generations are The Deteeminatiokt of the Sex Cycle 185 concerned. On the other hand, light and heat are forces which act periodically and with great regularity, but which are constant only within wide limits. I feel, however, that the alternate water and air environment to which the ancestors of all land-dwelling animals were so long subjected, has not been sufficiently taken into account. The Twelve-Eoxir Lunar Cycle This early rhythm established by the tide cycle, be- ing perpetuated in the germ plasm, necessitates that we assume a twelve-hour period as the basic unit for the departure. This unit has been assumed by me ever since I began these investigations as the correct one, and I believe that my clinical experience, as well as the evi- dence of others, has conclusively proved the correct- ness of this inference. The twelve-hour period is a definite division of the lunar month upon which, what- ever we may assign as the cause, it does seem that many vital phenomena fluctuate. This fluctuation is more easily observed upon a basis of the month than (because of its brevity) upon a twelve-hour basis. While I believe that a twelve-hour organic fluctuation may be clinically demonstrated (as I shall attempt to show its influence upon the process of parturition), as a preliminary note to that discussion, attention may be directed to some facts tending to demonstrate the actual existence of certain organic cycles, the basis of which must be the lunar month. A chapter has been devoted to the general functional periodicity which can be observed in all animal life. As long ago as 1843 Lay cock in an article in the Lancet, after citing a number of examples of vital periodicity, comes to these conclusions: He held that there is a general law of periodicity regulating the vital move- 186 Sex: Its Obigin and Detebmination ments in animals ; that the approximate periods within which these movements take place can be calculated; and that this unit must be considered to be one day of twelve hours. He believed, further, that the lesser pe- riods were simple and compound multiples of this unit in a numerical ratio analogous to that observed in chem- ical compounds, and that the fundamental unit of the greater period was one week of seven twelve-hour days, equal to one-half of a calendar week. While these as- sertions are rather dogmatic it would seem that in so far as this period of twelve hours and seven half days are simple divisions of the month, they are important. Taking the mean lunar month of twenty-eight days and dividing it, we have as important periods the two weeks or fourteen day period, one week, three and a half days or seven twelve-hour periods, and finally the shortest cycle of twelve hours. The longest cycle of one month corresponds to one revolution of the moon, from the perigee to the apogee and back to the perigee, or a complete cycle of spring and neap tides, while the twelve-hour cycle represents one complete ordinary tide cycle, corresponding to the upper and lower transit of the moon. The Lunar Month The dependence of many phenomena of animal life upon the month or some natural division of the month is very marked. The average time occupied in hatching the eggs of many species of insects is three and one-half days. In some insects the period is one week and a half, as, for example, the black caterpillar. Others require from two to six weeks. The larvae period of the bumble bee is exactly seven days, the moth six weeks, and the com- mon black caterpillar six weeks. The wood piercer bee The Detebmination of the Sex Cycle 187 is in the larval state four weeks. The hen lays eggs for three weeks and sets on them three more. Albini found that hens after separation from the cock for the first week laid nothing but fertile eggs, but on the ninth and tenth days both fertile and infertile eggs were laid. On the twelfth day all the eggs were infertile, but fer- tile eggs would again show and were laid even as late as the eighteenth day. From which we gather that the days having the highest average of fertility were ap- proximately the seventh and fourteenth. The goose lays for two weeks, but sets four. The pigeon sets for two weeks after having laid two weeks. The period of incubation for the ostrich egg is exactly six weeks after four weeks of laying. In the higher mammals there are so many conditions which may re- tard or hasten birth, that the period of gestation is not very accurately determined. Where it is, we generally find it limited by a definite number of months or weeks. Laycock in one hundred and twenty-nine species of birds and animals found only four exceptions to this rule, while sixty-seven were rigidly exact.* *One of the most striking examples of the dependence of animal life and reproductive functions upon the month is that of a small marine worm {palola viridis) found off the shores of the New Hebrides, chiefly the islands of Samoa and Fiji. These worms live in the crevices of the coral reefs at a depth of about ten to twelve feet. In October and No- vember on the day on which the moon is in her last quarter, and the day before, they rise to the surface of the water in vast swarms in order to spawn. At this time they are gathered by the natives, who bake them in leaves and esteem them highly as a food. They are called by the natives, Mabalolo Lailai, and Mabalolo Levu. The former name designates the October swarm; and the latter name, meaning larger, designates the November swarm, which is manifested by a much greater number of the worms than is the October. Our information on the palolo viridis is as yet very meagre. Some authorities say that the spawning takes place at dawn on the four days above mentioned; others say it bears a definite relation to the tides. In all probability the latter information is the more correct. We thus observe a, striking dependence on the month of two animal functions separated very widely in the scale of nature; the palolo viridis and menstruation in woman. Is it likely that these two important facts can be a mere coincidence ? 188 Sex: Its Origin and Detebmination The Lunar Influence in Disease For a number of generations it has been noticed that infectious fevers present certain periodic fluctua- tions, I have been in the habit of noting these periodic changes in many forms of acute disease. In some it seems to be more easily recognized than in others. The ones where it is the most easily observed are those which depend upon a bacterial infection. In very acute diseases we have noted that the termination of a full week generally brings a critical day. A distinct change usually occurs either for better or for worse at that time. To a lesser degree this is true of the end of the three and a half day period. Convalescence is often es- tablished at the end of the first or second week; or when death takes place, it is more likely to occur on the seventh, fourteenth, or twenty-first day, or perhaps the fourth, eleventh, or eighteenth, and so on. These changes in the character of the symptom complex are not, perhaps, so noticeable to the general practitioner as they would be were all diseases allowed to run their natural course. The solar day of twenty-four hours is the pathologi- cal period most generally observed by physicians. Some disease symptoms do seem to be regularly ag- gravated or lessened at certain times of the solar day, but we believe this may be due to some daily regulation in the habits of the patient, rather than to any other in- fluence. I believe that a gain would result from the adoption of the twelve-hour cycle (without reference to the solar day), as the shortest pathological period, then a three and one-half day period, a seven-day period, two weeks, and finally one lunar month. The Incubation Periods in Infectious Diseases The incubation periods of infectious diseases should show some evidence of being affected by these anabolic The Detebmination of the Sex Cycle 189 and katabolic cycles. I have frequently scanned tables of incubation periods as they, are given in various works on diagnosis or practice. It is to be regretted that there seems to be considerable disagreement be- tween them. As there must of necessity be so many extraneous factors influencing the incubation period of an acute infection, to say nothing of the internal in- dividual resistance, perhaps the true periods can only be known from the averages of a much wider series of observations than have yet been made. In my own practice I have always made with every case of acute infection coming under my care careful observations and inquiries with respect to this factor, and in my opinion incubation periods of infectious disorders be- tray the effect of the anabolic and katabolic lunar cycle. That is to say, three and one-half days, one week, ten and one-half days, two and three weeks, or rarely one month. A careful review of the incubation periods cited in various text-books will (although it must be admitted that the status of the whole question is rather in- definite) if averaged support my own observations. Their relation to the monthly metabolic cycle or from another point of view the twelve-hour lunar cycle is clearly indicated. The incubation of typhoid is from seven to twenty-one days ; varicella fourteen days ; vac- cination twenty-four hours while the papule will make its appearance on an average three and one-half days after the operation. Small-pox has an incubation period of from seven to fourteen days. Scarlet fever averages three and one-half days ; measles, ten and one- half days;, while roetheln, or German measles, has about the same period. Whooping cough will average about ten and one-half days. The average of dengue is probably three and one-half days. 190 Sex: Its Obigin and Determination A United States Army commission after a careful investigation found that yellow fever varied from forty-one to one hundred and thirty-seven hours, from ■which we find the average to be three days and seven- teen hours, or close to three and one-half days. The average of hydrophobia is two months. Diphtheria may show itself as early as three and one-half days after exposure or as late as ten and one-half days. One week would thus constitute a mean. The incubation period of typhoid is from seven to twenty-one days, the average being fourteen. The Lunar Influence in Acute Fevers But it is in the progress of the ordinary acute infec- tions, when we observe them through a fairly typical course, uninfluenced in marked degree by radical treat- ment that the influence is the more striking. It has been observed by physicians for generations that regu- lar seven-day changes do occur in some fever cases. A careful study of the phenomenon has, however, as far as I am aware, never been made. In my own opinion, the longer continued and more grave the case, the more perceptible are these periodic fluctuations; but by the careful observer they may be detected in every form of acute disease, from the simple cold to the most malig- nant typhoid. Not only is the seven-day period easily recognized, but the seven times twelve hours, or three and one-half days period, may be noticed. The ordi- nary acute coryza is marked by regular stages ; first, a congestive stage, lasting about twenty-four hours, fol- lowed by a stage of serous discharge, lasting two and one-half days, in all three and one-half days, or one- half week ; a third stage, characterized by muco-puru- lent discharge, which lasts three and one-half days, completing the week. This in a typical case with an in- dividual of average vitality. The Deteemination of the Sex Cycle 191 In scarlet fever, supposing the incubation period to be seven days ; from invasion to full height of fever and eruption, is usually three and one-half days, and from that until the disappearance of these conditions an- other three and one-half day period. Desquamation can scarcely be complete before two weeks. Thus, counting the stage of incubation, a whole month of twenty-eight days is usually required to complete a simple case of scarlatina, and this in distinctly marked periods of three and one-half and seven days. The fever may rise anew from the setting in of new compli- cations, but these cycles will still be manifest to a com- plete recovery of the case.* "Hippocrates noticed that the crises in acute disease, or as he called them critical days, were likely to occur in some definite division of the month. He says: "In slight fever, accompanied with headache, with other attendant symptoms, bile predominates. When those attacked suffer much in the commencement, and the pain augments on the fourth and fifth days, the fever will subside on the seventh day. "Fevers terminate in a crisis in the same number of days in which the sick die or escape. When of the mildest character, accompanied with favorable symptoms, they finish on the fourth or sooner; but if dangerous in their nature and in their accompanying symptoms, death ensues on the fourth or before. This is the first period. The second extends to the seventh day, the third to the eleventh, the fourth to the fourteenth, the fifth to the seventeenth, the sixth to the twentieth. This order of diseases then (acute) extends to twenty days by intervals of four, which, however, are not to be strictly and rigorously enumerated. The months and years do not exactly coincide in their subdivisions. . . . When jaundice occurs in ardent fever, on or after the seventh day, with difficult yet abundant expectoration (and this happens in other fevers also), and the fever does not decline, it denotes that instead of terminat- ing as above, an abscess will form or some great tumor, with severe pains, or a colliquation from the febrile heat of the humors." It will be noted that he says that the order of critical days extends to twenty days by intervals of four, but that of these intervals seven and fourteen enters so that, perhaps, what was really meant was, that the critical moment began at the close of three and one-half days, in that he observed that a number of acute conditions are concluded on the fourth or sooner. Again in Chapter III he says : "Exacerbations and remissions in ardent fever indicate its prolongation, and if of great violence, the probability of death. Other ardent fevers without remissions are less dangerous, and terminate on the seventh or four':eenth day. Tertian fever usually terminates on the seventh accession. If, in violent fevers, jaundice ap- pears on the seventh, ninth, or fourteenth day, it is favorable, provided a hardness does not occur in the right hypochondrium ; if so, it is of a 192 Sex: Its Obigin and Detebmination The Lunar Cycle in Typhoid In this way these periods can be traced through all acute diseases, as measles, pneumonia, erysipelas, mumps, etc., and fevers of every nature ; but very per- ceptibly traced through a grave and prolonged attack of typhoid fever. In viewing a case terminating favor- ably, at the end of the first week from active invasion, the fever will take a decided drop to, perhaps, almost normal, but only to rise again in a few hours to a point one or two degrees below the average of the first week, where it will usually remain during the second week. This is repeated at the end of fourteen days, passing through the third week with little or no fever; should the case be unfavorable these changes will be reversed, and it is at these stages that the most reliable prognosis can be made. Again, these changes are very percepti- ble after injuries; should septic poisoning occur, it will most likely make its appearance at the end of seven days ; and should the case resist treatment, death will end all at the termination of fourteen days, or con- ditions may show a decidedly favorable turn at that doubtful character. Acute diseases commonly terminate in fourteen days." Again in Chapter V he says: "If continued fever exacerbates on the fourth and seventh day, and does not finish on the eleventh, it is mostly fatal. Tetanus is commonly fatal in four days, but if that is sur- mounted, health is restored." (Gardeil's trans. Des Crises, c'est-a-dire, Des Jugemens des Maladies ii, 250.) In another work also attributed to Hippocrates (Gardeil, ii, 261, Des Jours Critiques) : we find this remark on a form of fever spoken of as acute jaundice. "Death usually takes place within fourteen days. If this period is surmounted he recovers." And again with reference to critical days in "peripneumony" and in fevers: "It continues at least fourteen days and may reach twenty-one days. On the seventh or eighth day the fever is at its height, the in- flammation softens down and the sputum thickens, though not inva- riably; on the ninth and tenth day, it changes to a palish green, mixed with a little blood; from the twelfth to fourteenth day it is profuse and purulent." In conclusion, with reference to fevers in general, he says: "they have their crises on the fourth, seventh, eleventh, seventeenth and twenty-first The Deteemination of the Sex Cycle 193 time. In fracture and injuries of all kinds, the swelling and inflammation will advance to the end of three and one-half days, when it will commence to decline and dis- appear usually at the close of the seventh day, when re- pair of bone commences. Continuing the consideration of typhoid, it will be noted that in this disease, if it be allowed to run its course uninfluenced by vigorous attempts to maintain what may be considered for the disease an artificially low temperature (which attempts, after all, cannot shorten its course), we may note that the temperature fluctuates in apparent response to two influences, one we may term the daily or solar influence, the other the monthly or lunar influence. Now just as we may study the daily influence by dividing the day into two parts, observing the morning and afternoon temperatures, so we can best study the monthly influence by dividing the month first in two parts, then four, then eight. I might have introduced into this volume tempera- ture charts and case records of my own, tending to sub- stantiate the view that there is a monthly cycle in dis- ease, but I have felt I could carry more conviction by abstracting at random temperature charts from the first text-books at hand.. These were, of course, con- structed without any thought of monthly, weekly or half weekly periods. In studying this question certain factors must be taken into consideration. First, a temperature chart presents only one symptom, and hence proof cannot rest upon it alone. In my practice (and I believe that any physician can verify my position in his own), I have been led to these views not by the variations of any one symptom, such as temperature, but by three and one-half day weekly, fortnightly and monthly variations in the whole symptom complex. Nevertheless, 194 Sex: Its Obigin and Determination that the temperature curves themselves constructed by disinterested observers should so strikingly support the contentions of this chapter, constitutes a fact of great importance. In the first place, it will be noted in glancing at the appended charts that they all represent an approxi- mate completion in weeks. We may assume that on the I I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 I 6 I 7 I a I 9 I 10 I II I 12 I 13 I 14 I 15 I 16 1 17 I 18 I 19 1 20 1 21 122 I aaSSSEaESESEaEaEBEEEBZjSEBffiBaBaBEamBEaCSEBEB Chart 1. — The Generally Accepted Temperature Curve of Typhoid Fever, with Morning Remissions and Evening Exacerbations, the Fever Eising and Decuk- iNG BY Steps. (After Wunderlich.) day previous to the one on which the chart was begun, would probably in some of the examples have shown — had the temperature been taken — a slight rise. On Chart No. 1, it will be observed that the day on which the temperature first touches normal was the twenty-first ; the return to normal in all probability be- ing complete before the dawn of the twenty-second day. In this chart the dependence of the temperature curve on the week or one-fourth division of the month, is also The Deteemikation of the Sex Cycle 195 beautifully shown, since it will be observed that on the afternoon of the eighth day the temperature reaches its extreme height. Having noted that the eighth day is reached without a decided drop in the temperature, the attending physician in this case — ^had he been familiar with the behavior of acute infectious disease in its rela- tion to the month — might have predicted that the tem- perature curve would now show no decided change be- fore the completion of at least another week. Beginning with the ninth day, when the morning temperature reaches its maximum, we note a gradual fall until the morning of the eleventh day is reached, marking here the minor climax of the mean between the seventh and fourteenth days or the three and one-half day cycle. Now, however, the fall in the morning curve having been checked, as is demonstrated by a slight in- crease on the morning of the twelfth, one would be in possession of an additional reason for suspecting that no decided change need be expected before the fifteenth. However, it is interesting to note on the morning of the thirteenth a more decided fall takes place, with a compensating higher rise on the afternoon of the same day, marking a division of the three and one-half day period, or the completion of a forty-two hour cycle. It is at the end of these lunar periods that one notes an attempted readjustment in the struggle between the pathological processes and the natural resistance of the organism. By perhaps the late evening of the four- teenth day this resistance in the chart under considera- tion becomes manifest, as may be gathered by the im- provement shown on the morning of the fifteenth. The slight rise in the morning temperature on the sixteenth we may expect, as being in the nature of a normal re- action or, perhaps, due to disturbed sleep or some other temporary incident. On the afternoon of the seven- 196 Sex: Its Origin and Deteemination teenth we reach the completion of the three and one- half day cycle, marking the mean between the four- teenth and twenty-first day. Here the temperature manifests a decided fall, which continues until we gain the twentieth day, when we note that the decline has been temporarily checked by a critical moment, the completion of the forty- two hour cycle, or approximate- ly one-half of the three and one-half day cycle. How- ever by the evening of the twentieth day the natural re- sistance of the organism has again asserted itself, since, while the morning temperature was no lower than the day before, the evening temperature continues to fall. On the morning of the twenty-first day it will be noted that the curve is complete, the temperature reaching and maintaining a practical normal. It should be observed that these periods I have but- lined constitute at the termination of one or the begin- ning of another a critical moment in the course of the disease. At such a moment the patient gets better or worse, or a sort of truce may be effected and main- tained until the nex{ critical moment is reached. It is impractical in studying a temperature curve to attempt to distinguish lunar phases of shorter duration than forty-five hours, because of the confusing element in- troduced by the daily variations. At least this must prove to be the case until we have some practical way of registering the continuous temperature of a patient. It will, however, be noted from a study of the for- going analysis that the temperature curve of a fever patient constitutes a component of two influences, the lunar and the diurnal. Evidently the morning decline in temperature cannot be attributed alone to the rest of the preceding night, but must be due to a definite daily periodicity in the toxin secretions of the specific bac- teria. This is easy to credit when we remember that The Deteemination of the Sex Cycle 197 bacteria are vegetable products, and all vegetable life tends to fluctuate in accordance with beat and light rhythms ; hence we may suppose that even those bac- teria which, because of variation, have become inde- pendent of light still fluctuate in activity somewhat in accordance with the rising and setting of the sun. However, when we come to consider the animal organ- ism we find that the anabolic and katabolic phases still betray the influence of the primordial birthplace of all terrestrial life, the tideways of the sea, and hence we might expect to find and clinically do find that metabol- ism in the animal organism fluctuates in positive and negative phases in accord with definite lunar periods. Hence, other things being equal (that is, after eliminat- ing mental distress, the influence of food, the influence of baths, and all other temporary and local factors or accidents, not overlooking treatment addressed par- ticularly to lowering the temperature), we find that the temperature curve of typhoid, for instance (since typhoid constitutes a very typical example of an acute infectious disease), pictures the result or component of two metabolic influences: first the diurnal metabolic rhythm of the bacterial organism, next the lunar meta- bolic rhythm of the invaded organism. These influences betray themselves in varying de- grees in different infectious diseases, in typhoid, as has already been remarked, with a fair degree of clearness, since in this disease the toxin production is fairly con- stant; but in other infectious diseases, such as malaria, the development of toxins by the parasite is, on the one hand, so rapid, and on the other such development is terminated so abruptly, that the temperature curve betrays merely the diurnal stages of activity in the ma- larial parasite, and fails to reveal the lunar phases of reaction in its host. 198 Sex: Its Origin and Determination As has been abundantly sbown, pyrexia may be due to causes other than the liberation of bacterial endo- toxins. Among these are fibrin ferments, but when this ^^ 7" 1 'R ^ Ji H «s ' N y % N K «>< d i» >• < — V \ ^ ' ■ 1 § II II 1 § h^k k s 1 occurs the periodic reaction of the organism is still evi- dent. I copy a temperature chart (Chart 2) of T. Mc- Grae's from Adami's pathology*, slightly but immate- The Detebmustation of the Sex Cycle 199 rially modified, which shows this very clearly. This chart is thus peculiarly interesting in that the curve be- trays three influences instead of two. First, the thermic reaction to the absorption of fibrin ferments from a thrombosis, complicating the typhoid; next, the ordi- nary diurnal reaction, so striking in typhoid, and finally the three and one-half day cycle reaction of the organ- ism to both influences. c/mSm / a 3 •i ^ 6 7 f 1 fff ii '< II ^ HT lb If It If St a/[ W HiF fi\r fns IMF M .F MF /HF «F KP liF MF 1 T. F. 107 '106' 106' 1 1 J r 1 10*' J ~r I 1 1 Til II 1 J 1 1 "MT HI J / II 1 T '" t ^ /■ 1 1 T t 7^ f 1 1I / 1 t03" h 1 1 r^yr K ir 1 11 III i 1 1 1 J J J I 1 J_J 102' ll J il 1 LI II H u 1 V 1 1 100' 1 09' 88' __ „_ -l_, ... Chart 3 Beginning with the twenty-fifth day, we note the or- dinary typhoid curve continuing until the afternoon of the thirty-first day, completing practically a seven-day cycle of two three and one-half day phases, the first a negative phase, as denoted by the continued high tem- perature, the second a positive phase, as denoted by a continued low temperature, representing the positive 200 Sex: Its Oeigin and Determination or favorable reaction of the organism. But at some time between the afternoon of the thirty-first day and the morning of the thirty-second, a sharp rise takes place as the result of the absorption of fibrin ferments from a complicating thrombosis. The course of the temperature, as a consequence of this complication, completes a reverse curve within three and one-half days, the first half of the curve constituting a negative phase, the second half a positive phase, after which the typhoid diurnal fluctuation is again resumed. In studying the lunar temperature rhythms, it is necessary carefully to place the end of the incubation period and the commencement of the period of in- vasion. The physician, of course, in many instances sees the patient for the first time after he has been run- ning a temperature for a varying length of time — per- haps even a week. In a consideration of the above chart (No. 3), also from Adami, it is safe to assume that the temperature began to rise one or two days prior to the rise shown on the chart. Assuming one day, we expect to find the sixth, thirteenth and twentieth days as marked constituting the critical days. On the sixth day it will be noted the period of invasive rise is completed. On the thirteenth day we observe a lower morning tem- perature than any day since the fourth, and an after- noon temperature but one-fifth degree higher than any afternoon temperature for the week previous. The average decline on the thirteenth day is thus striking. By the morning of the twenty-first day an improvement may be noted, the genuineness of which cannot be doubted when it is observed that the corresponding evening temperature shows itself to be lower than any day since the second. In this instance we observe a complete seven-day phase between the morning of the thirteenth and the morning of the twentieth ; that the The Determination of the Sex Cycle 201 chart does not show the improvement until the morning of the twenty-first does not gravely invalidate the thesis, since, as has been before remarked, it is merely the general tendency toward the grouping of the phe- 9 u E , . . V u F , . s u 1 ■ " IE : ::::.;;!.::... s u .... = ; £ s u ' >k E ,, ,:. 5! hi % ; i S U £ . 1 s u , £ i ' ■ 1 , ± s u := ; n Ul ? 3! ,>L a u . ... a ; Jn u E . ;:» s u £ u E : :i:;:;i:::::: s u £ i 5; u i ; S <0 u ' X S ■ f ' 1 m s s u f ' ■ ' ■ 1 1 s u ■ ■■■; ; — F cu u . .: i : : i:::::::::::: £ . i: i? u S . ! : ' s u ■ =1 St £ ' f , s u :^ E ^ ut % ::i ; £ Ul 5 % = u ' £ : ;;: : * u . !. . ii ' i2 u is ■ -T 1 ;-■ ■ ~ u ■ : 1 s = u 1 : ' s : 2 u gj f n u ■ ; ■ ■ f o u . • £ il S S 3 o S S S m K W 1" Q O IS nomena of infectious disease in such phases that I wish to demonstrate. Thus in this chart, incomplete as it is, these metabolic rhythms may be clearly observed. 202 Sex: Its Obigin and Determination The more complications there are arising in the course of the exanthemata the more the lunar phases are obscured. In the preceding chart (No. 4), from Goodno'', the period of invasive rise is not shown, but it will be noted that the attack is completed in a period of weeks. Here the phases, because of probable compli- cations, are it is true, not clear, yet on study the chart in this respect will prove to be not without interest. The period of invasion is evidently complete by the eighth day, on the fourteenth day a comparatively low morning and afternoon temperature signal a critical moment, and would tend to give rise to the hope that a genuine improvement might now be expected. How- ever, the temperature on the fifteenth day demonstrates the temporary over-riding of the mechanism of re- sistance by the toxic processes. Nevertheless, an im- provement ensues, which continues by steps until the twenty-first day is reached, when it is again sharply cheeked. The low temperature on the twenty-third and twenty-fourth is disconcerting, but the twenty-eighth day is again marked by an improvement, which, how- ever, does not continue, and it is not until the morning of the thirty-fifth day that a new low level is attained defining the end of the fifth seven-day phase. A sharp rise in the afternoon of the thirty-fifth indicates a re- lapse which does not, it will be observed, complete its course until another seven-day period has been passed through, the temperature curve thus completing its course in practically six weeks, each seven-day interval marked by a critical period in the disease. In chart No. 5 (see p. 203), also from Goodno, we have pictured the curve of an abortive typhoid. Here the curve divides itself very clearly into two seven-day periods, the phase of recovery beginning on the seventh day, continuing to the afternoon of the ninth, the after- The Determination of the Sex Cycle 203 noon of the tenth completing a three and one-half day improvement phase, then continuing, with recovery- completed on the fourteenth. A marked decline fol- lowing the afternoon record on the fifth day marks the division of the first seven-day phase. Chaet 5. — Tempebatdbe Chart op an Abohtive Case op Typhoid Feveb, From the Hahnemann Hospital. The Cycle in Yellow Fever On my desk lies the current number of the New York Medical Journal. It contains an interesting address by Charles F. Craig on the nature of the virus of yellow fever, dengue and poppataei fever. The yellow fever temperature charts with which the article is illustrated are interesting in that they represent the temperature curve following attacks of yellow fever produced by the experimental injection of blood from yellow fever pa- tients. These injections produced typical attacks in nine individuals with incubation periods varying from two days twelve hours to five days seventeen hours. 204 Sex: Its Origin and Determination Chart 6 (from tliis article) is interesting in that it shows tirst a most striking seven-day curve begin- ning early on the first day of the disease and continuing H a ■< O to an hour early on the eighth day, after which we ob- serve no further rise of any consequence, a normal tem- perature being reached before the conclusion of the The Determination of the Sex Cycle 205 eighth day, the curve thus running a course of approxi- mately seven days. Eecovery is marked as occurring early on the tenth day of the disease. Altogether, the whole course of the disease may be looked upon as com- pleting itself in approximately ten and one-half days. The next (No. 7) I have been compelled to slightly mutilate. The virus was injected at four P.M. on the sec- ond day prior to the one marked as the first day of the Chart 7. — Temperature Chart of a Case of Yellow Fe\'er PnonrcED BY THE Intravenous Injection of Filtereo Blood from a Yellow Fever Patient. (Rosenau, Parker, Francis, and Beyer.) disease. Beginning with the onset of the fever we find the curve completed by the morning of the eighth day. Recovery is practically complete at the end of the ten and one-half day period following the injection of the virus. Chart 8 (No. 3 of the yellow fever series) is little more than a repetition of Chart No. 7. It will be noted that recovery is marked as occurring just ten days six hours following the injection of the virus, or following an approximate seven and three and one-half day cycle. Chart 9, one of measles, and 10, one of scarlatina, call for no special comment. Chart 11 shows the rise in temperature at the stage of pustulation, beginning at 206 Sex: Its Origin and Deteemination the close of the first seven days in a case of small-pox. It will be further observed by this chart that the tem- perature practically reaches normal at the close of the fourteenth day. I have found the seven-day period very striking in pneumonia, the close of the first seven days constituting a critical moment. This is beauti- fully shown on Chart 12. These charts, similarly to the others, were not especially selected, but were taken from the first volumes of medical reference at hand. Chart 8. — Temperature Chart of a Case of Yellow Fever Produced BT the InTRA'S'EXOUS INJECTION OF FILTERED BlOOD FROM A YELLOW Fever Patiext. (Eosenau, Park, Francis, and Beyer.) The Sex Cycle in Man I have mentioned the fact that some observers have expressed the opinion that there is in man a sex cycle corresponding in some degree to the menstrual cycle in woman. Data on the subject have been until recent years very meagre. The Detebmination of the Sex CTciiE 207 Perry Coste,^ in 1898 investigated very carefully pulse rhythms and found a well-marked monthly varia- tion, From the fact that the female and male pulse curves were the converse of each other, he concluded that it was essentially a sexual rhythm, and thought by tracing the male pulse it might eventually be possible to JAT OF 1 J 8 4 6 6 J 8 Ti Tk U 12 U «»*;• p • p 3pp * > M -* k- "^ — SB I S 3 U ^ v \ . '■■ 1 1 -i _ S3 J - X -.,. 1 . .37» Kt V . ^ Day^ifJHs / jj i 3 ^ J ^ >- 5 y /^ // /z /3 /-ft] -^e* P^ ^W ^MMMm'MWM '"-W^.^fffMi} l^lf-itl BevK yy ^yyy.y.^yy ■-'''k --^K k I JkUe* 1 III Chabt 10. — Tempbeatuke-curve of a Case of Scablatiita with Favorable Course. Patient Aged Seven Years (Anders). fully recorded all seminal emissions over a period of eight years, and partially recorded these events during three other years. The years and number of emissions were: 1886, 30; 1887, 40; 1888, 37; 1889, 18 (not fully recorded) ; 1890, no record; 1891, 10; 1894, 38; 1895, 36; 1896, 36; 1897, 35. Average, 37 (omitting 1886, 1889 and 1891). He examined his data with a view to dis- covering an annual, a lunar monthly and a weekly The Deteemination of the Sex Cycle 209 s&s, ri • a t s 6 7 e pn pSl 12 13 Mil. ia] HtMR A H P M S. t:t Hi A P A yMM PAP M H H A U P M A y p U S£isti:i:|£ A H e ML 5 I - - a h- a"- Mi ^ E p 5 II :i : E 96' \ \ ^h m H E E ^ ^^^^ i 1 Chakt 11. — Clinical Chart of Smallpox Showing Fall of Tem- PBEATUKE Upon the Appearance of the Eruption and its Rise Upon the Incidence of the Stage of Pustulation. (From Wilcox's "Fever Nursing.") teva'Jiblsl.UUIHaUhol llimSBBSSeBSSBSBQaSBMf^fl!^ '#frttn#tttffl JMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE iji 11 1 1 1 m |lO<=:i«ijii:B:»:i = = : H mnllnHMJ+y lioiEEEEEEIEEEEEEEEEEEE |,0f::i:i:ii:i: = :i::i:i: «»:EEEEEEEEEEEEiEEEEEE 9j;.-i:i::i:i:_: :_ii:ii ^"Jlllllllllllll Chart 12. — Clinical Chart of Acute Lobar Pneumonia Showing Crisis Upon the Seventh Day of the Disease. (From Wil- cox's "Fever Nursing.") 210 Sex: Its Obigin and Dbtebmination rhythm, and he proceeds to show that all three rhythms exist. We may in this connection neglect his elucida- tion of the annual rhythm, interesting though it is, as having no bearing in this connection. Since, as he says, the number of discharges are in one year too few to yield a curve of any value he has combined several years in one curve. He says: "The dotted curve on Chart 13 is obtained by combining the results of the years 1886-92. Two of ChAET 13. — ^LUNAE-MONTHLY EHTIHM OP MALE SEXTJAI, FeBIOD. these years are incompletely recorded, and there are no records for 1890 ; the total number of observations was 179. The broken curve is obtained by combining those of the years 1893-97, the total number of observations being 185. Even so, the data are far too scanty to yield a really characteristic curve ; but the continuous curve, which sums up the results of the eleven years, is more reliable, and obviously more satisfactory. The Deteemination of the Sex Cycle 211 If the two former curves be compared, it will be seen that, on the whole, they display a general concordance, such differences as exist being attributable chiefly to two facts: (1) That the second curve is more even throughout, neither maximum nor minimum being so strongly marked as in the first; and (2) that the main maximum occurs in the middle of the month instead of on the second lunar day, and the absence of the marked initial maximum alters the character of the first week or so of this curve. It is, however, scarcely fair to lay any great stress on the characters of curves ob- tained from such scanty data, and we will, therefore, pass to the continuous curve, the study of which will prove more valuable. Now, even a cursory examination of this continuous curve will yield the following results : 1. The discharges occur most frequently on the sec- ond lunar day. 2. The days of the next most frequent discharges are the 22d; the 13th; the 7th, 20th, and 26th; the 11th and 16th; so that, if we regard only the first six of these, we find that the discharges occur most frequent- ly on the 2d, 7th, 13th, 20th, 22d, and 26th lunar days— i.e., the discharges occur most frequently on days separated, on the average, by four-day intervals; but actually the period between the 20th and 22d days is that characterized by the most frequent discharges. 3. The days of minimum of discharge are the 1st, 5th, 15th, 18th, and 21st." In his next chart (No. 14) he has calculated the data into two-day averages. This is more satisfactory, as it enables us to more readily appreciate the strik- ing monthly fluctuation in the emissions, clearly demon- strating a monthly sexual periodicity in man. It will be observed that the maxima occur on the following 212 Sex: Its Origin and Deteemination pairs of days : the 19th-20th, 13th-14th, 25tli-26th, 1st- 2d, Tth-Sth. Perry Coste remarks that "there have been many idle superstitions as to the influence of the moon upon the earth and its inhabitants, and some beliefs, once deemed equally idle, have now been reinstated in the regard of science ; but it would certainly seem to be a very fascinating and very curious fact if the influence of the moon upon men should be such as to regulate the Chabt 14. — Curves of Ltinab-Monthly Rhythm as Smoothed bt Taking Pairs of Dats. spontaneous discharges of their sexual system." It certainly would be curious if the direct influence of the moon could be responsible for such interesting sexual cycles as Perry Coste has discovered. We are not obliged to postulate as an explanation any such direct influence. Yet the moon is responsible, but only through the tidal rhythm once so many ages ago firm- The Determination of the Sex Cycle 213 ly established in all animal organisms during that long period of shore-life undergone in the migration of those organisms from sea to land. The weekly sexual rhythm, since it reveals the tendency either of the monthly lunar cycle to break up into smaller cycles or demonstrates (since the week ex- cept in so far as it is one-fourth of a lunar month is an artificial time period) the tendency of some even short- er lunar cycles to sum up themselves into a longer cycle, is of even greater interest to us in this connection. Perry Coste remarks that it might be supposed that the week, being an artificial division of the month, would show no periodicity, except as such periodicity might be induced by variations in our manner of life de- pendent upon this time period. It is quite obvious that since the day of the week is with references to the lunar month continually changing its relative position, no curve of any great duration displaying a maximum or minimum on any definite day would be observed. This conclusion, as will be seen, corresponds with the result of these investigations. Perry Coste, indeed, failed to find over any very long period any correspondence in the male sexual periodicity with any definite day of the week. This shows clearly the independence of the peri- odic fiuctuation to any weekly changes in the daily life, such as the Sunday rest. But if we look at the matter from another point of view, it may be noted that the week is, after all, not an exclusively artificial division of the lunar month. If the lunar month, as has been amply demonstrated, marks the completion of a sexual cycle in man and woman, then the fourteen-day interval would mark one- half of that cycle, or a negative or positive phase, and seven days would constitute one-half of that. If we suppose the monthly periodicity to be built up of 214 Sex: Its Origin and Determination shorter cycles, the natural division of the week becomes intelligible. After all, it should be clear that there is but one way in which the moon can directly affect the earth, and that is in the production of tides; hence there is but one one way in which it can influence animal life, and that is indirectly through tidal influence. We consider it very unfortunate that this investigator permitted him- self to be confused by the day of the week as a name, thus fatally dissociating his monthly curves from his weekly curves. It is obvious that, with reference to the month, the day of the week (Monday, Tuesday, etc.) is purely artificial ; while, as he amply demonstrates, and as I believe that I have demonstrated (by the ex- aminations of fever charts and a careful noting of the fluctuations in the general symptom-complexes of acute diseases), the seven-day fluctuation is not artificial, but natural. Yet even working from this disadvantageous point of view he was able fortunately to demonstrate a week- ly sexual cycle in man. That such a cycle cannot de- pend upon the day of the week he clearly shows. He says, "The existence of this weekly rhythm being granted, it would naturally be assumed that either the maximum or the minimum would regularly occur on Saturday or Sunday ; but an examination of the curves displays the unexpected result that the day of maxi- mum discharges varies from year to year. Thus it is Sunday in 1888, 1892, 1896. Thursday in 1886, 1897. Tuesday in 1894. Friday in 1887. Saturday in 1893 and 1895. "Since," he says, "the curves are drawn from Sun- day to Sunday,* it is obvious that the real symmetry of •On another chart that I have not reproduced. The Deteemination of the Sex Cycle 215 the curve is brought out in those years only wliicli are characterized by a Sunday maximum ; and, accordingly, in Chart 15, I have depicted the curves in a more suit- able form. ' ' Chart 15. But, as we have before insisted, the day of the week with reference to the lunar month continually fluctu- ated, we cannot consider his finding that the maximum of discharges vary as to the day of the week from year to year an "unexpected result," but one cjuite to be expected. Instead of being charted on a basis of the year, the weekly fluctuation sliould have been charted on a basis of the lunar month. Yet since this disadvan- tageous method has been followed, the fact that a week- ly periodicity has been demonstrated, is all the more remarkable. With reference to Chart 15 he says: "In Chart 15 curve A is obtained by combining the data of 1888, 1892, and 1896 — the j^ears of a Sunday maximum. Curve 216 Sex: Its Oeigin and Deteemination 15, B represents the results of 1894 — the result of a Tuesday maximum — multiplied throughout by three in order to render the curve strictly comparable with the former. Curve 15, C represents 1886 and 1897 — the years of a Thursday maximum — similarly multi- plied by 1.5. In curve 15, D we have the results of 1887 — the year of a Friday maximum — again multiplied by three ; and in curve 15, E those of 1893 and 1895 — ^the years of a Saturday maximum — ^multiplied by 1.5. Finally, curve 15, F represents the combined results of all nine years plus (the latter half of) 1891, and this curve shows that, on the whole period, there is a very strongly marked Sunday maximum. "I hardly think that these curves call for much com- ment. In their general character they display a notable concord among themselves, and it is significant that the most regular of the five curves are A and E, represent- ing the combinations of three years and of two years, respectively, while the least regular is B, which is based upon the records of one year only. In every case we find that the maximum which opens the week is rapidly succeeded by a minimum, which is itself succeeded by a secondary maximum, usually very secondary ; although in 1894 it nearly equals the primary maximum, followed again by a second minimum, usually nearly identical with the first minimum, after which there is a rapid rise to the original maximum. The study of these curves fortunately amplifies the conclusion drawn from our study of the annual rhythm, and suggests that, in at least part of the year, the physiological condition of man requires sexual union at least twice a week. "As to curve 15, F, its remarkable symmetry speaks for itself. The existence of two secondary maxima, however, has not the same significance as had that of our secondary maximum in the preceding curves, for one of these secondary maxima is due to the influence The Determination of the Sex Cycle 217 of the 1894 curve, with its primary Tuesday maxi- mum, and the other to the similar influence of curve C, with its primary Thursday maximum. Similarly, the veiled third secondary maximum is due to the influence of curve E. Probably, any student of curves will con- cede that, on a still larger average, the two secondary maxima of curve F would be replaced by a single one on Wednesday or Thursday." In conclusion, he discusses the possibility of there be- ing some connection between the weekly and yearly rhythms of such a character that the weekly day of maximum discharge should vary in reference to the year. I omit this chart and comments, as I believe there is a possibility that these conclusions represent artefacts ; at any rate they are not of great interest in connection with our present inquiry. Most interesting in this connection, once the weekly sexual periodicity is admitted, is the mid-week maxi- mum to which Perry Coste has called attention. It is, as he says, beautifully demonstrated in curves A and E of Chart 15, and he rightly concludes that had his in- vestigations been carried further, curve F of Chart 15 would have also demonstrated the mid-week maximum. This is remarkably in accord with the temperature charts already cited. The major lunar biological cycles thus may be supposed to be made up primarily of the twenty-eighth day cycle and the three and one-half day period. We thus observe that according to the function affected there is manifested biological cycle within cycle, all dependent upon some definite division of the lunar month and all taking their origin in some rather primitive form or activity of cell life ; the temperature curve being, perhaps, the result of some interaction be- tween bacterial activity and the production of antibod- ies which are themselves the product of certain meta- bolic activities on the part of the body cells. 218 Sex: Its Origin and Detebmination While menstruation is the product, on the one hand, of a metabolic protective mechanism designed to rid the female organism, in the absence of conception, of an anabolic surplus, on the other hand, in the male, the seminal emissions may be supposed to be related to a metabolic increase and activity in the sperm cells. It is just such cell types which might be supposed to re- tain, through inheritance, the primitive metabolic fluc- tuations laid down in their constitutions when as a primitive and simple celled organism animal life mi- grated from sea to shore. Yet if it is desired to add the last word to this thesis it will be necessary to find, if possible, even shorter cycles than those already cited. If cell life retains the stamp of the lunar month, it should also retain the stamp of the shortest division or simplest component of the lunar month, the twelve-hour or tide cycle. As is well known, the apparent revolution of the moon about the earth produces every twenty-four hours two tide maxima. Now, since the only way in which the moon could affect animal life would have been in- directly through the actual result of subjecting our primitive ancestral cells to an alternating aquatic and terrestrial environment, it is necessary to look for the remains of this primitive twelve-hour cycle in the ani- mal organism. EEFERENCES iDabwin, Chableb. — ^Descent of Man. 2HAECKEL. — Evolution of Man. Chapter VI. 3HAECKEI.. — Stammbaum des Menschengeschlechts. 1870. *AoAMi. — Pathology. Vol. 1. 5G0ODNO, WrtxiAM C. — Practice of Medicine. Philadelphia, 1894. «Cbaig, Chables F.— N. Y. Med. Jour., Feb. 25, 1911. tMuzzeb and Keixt. — Practice of Medicine. sPebbt Coste. — ^The Rhythm of the Pulse. University Magazine and Free Reviews. 1898. »Pebbt Coste. — Sexual Periodicity in Man. CHAPTER X The Metabolic Cycle in Labob Labor a Eeproductive Process. — Births in Eelation to Lunar Periods. — Early Observations. — The Determination of the Cj'cle. — The Stages of Labor. — Lacerations. — Case Eeports. The iletabolic Cycle in Labor Having pointed out the presence of monthly, half monthly, weekly and three and one-half day metabolic cycles or phases in the animal organism, it is necessary, if we conclude that such cycles are dependent upon the influence of primitive tide cycles, to round out the argu- ment by a search for some cycle corresponding to the shortest of tide cycles, the twelve-hour cycle. Just in what direction to look for such a cycle is at first not obvious. The study of blood counts, the content of urinary excretion, blood-pressure, temperature curves, and the opsonic index suggested itself as a means of determining the presence of such a twelve-hour cycle if it exists, but certain practical difficulties prevented the investigation of these functions. The nature of these difficulties may be briefly pointed out. In the beginning the lack of technical skill and the time necessary may be mentioned as barring in my own case an investigation of, as an instance, the opsonic in- dex. Next it may be remarked that we have no means of securing a continuous record of any of these meta- bolic functions. For example, it is customary to take the temperature of a fever patient from two to six times a day, but we have no instrument which can be attached to a patient with fever, and being so attached will record on a revolving drum the continuous 219 220 Sex: Its Oeigin and Detebmination temperature. By taking the temperature at intervals we are able to demonstrate the diurnal fluctuations and the weekly and half weekly metabolic cycles, but it would be necessary to possess a continuous tempera- ture record to demonstrate minor underlying fluctua- tions dependent upon short lunar or rather tidal changes. The same objection applies with even more force to the other tests mentioned. "We can, it is true, secure upon a revolving drum continuous pulse records, but to secure such records free from all influences of sleep exercise or food and even mental impressions or perturbations extending over several weeks or months, offered difficulties impossible, at least with the facilities at hand, to overcome. It was, therefore, necessary to resort to ordinary clinical observation. I selected as the subject of that investigation the process of parturition in woman. My observation of parturition with reference to a possible manifestation of the tide cycle has extended over forty years. The process of parturition constituted a favor- able subject for my investigation for several reasons : A general medical practice offered sufficient working material. No special instruments or laboratory facilities were necessary. Parturition is a normal process. It is a very primitive process, being but one phase of the general reproductive processes. Its course is short, usually from six to twenty-four hours ; hence its different stages and phases are easily observed. In its normal course it is so completely automatic that not even the functions of digestion or kidney ex- cretion are less influenced by extraneous factors. The Metabolic Cycle in Labor 221 As it is essentially a casting off of a new body,it is un- doubtedly an example in the higher forms of life of that phase of primitive reproduction characterized by sim- ple cell division. In other words, it constituted in the metazoa a prototype process of single cell division or reproduction in the protozoa. We may, therefore, sup- pose that it would tend to continue to respond because of the influence of obscure inherited rhythms to those influences which might have favored reproduction by division in the primitive tide-water animal organisms. If we assume with Darwin that the vertebrata are descended from some tidal animal, which, as he says, must have been subjected for many millions of genera- tions to such marked alterations in its environment as a complete immersion in sea water followed by a com- plete exposure to the air and sunlight in periods six hours in length, synchronizing perfectly with the incom- ing and outgoing tide, we must admit the possibility of the rhythm then established, being maintained by heredity through as many more generations. Now what effect would this alternate immersion and drying in these tideways have? Would it not produce on these primitive cells alternate active and passive, or anabolic and katabolic effects, states which we see per- petuated in the two sexes even to this day? Flood tide would be a period of activity, of seeking for food, of excretion, of ingestion, of avoiding enemies, and dart- ing here and there, or in earlier times, perhaps as we see the simple cell to-day, floating in the water and re- jecting or seizing and assimilating different bits of food which may happen to drift in its direction. On the other, the ebb-tide marked a period of passiveness or anabolism ; gorged with food which is now building up the organism, immobile and inert, it rests upon the surface of the sands or vast marshy tracts of land very 222 Sex: Its Origin and Deteemination much as Thompson has described the female cochineal insect as resting passive, sluggish and immovable upon the cactus plant. I have already pointed out the marked analogy these alternating states present to the anabolic and katabolic distinction between the male and female germ cells. In this connection it is necessary to call attention to another fact. Parturition a Reproductive Process Flood- tide would initiate in these tidal animals not alone food-seeking activities, but also reproductive ac- tivities. No matter what form we might suppose the tideway organism to have possessed, whether their methods of reproduction were sexual or asexual, the quiet sluggish period incident to the terrestrial phase of their existence would not be favorable for the carry- ing out of sexual activities, whether such activities be considered as copulative, the reproduction by division of simple unicellular organisms, or in the form of egg- laying or other birth processes characteristic of higher life forms. With those forms of animal life that have developed a greater independence of either their aquatic or terrestrial environment and are yet able to exist for considerable periods in either, e.g., the am- phibia, it may be observed that their sexual activities (copulation and the laying of eggs) are still carried out to a great extent in the water. With these thoughts in mind it is not unreasonable to suppose that parturition, being but a late example of a reproductive process so old that its early beginning can be noted in the simple division of unicellular organisms, should retain the traces of this early tidal cycle stamped in its mechanism. We may also assume that actual birth when entirely uninterfered with would more likely take place in that six-hour phase of the The Metabolic Cycle in Labob 223 metabolic cycle corresponding to the active or flood- tide phase as it was laid down in those primitive ances- tral organisms alternately subjected to two striking changes of environment resulting in six hours of ter- restrial torpor followed by six hours of aquatic activity. The Observations of Bering, Eaue ami Uoyne But my attention was first called to this subject long before I ever thought of approaching it from the stand- point of phylogeny. Over forty years ago Hering, of Philadelphia, remarked in the course of a lecture that there was a widespread belief among coast- dwelling peoples that children are more likely to be born when the tide is coming in and the sick to die with its ebbing. He held that his own observation had led him to the conclusion that there was some basis of fact at the root of the belief. I am not aware that Hering ever wrote anything about it, but earlier, in 1865 his friend Raue^ had published a brief article on the sub- ject. In this article it was held that children were born at or about high tide. The idea was suggested by the widely prevalent observation of seafaring people. Hering, by whom my attention was called to the sub- ject, doubtless had read Bane's paper. Raue reported thirty-four cases with but one exception to the rule. Shortly after the publication of Raue's report T. 8. Hoyne^ began to record his cases. He says : "From 1865 to 1870, in over sixty cases, there was but one exception to the rule, where the presentation was a favorable one, and complications wanting. I then ceased taking a record of cases, but in a general way remember to have always consulted an almanac before attending to an obstetrical call. Some two years ago, when speaking on this subject to a physician, he laughed at the idea and said it was all nonsense. I 224 Sex: Its Obigin and Detebmination again commenced keeping a record of cases, and in about fifteen seen since, have noted three exceptions to the rule. In one the presentation was unfavorable, re- quiring the forceps to change it; in another the os was rigid; and in the third there was nothing wrong. "As we have no tide in Chicago, I have been in the habit of taking the time of high tide in New York as my guide, that city being in about the same latitude." The Determination of the Cycle My own geographical position being lat. 39° north and long. 84.5° west, the Philadelphia tide tables were referred to as designating the tide of approximately the same latitude. Sun time being employed, and remem- bering that time and tide travel together, the Phila- delphia time table gave an approximate theoretic tide- table for my latitude and longitude. Every physician should study his own latitude and longitude and govern his investigations accordingly.* It is, of course, true that many points on the same meridian experience high and low tide at different times. The configuration of the ocean bed, the position of a place with reference to the mouth of a river, bays, sounds, gulfs, inlets, etc., make a considerable differ- ence in the time of high and low tide at that place in comparison with some other place, perhaps only a few hundred miles to the north or south of it. The tidal es- tablishment of every point must then be calculated separately. Now, authorities are not quite agreed upon just where, with reference to the earth and the moon, high •We might possibly infer that as the actual tide is said to lag on an average of fifty-six minutes behind the theoretic tide or actual position of the moon, might not also the phases of parturition? Further in- vestigation must decide this point. However, either the tide or moon is suflcient guide in the practical management of labor. The Metabolic Cycle in Laboe 225 tide would be found were the seas of the same depth throughout and the tidal wave unchecked by continents. It is probable, however, that any particular point under these circumstances would experience a high tide at exactly the upper and lower transit of the moon. How- ever, the fact that the real high and low tide do not cor- respond, owing to the conditions already mentioned, with the theoretic tide makes no particular difference as far as this inquiry is concerned. The point of importance is the selection of a twelve hour cycle changing every day in accordance with the tidal or lunar change. As an example, if high tide at Philadelphia occurs at 10 A. M., I have considered 10 A. M. as the time of high tide in my own latitude and longitude. The six hours preceding 10 A. M. were then considered as the positive phase of the tide cycle, they representing the rising tide, the six hours follow- ing the negative phase. That these hours represent what would actually constitute the theoretic tide for the above latitude and longitude is not asserted. High tide at Philadelphia is, indeed, so far behind high tide at other points on the Atlantic coast that there may be an error of an hour or two in this or in any calculation based upon the actual tides. It is possible, therefore, that my selection may have possessed elements of good fortune and that others will find it necessary to work out individually by clinical observation the tidal cycle for their own localities. This necessary confusion incident to any attempt at following the actual tides led me to seek a more exact method of cycle determination. Therefore, during five years I have noted the behavior of parturitions with re- spect to the actual position of the moon, and it is on this basis that my 149 consecutive cases are listed, but since this list was made I have compared every case 226 Sex: Its Origin and Determination with both my accepted tide cycle and with the actual position of the moon,* and I believe that my original method {i.e., taking the actual tidal ebb and flow at Philadelphia) represents better the active and passive phases of parturition. a /i9un <5? mwiie /iese. \ H»ws ^ fnfejsfsifoP/iese, / i 3 ^ ^ 6 / A S *i & f> u n /6 -\ n /S 1 r\ ^ h \i ' \J 7 \J £ A & r* ^ \ B U U 1 L Curve f e fires enfiiiB hours of- iirfh eT- ?asf' ito tuiaeeu.hot taset unier eiseri/af/on. SeseJ on e^anfcs in a.ifual "tiJes. ^•sif7ire,B0. A/ejafii/e,Jff. O^ t/ie jtoaifl^ casta f-tve u>ere Instrumental. £7//ninitHnf these, r/iere retntltj positive TSfia pessii}e Si' neaaT/ve. Chaet 16 Tfce Stages of Labor Obstetricians have long divided labor into three stages, the stage of dilatation, of expulsion and of placental delivery. Of these, the stage of dilatation lasts the longest, usually, in an eighteen-hour labor, from sixteen to seventeen hours. The duration of the stage of placental delivery is from fifteen minutes to one-half hour. For the purpose of the present inquiry 'Compare also page 232, Chart 18. The Metabolic Cycle in Labob 227 the stage of placental delivery will be disregarded and labor will be considered as virtually finished with ex- pulsion. There have been the most surprising differences in estimates of the length of time required for labor. Little is said as to whether or not such estimates are made upon a basis of absolutely normal and uninter- fered with parturitions. Unless this is so their value is considerably reduced. It will be observed, however, that if a general average of the different estimates is struck it comes very near to being divisible by six. The estimates for primiparae, of course, differ widely from multiparas. For primiparae past the thirtieth year Keeker found the average to be 21.1 hours. Disregard- ing age, Spiegelberg for 506 labors found that the aver- age for primiparae was seventeen hours, multiparae twelve hours'. Williams* gives eighteen and twelve hours as his estimate. G. Veit^ has found an average of twenty hours and twelve hours. The averages of Varnier in 2,000 cases are 13.5 and 7.5. In the American text-book of Obstetrics we find the estimate seventeen hours and nine hours. Striking a general average of these five estimates, we have a period of 17.1 hours as the average labor time for primiparae. This, as will be observed, is nearly di- visible by six. For multiparas the average of 10.1 hours is obtained. Varnier 's estimates are far at variance with all other authorities, and to every practical ob- stetrician are evidently too low. Leaving these, then, out of consideration we have as an average of the re- maining four estimates eighteen hours for primiparae and 11.25 hours for multiparae. The average for primi- parae is exactly divisible by six, for multiparae nearly so. It will thus be observed that the average period of labor reveals the primitive tide cycle. My own experi- 228 Sex: Its Obigin and DETBEMiNATioiir ence further bears out these statistics. I have observed that in multiparae labor usually begins in what I have designated the positive or active phase of the cycle and runs through one negative phase, birth taking place in the succeeding positive phase. In many primiparas labor usually begins early in the positive phase, runs through one negative phase and ends in the next posi- tive — the turn of the cycle being the most eventful period. In such an instance the primiparse labor does not differ in principle from the ordinary multiparas labor, except that the labor mechanism makes a longer and more active use of the favorable influence of the positive phase. I believe, however, that the majority of primiparae labors, if uninterfered with, go through a part of one positive phase into a negative, through another positive and negative, birth taking place in the succeeding posi- tive, thus manifesting the effects of two complete cycles, with an occasional case covering three complete cycles, or thirty-six hours, very exceptional cases even doubling this whole period of time, and it is in these ex- tremely tedious cases that the knowledge of the cycles becomes so valuable in the successful management of the case. The following diagram illustrates the course of four types of labor with reference to the tide cycle. l^Z yT^r"^!^ i ^i . . . ! ^ , . . , I ■ « ?= S.ll!»e N.»l'I»n««- " '^' ''• *•• A. Aueruirit^ muJttfuri Ititr. fhn. Sefinninf mtiWh c-^/l- enBint anl. finjr H 3. A linfCf mif7t->/>ara lahr. Onf/uurV ifirs. N.shra'fi C- An «»ttf fi^intipai'a 7a.tcr, tsArs- t P. HV.ouJb'P. H- A a ir. mu'tttanalalor. 6/irs-(tef'^e^sit>r. iArs reef: laier - '- ' \rAeV. a Ar- muTrfpara. lalon t>hft CHAPTER XI Notes on the Management of Labor Inadequate Training in Obstetrics. — Importance of Diagnosis. — Use of the Forceps. — Empirical Observations of the Labor Cycle. — Conclusion. It is an unfortunate fact that the training in our medical schools at the present day in obstetrics is quite inadequate. There is a general feeling among medical students and physicians that birth is a natural mechan- ism that requires but little assistance or interference, and that almost any one, even midwives, may be quite competent to conduct a labor. It is, no doubt, true that the majority of cases of labor will proceed to a success- ful delivery in the hands of any one, but the fact re- mains that a proportion of cases will offer complica- tions. There is no specialty in medicine which requires more skill and judgment than does the specialty of ob- stetrics. It should be given very much more attention than it is by the general practitioner, while in every city there should be men whose work it should be to devote themselves almost exclusively to consultation work in obstetrics. In the management of a labor it is just as important to know when not to act as it is to know when and how to act. It is to be regretted that very many physicians can- not diagnose the ordinary presentations, and they have still less an idea as to the length of time a labor may run or should be permitted to run, and no idea of the varying manifestations of parturitional activity and their meaning. It is safe to say that, barring occasion- al minor lacerations, bad results in obstetrics, under 259 260 Sex: Its Obigin and Detebmination proper management, should be of the very rarest oc- currence. There is no department in medicine in which the responsibility of the physician is greater, because he has depending upon his judgment and actions the life of not one person, but two. Furthermore, there are few situations arising in the practice of medicine more truly of the nature of emergency practice than is the management of labor, and therefore it is all the more important that the physician who does obstetrical work should have a training of sufficient thoroughness to permit him to act not only quickly but with rare judg- ment. Preliminary Examinations Patients should be trained to consult the physician frequently during pregnancy. A careful physical ex- amination should be made, the pelvis measured, heart lesions looked for, and frequent urinary examinations performed. We cannot trust to the primitive labor mechanism, which seems to work so well with animals and savage women, in the highly civilized woman. Diagnostic skill in obstetrics is no more difficult to obtain than is skill in diagnosis in any other department in medicine. Fre- quent examinations should not, under proper asepsis, be feared, chloroform should be used with care and judgment. Morphine may be used in the negative phase of the labor cycle, but should be given with even more care than is chloroform. It is unfortunate that skill in the management of labor is so largely of a negative character, since it often results in the more spectacular interference on the part of the physician, securing him more credit as an obstetrician than is to be had by the more conscientious and careful attendant who is likely to be criticised as being slow. The careful Notes on the Management of Laboe 261 attendant who will not interfere with the natural mech- anism in the case in which nothing complicated or event- ful occurs, will often get but little credit for his pains and will be looked upon as almost a needless expense. Should he rush the case by the application of forceps out of season, with perhaps the result of severe lacera- tion and the necessary^post-parturitional surgery, when the patient finally recovers his great skill in the man- agement of what is supposed to have been an extremely difficult case is admired and commented upon. Through days of blundering the medical profession has taught the laity to accept bad work for good. It is not realized that proficiency lies in preventing trouble rather than good post-parturitional patchwork. It is no mere chance that so many of our modern women are left permanently invalided after a first labor. One of the most important lessons to be learned is to wait, better still to wait intelligently, and when the time arrives that aid is demanded to act intelligently. The obstetrical forceps and chloroform are the two greatest gifts that have been accorded the parturient woman, but it is the timely and judicious use of them that should be most carefully understood. An untimely application of the forceps is a deadly enemy to the child and frequently disastrous to the mother; but a timely use of them may be a blessing to both. There is no reason why the average labor should result in so much pain and injury to the mother that she positively refuses to have another child. Importance of Diagnosis It is an unfortunate fact that many physicians in ob- stetrical practice will apply the forceps before the pres- entation has been definitely determined. The result of this is often a badly injured mother and child. It has been my invariable custom to release the forceps just 262 Sex: Its Origin and Deteemination prior to delivery. I believe in this way many lacera- tions can be prevented. When the uterine contractions are strong and delivery is proceeding normally, I have long made use of a method that has been strongly ad- vocated and brought to the attention of the profession by Wilms,^ of Cincinnati. This is what he has termed a pereneal massage, by means of which the muscles of the pereneum are paralyzed and completely relaxed. This consists briefly of holding back the progress of the head until several contractions have forced it down strongly on the pereneum. These parts are by this method well paralyzed and relaxed. He says : ' ' The in- constant pressure tires out and paralyzes the muscles, when the constant pressure causes increased tonicity. "This is dependent upon a well-known physiological fact. Contraction causes shortening, varying from 65-85 per cent, of the total length of the muscle. Up to a certain point increase of the strength of the stimulus increases the amount of contraction." One or two of my case reports may convey the im- pression that an observation of the cycles results in a necessary prolongation of labor. I should not care to have this conclusion drawn. If there is no abnormality to be noted in the pelvis or presentation, we can afford to wait to a much longer period, since in time no doubt a normal delivery will be effected. But I am not in favor of permitting the parturient woman to suffer a long and tedious labor, and the great value of the ob- servations of the labor cycle is that we are able to inter- fere successfully earlier in the case than would be possible had the active and passive phases not been ob- served. When we observe the variations in activity due to the labor cycle and have made a careful diagnosis, there is no excuse for the unduly prolonged labor. Notes ok the Management of Labob 263 A recognition of an incomplete rotation and partial extension of the labor or a disproportion sufficient to prevent a natural delivery are indications for an early interference. I believe that delivery is favored by the use of a lu- bricant, though I know this point is disregarded by many. I myself make use of pure fresh leaf lard for this purpose, for which I have been criticised as being old-fashioned. But pure lard is aseptic, it does not become gummy, as does vaseline, it is more convenient than oils, and does not dry up quickly, as do some of the more modern surgical lubricants. In my opinion, it resembles in its constituency and consistency more nearly the vernix-caseosa than does any other lubricant on the market. I have never observed any undesirable results from its use in handling very many cases. The uterus and its contents and the pelvic diameters are so nicely adjusted to each other that there is ad- mitted, although it may be slow and sure, a safe pas- sage ; but there are exceptions where the diameters are so illy adjusted one to the other that the physiological process of parturition might be compared to the proverbial passage of the camel through the needle's eye. During the progress of labor it has been demon- strated that as the uterus enclosing the child's head descends into the pelvic cavity, the various diameters are modified, and as a result the head will not be able to descend until the retraction of the womb occurs. This is not possible until a tedious process of mould- ing the head has been concluded. The longer this takes the more protracted the case will be, and frequently al- though in the negative phase, no progress has really been made ; some will seem to have been made on ac- count of an elongation of the child's head. Such cases being usually of a protracted nature the attending phy- 264 Sex: Its Obigin and Detekmination sician becomes impatient and, perhaps, attempts man- ual dilatation and instrumental aid while it is scarcely yet possible to bring the head of the child still enclosed by the uterine walls through the pelvic brim. When these conditions are present it becomes highly im- portant that dilatation and retraction of the os take place before applying the forceps, otherwise severe contusion and laceration must be the result. In these conditions the patient often suffers severe pains, which may be recurring at more or less regular intervals, and yet hour succeeds hour without appar- ent progress in the direction of uterine dilatation. Use of the Forceps As I write there lies on my desk before me a journal containing an article by Sylvester J. Goodman' of Columbus, that will serve as a text for a few comments in conclusion. It is seldom that one observes a paper that so well sums up the general management of labor and use of forceps as does this one. Goodman says that he visited the obstetric clinics of Europe, where he went to learn the application of the various obstetrical instruments and the methods of conservatism as practised by such masters as Werihein, Schauta, Doederlein, Bomm and Leopold. Instead of seeing hundreds of forceps deliveries, he saw midwives deliver thousands of difficult cases with no other in- strument than patient waiting and skilful hands. He cites numerous indications for the use of forceps that I have in these comments omitted, since they can be found in this paper and the text-books. I wish only to comment upon his ideas with regard to the use of for- ceps in the so-called primary and secondary uterine inertia. I believe that primary and secondary uterine inertia, as mentioned in the text-books on obstetrics, are Notes on the Management of Labor 265 nothing more than manifestations of the negative phase in labor. Goodman believes that the forceps are indi- cated in primary uterine inertia, but contraindicated in secondary uterine inertia. Personally I feel that primary uterine inertia is not an indication for forceps, since it is ordinarily but a manifestation of the first negative phase. He rightly says that if a case be let alone secondary uterine inertia wiU often come on, the uterine contractions will grow less and less frequent, finally cease, when the patient will sleep an hour or two, after which the contractions will then commence, and the case will generally progress to a natural de- livery.* But if regular pains are present, no harm fol- lows the use of the forceps, if used by a skilled ac- coucheur, and provided the head is low down in the pel- vic cavity. This is a very good empirical observation of what usually happens in what I term the second or third negative phase. The author is also quite right in advising the forceps in this stage of labor only when the contractions are regular and stronger, since, as I have pointed out, this is a manifestation of the positive phase. Goodman is also in the habit of delaying delivery several hours, if necessary, to prevent laceration. He also favors the liberal use of bromides, chloroform, ether, and believes that they will preclude in many cases the necessity for forceps. He says very truly that too many physicians are willing to sacrifice the future comfort and possibly the life of the patient, in order that they may arrive at the theatre in time. This paper was very ably discussed by Gillespie,^" of Cincinnati. He said, among other things, that one of *This is exactly what did occur in obstetrical case history, number 15, reported in this volume, but forceps aid was resorted to in the active hours following to expedite an earlier termination. 266 Sex: Its Oeigin and Detebmination the dangers often encountered was the idea that uterine inertia was present when it was not. He advises strongly against the use of forceps when there is a lack of uter- ine force. After the forceps are applied and a mod- erate amount of force does not produce the result, he does not hesitate to take them off and wait. He does not hesitate when the labor is a long one to give a good dose of morphine, which secures a period of rest for the patient, but does not advise this when the head is low down, since here undue delay is not wise. Two or three days' labor are rare according to Gillespie, and in most such cases what has been in progress has been merely a false labor. He feels that we have learned a valuable conservatism from the Germans, but that they are not yet equal to the physicians of this country in the proper and scientific interference in tedious labors. I introduce these comments merely to indicate that the men of this country who are doing the best work in obstetrics have observed and are making empirical use of these active and passive phases in labor that I be- lieve I have placed upon a more scientific foundation. The Action of the Uterus Without a knowledge of the mechanism of the labor cycle and its influence upon parturition the attending physician is often greatly puzzled to understand the cause of such complication and delay, and he will al- most certainly find that the case is passing through a negative phase when contractions of the circular fibres predominate and he must wait the turn of the cycle to the positive phase when the longitudinal fibres* will *It may be that the longitudinal fibres do not play such a large part in the uterine expelling power as has been, by some authors, supposed, and on this account the above statement may need some modification. Orey speaks of the middle layer as being the thickest. The external layer is placed beneath the peritoneum. Its fibres run in all directions to the tubes, the broad ligament and the sacro-uterine ligament. Only Notes on the Management op Labor 267 become more active with a complete dilatation and re- traction of the OS uteri. But should the head still re- main impacted from a bad presentation or other causes and the labor likely to be unduly retarded, the forceps may be applied during the positive phase, and by care- ful manipulation, without undue haste at intervals syn- chronizing with the uterine contractions, labor may be brought to an end relieving safely the mother of several hours of suffering. the fibres of the external portion of the outer layer (the stratum sub- serosum) are longitudinal. He says that the deeper layer contains much connective tissue and elastic fibres, particularly in the region of the cervix. Of the circular fibres about the internal os Grey believes a dis- tinct sphincter can be made out. ( Grey's A natomy. ) Piersol, with respect to the muscles of the uterus, says: "The muscular coat, or myometrium, although composed of bundles of involuntary muscle arranged with little individual regularity, may be resolved into a robust inner layer, in which the bundles possess a general circular disposition, and a thin, imperfect outer layer in which their course is for the most part longitudinal. The longitudinal muscle bundles of the feeble outer layer, which is present only over the fundus and the body, are continued beyond the uterus into the tubes and into the broad, round, ovarian and uterosaeral ligaments. The thick inner layer, the chief component of the myometrium, is distinguished by the number and size of the blood vessels that traverse the intramuscular connective tissue, and, hence, it is known as the stratum vasculare (Kreitzer). The bundles of this layer are confined to the uterus, except below, where they become continuously the muscle of the vaginal wall. At the three angles of the body, corresponding to the orifices of the internal os, and the tubal orifices, the disposition of the bundles sur- rounding these openings suggests the existence of distinct sphincters. In other places the innermost bundles are less regularly disposed and are oblique or even longitudinal. Within the cervix the outer longitu- dinal layer is unrepresented, the musculature of this segment consisting chiefly of circular and oblique bundles, intermingled with a, considerable amount of dense fibrous and elastic tissue that confer upon the cervix greater resistance and hardness. The component fibre-cells of the uter- ine muscle vary in form, being in some places short and broad and in others long and spindle formed. During their pregnancy their usual lengths (.040-.060 mm.) may increase ten-fold.'" Spalteholtz mentions a thin outer and inner layer of longitudinal muscle fibres, but says that the middle circular layer is the chief one. It will be noted that both Grey and Piersol mention "distinct sphinc- ters" as prominent. It is possible then that the chief difference in muscular activity is between the upper and lower segments of the uterus. The sphincters being more active after engagement in moulding the head during the negative hours (an elongation of the head being what, as has been noted, I have actually observed) , while during the positive hours there is an activity of both the longitudinal fibres and the circular fibres of the upper segment. 268 Sex: Its Obigin and Deteemination When interference is undertaken during the positive phase, frequently an anaesthetic is not even required. With a careful operator holding the forceps the con- tractions are usually so stimulated that the patient will scarcely make any complaint of interference. When cases are a little slow the parturient is often encouraged to aid the efforts of nature by forcing into action in the most effective manner the more prominent abdominal muscles. Should the physician fail to urge the woman to put forth her utmost exertion, others present are certain not to forget it, often attemping in- judicious aid by direct hard pressure over the abdomen. Indeed, many practitioners fall into this common error of midwives and old women of urging their patients to strain every muscle long before the first stage of labor is passed and before any dilatation has taken place. The only consequence of this is the nervous and physi- cal exhaustion of the patient. I have not in my foregoing remarks attempted any- thing even in the nature of a brief treatise on the man- agement of labor. The standard text-books on the sub- ject are accessible to every one. I have merely at- tempted to draw attention to the relation to parturition and its management to the labor cycle and to call at- tention to a few subsidiary applications of technique that I believe have been neglected. Conclusions Briefly to summarize my conclusions: Labor is a normal function that manifests in its normal mechan- ism the primitive anabolic, katabolic, or active and pas- sive metabolic cycle which is present in all land- dwelling organisms, and which, while generally ob- scure, is manifested in many biologic phenomena, but chiefly in those involving some manifestation of these Notes on the Management of Labob 269 reproductive processes. The longest manifestation of this metabolic Cycle is that of the lunar month. The shortest to be observed is twelve hours in length, where by close observation it may be observed in parturition. This twelve-hour cycle is divided into phases of ap- proximately six hours each, one active and one passive phase. Labor progress is made chiefly during the ac- tive phase, and the majority of births in normal labors takes place in the active phase of the cycle. Delivery is more easily accomplished during this phase, and the pains are stronger, more regular, more active and less distressing during the active phase of the cycle. The presence of the active and passive labor phases during parturition may be determined, first, by clinical observation. Their presence can be further verified by a comparison with the position of the moon or by study- ing their relations to tidal activity at some definite point upon the coast in the same latitude with the ob- server. The positive phase is approximately coincident with the rise of the moon from the horizon to the zenith, and with its course from the western horizon to apogee. The negative phase corresponds approximately to the course of the moon from apogee to the eastern horizon and from the zenith to the western horizon, or it may be found to sjTichronize closely with the rise and fall of the actual tides.* *Tide charts may be secured from the United States Government by addressing the Department of Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C. EEFEEENCES iRaue, C. G.— The Hahnemanian Monthly. Vol. VI. 1865. 2H0TWE, T. S.— The Clinique. Vol. II, page 399. 'Spiegelbebg. — Die Dauer der Geburt, Lehrbuch der Gerburtshuelfe II Aufl. 1891. 270 Sex: Its Origin and Detekmination •WnxiAMS. — Obstetrics. sVeit, G. — Beitraege zur geburtshuelflichen Statistik. Monatssch. f. Geburtskunde. 1854. V. 'Vakniee. — Combien de temps dure I'accouchment. L'obstetrique Jour- naliere, 1900. tSauerbeuch and Heydb. — Muenchener med. Wochensch. Aug. 8, 1911. sWiLMS, J. H. — The Prevention of Laceration of the Perineum. Trans. of the Homeo. Med. Soc. of Ohio. 1911. 'Goodman, Sylvester J. — Indication for the use of Obstetric Forceps. Ohio State Med. Jour., October, 1912. "Gillespie, Wm. — ^Discussion of Indications for the use of the Obstetric Forceps. Sylvester J. Goodman, Ohio State Med. Jour., October, 1912. CHAPTER Xn The Metabolic Cycles in Death and Sitbgical Operations The effect of the cycle which we have outlined in the foregoing chapter may also be noted in certain deaths and in surgical operations. Since the negative phase of the cycle constitutes a rest period for the organism, and hence a lowering of vital activities, where death occurs in elderly people either from a complication of chronic conditions or from senility, it is more likely to occur in the negative hours. I have not so frequently been able to observe a greater frequency of deaths in young people and in acute conditions in the negative hours, but in very old persons, where death seems to be the result of a quite gradual ebbing of all the vital forces, and where no attempt is made to prolong life for a few hours or days by stimulation, I have noted that dissolution almost invariably occurs during the negative phase of the cycle. A knowledge of this phenomenon has frequently been of service to me in predicting the time of death in such cases. Very frequently dissolution seems to be imminent, but if life is sustained until the advent of the positive phase of the cycle it may usually be predicted that the patient will survive at least another six hours or through the positive and until the turn of the cycle to a succeeding negative. In such cases death will then often take place shortly following the turn of the cycle to the negative. It will thus be observed that the mechanism in such cases is exactly the opposite to what I have described the birth mechanism in its rela- 271 272 Sex: Its Origin and Detebmination tion to the positive and negative phases as being, in the latter, birth more frequently taking place shortly after the turn of the cycle to the positive. The practical value of the influence of the cycle in dissolution is slight (although cases might be imagined, as in the signing of a will, etc., where it would be of greater value), yet it tends to verify my general thesis. In surgical procedures, as every one knows, the after effects often do not seem to be at all in accord with the seriousness or character of the operation. Frequently an operative procedure, apparently simple, brief, and almost trivial, will be followed by severe shock or even death. This does not seem to be entirely due to individ- ual differences, and a patient suffering severely from shock from operations not apparently grave may have endured prior and more serious operations very well. On the other hand, the surgeon is frequently surprised at the slight after effects to be noted following the most radical and prolonged operative procedures. What- ever we may think of modern theories, such as those of Crile, Henderson and Fisher, as to the nature and causation of shock, it must still be admitted that a cer- tain number of cases display after-effects quite out of proportion to the nature, extent and duration of the operation. I have long felt that serious surgical operations should be undertaken early in the positive phase of the metabolic cycle. In all of my own patients who go to the operating table, I urge operation in the positive hours. In those cases where the surgeon has followed my advice in this respect I have frequently been sur- prised by the excellent recoveries made following oper- ations of the gravest character. Frequently my patients have stated that they have even been free from the usual post-operative nausea and vomiting. The Metabolic Cycle in Deaths, Etc. 273 Certainly in my own cases, where it has been necessary to anaesthetize for minor surgical procedures, I have noted that chloroform is in the positive hours taken more quietly and apparently with fewer struggles and less alarming complications. The patient also comes out of the anaesthesia more readily, with less nausea, less shock and mental depression. Upon the other hand, I have notes upon some cases which were oper- ated upon in the negative hours for conditions of ap- parently not a very serious character, who greatly dis- appointed every one interested by doing badly in many respects, even to fatal termination. CHAPTER XIII The Peactical Detebmination and Pbediction of Sex It has in fore going chapters be en dem on strated th at a liihar c ycle is"pro 1bably present in all land dwe lling organisms, it Jias been shown that many n ormal aS id pathological processes, such as memTruation. v aria- ffons in the activity of acute i nfectious disea se P ;r oc- esses,"gestatToh, various^ sexual .afifcili£S_aiid.-paxiaiii- tion betray in the fluctuations of their functiong^ traces of the primit ive tidal cycle. "Sow, it is unreasonable to suppose that these lunar variations can be due to direct iflflTTBlTOBTJf'tiie'mbon itself^ upon organic life. Science has never been able to confirm any of the popular superstitions as to the supposed effect upon animal life of variations in moonlight. The direct effect of the moon upon the earth is the effect of gravity alone, and as such manifested in a form possible to detect at present only upon sea water . We, therefore, are compelled to conclude that the vast number of organic cycles apparently bearing a close re- lation to the lunar month, or some division of that month, have a cquired their character indirectl v through the effect uponjarga nic life of tidal changes. Again, it has been intimated that a lunar cycle which in the de- veloped organism seems rudimentary and obscured by other influences, such as solar variations, might in the original germ plasm be supposed to retain all of its original distinctness and activity. Many facts from the nature of heredity and the continuity of the germ plasm itself have been cited in support of this conten- tion. It has further been shown in the foregoing study of 274 The Practical Detbbmination of Sex 275 the nature of twin births, the necessary bisexuality or hermaphroditism of germ plasm and from other facts that sex is determined by the time of the fertilization ofJlieTemaIe*germ cell byHEe male._All other theories of sex determination have, becans^of^their weakness ™L theory and failure Jn practice, tended^to^eHminate themsel ves. My study of the primitive anabolic and katabolic cycle as it still may be observed in the de- veloped organism during parturition led me to conclude that since apredo minant anabolism is the fundamenta l characteristic of femaleness , and katabolism the esse n- tiaTeharacter in maleness, these two types of functio n WouH^iecessarily be more accuratel y and constantij present in the o vum^ it having ie^L already ^emon- strated that the ovum possesses the determinants of both sexETs: — ItmayWit'E'The greatest justification be supposed that the germ plasm retains the primitive anabolic and katabolic fluctuation in all its original freshness. It first occurred to me that sex might depend upon this variation in functional activity in the organism, just as I had demonstrated births to a large extent de- pended upon it ; but there went with this conjecture con- siderable doubt because this parturitional fluctuation seemed to affect the developed organism, while sex had always been supposed to depend upon some structural distinction in the ovum. However, when I began to study the nature of sex and sexual distinctions as they have been presented by Thompson and Geddes and others in the somatic sphere, and in the psychic sphere notably by Freud and his followers, I saw that sex dis- tinction was, after all, primarily but a distinction of metabolic activity and that the search for structural diiferences in the ovum was nothing more than the pursuit of a will-o-the-wisp. 276 Sex: Its Oeigin and Detebmination It then became clear that this s ex periodicity or cycle, since it still betrayed evidenc es of its presence in par- tu ntionai activit ies, must still be presenFin a more primitive and distinct form inTEe"ovTim.~And further, since it constitutes merely, asWmot has observe d, so me minute""fQodification ofthelnterplay of intra-cellular re- lations iQ"ffie"6vum, it is not surprising that sexual dis- tinctions in the ova have never been detected byj;he microscope. Such modification can be nothing more than a modification of metabolic activity, and this, of course, cannot be observed upon t he microscopic slide. I have f ou^d that in its r elation to sex determination the tide cycle was even more tq_be^epended^ponlEan in tJie prediction of births and deaths. When the time oTthe sexual intercourse' at "whicXa'cef tain conception took place was definitely known, I have experienced no failure to predict the sex of the child. Coitus taking place at or near the middle of the positive or katabolic phase of the ¥ex or tide„cycle, a male is the result, whiTe'at or near the middle of the negative or passive jjlrasB"^" female is conceived. "All of the cases in which 1 live been able to secure data, in which intercourse was near the turn either toward the negative or posi- tive, whether they favored my hypothesis or not, were ruled out. In those cases where my advice has been sought in the desire to secure offspring of a definite sex, I have always advised coitus at or near the middle only of the positive or negative phase, depending upon the sex desired. Twins of different sexes are the result of two con- ceptions in opposite phases of the cycle, taking place from six hours to two weeks or more apart. If, of the same sex, male of' female, they have been conceived both in the same phase of the cycle, although not neces- sarily in the identical phase. If they are homologous The Pbactical Detebmination op Sex 277 or similar twins (that is, identical jn sex .and bearing a sirong pBysicaTresemWaiice) they have been conceived in the same anST identical pTiase of the cj^Le and simul- fahetixrsiyT^incethey are'the'product of jtba.aam.e pvum. Steuld they be of different iexes but of the same coitus r believe^tha tJljSI be lound that lESs- occurred, close to thejurn from^^qsitive to nega^ivejir negatiyeJq_posi- tive. I have, however, met with no instance of this in man. In one instance my attention was called to a cow which was served but once, and gave birth to both a male and female calf. On investigation I found that the breeding took place at the turn of from a negative to positive phase. My investigations have had to take chiefly the follow- ing form. Where I could learn that conception had been the result of a single coitus occurring at a defi- nitely remembered time, I determined the phase of the sex cycle then active, and the sex of the child has in every instance verified my hypothesis. The opportunities I have had to assist my patients in securing a desired sex have, of course, been much less numerous. Conception is almost always an unexpected incident (often an unwelcome accident), and while almost al- ways a definite sex is desired, particularly if prior children are all of the same sex, yet there is usually no thought of that until after conception has taken place. A number of cases where my patients have been suc- cessful in securing the sex desired might be mentioned, while as many more instances of a like success follow- ing the breeding of horses and cattle have been ob- served. A few of the former class of cases will now be cited. Mrs. A. had given birth to five girls, and much desired a boy. Sexual relations were permitted at no other 278 Sex: Its Obigin and Determination time except near the middle of a positive period until pregnancy occurred, with a boy as the result. No at- tention was paid to diet or the time of the menstrual month. Mr. and Mrs. B., recently married, desired a boy. Sexual union during one month was practised only in positive hours. Conception took place during this month with the desired result. A year or two later a girl was procured by observing this rule in negative hours. Mrs. C, of a Southern State, wrote asking informa- tion, as she wished a girl. A list of negative periods was sent her. In due time she reported the desired daughter. Mr. D., a shrewd but uneducated farmer, had a large family of boys. He very much desired a girl, and sought consultation with this in view. A list of nega- tive periods was furnished him, with instructions to follow it closely. Nothing was heard from him for about a year, when he called one afternoon to remind me that my services might be required within the next few days. When asked if he had followed the instruc- tions given him, he replied that he had "got all mixed up on those figures"; he had, however, carefully noted the exact hour and day impregnation occurred. On looking this up, the time was found to have been in the middle of a positive phase of the cycle. He was in- formed that under the circumstances he must look for another boy, and much to his regret the prediction waa verified. Mrs. E. had given birth to three girls. The proper instructions were given, and the cycles were watched with the result that the fourth child was the wished-for boy. Mr. F. desired a boy. He was furnished a table with The Pbactical Detebmination of Sex 279 instructions. Coitus was indulged in for months only in positive hours. The result was twins, both boys, born one-half hour apart, but enclosed in different membranes and nourished through separate placenta. Before the second was born it was explained to the in- telligent father that, although another child was ex- Td CalculfftB TiniB at Labor and Name the Sex. Calendar of The Three Periods of Gestation. s Jan. May. Oct. 1 2 3 4 S « 7 8 9 lU U 12 13 11 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 82 23 2( 25 26 27 28 29 SO 81 20 21 22 23 21 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 18 17 18 19 8 9 10 11 12 18 11 15 16 17 IS 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 88 29 80 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Jnne. Nov. Conoep Quick Labor. Feb. June. Kov. 1 2 3 4 6 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 2> 26 27 28 1 2 8 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 6 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 18 14 IS 16 17 18 19 20 8 9 10 i: 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 21 25 26 27 2« 29 30 1 2 8 4 6 6 7 8 4 6 6 T 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 IG 1« 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 2S 27 28 as SO 81 1 2 8 11 22 23 24 2? 23 27 28 29 30. 31 1 2 3 4-5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 16 17 IS 19 20 9 10 \1 12 13 14 15 16 17 IS 19 20 21 22 23 ^ 25 26 27 28 19 30 31 1 2 3 t S 6 7 8 Mar. July. Dec. Concep ?rol^, Mar. July. Deo. Apr. Aug. Jan. Concep Qiniek Labor. April. Ang. Jan. 4 6 2 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 li 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 26 27 28 29 ao 1 2 8 4 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 8 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 9 10 11 12 13 11 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 81 1 2 S 4 6 6 7 8 May. Sent. Feb. Concep Qnick Labor. May. Bept. Feb. B 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 i5 16 17 18 19 2U 21 22 23 24 26 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 8 4 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 SO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 2:) 24 25 26 27 28 1 2 3 4 8 6 7 8 9 10 11 June. Oct. Mar. Conoep Quick Labor. June. Oct. Uar. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28.^9 30 1 2 8 4 6 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 6 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 IS 16 17 18 19 20 21 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 80 31 1 2 3 4 6 6 7 8 9 10 11 July. Not. Apr. Concep Quick Labor. July. Not. Apr. 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 26 27 28 29 80 31 1 2 8 4 6 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 6 6 7 8 ^ 10 11 12 13 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 26 27 28 a 30 1 2 8 4 6 6 7 8 9 10 U 12 Aug. Deo.. May. Concep Quick Labor, Aug. Sec. May. 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 21.26 2627282980 31 1 "i 8 4 6 23 24 26 28 27 28 28 30 31 1 2 3 4 6 6 7 8 .9 10 U 12 13 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 13 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 26 27 28 29 SO 31 1 2 8 4 6 6 7 8 9 10 U 12 Sept. Jan. June. Concep Qnick Labor. Sept. Jan Jnne. 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 21 26 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 8 4 ^ 23 21 25 26 27 &< 29 30 31 1 2 8 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 13 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 M 23 41 26 26 27 28 29 SO 1 2 8 4 6 6 7 8 9 10 11 ..„.. «iet. F4J1». July, Concep Qniok Labor. Oct. Feb. July. 6 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 26 27 2S 29 30 81 1 2 21 22 23 24 26 26 27 28 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 80 31 1 2 3 4 6 6 7 8 9 Not. Mar. Aug. Concep Quick Labor. Nov. Mar. Ang. 3 4 6 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 26 27 28 29 30 1 i..... 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 U 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 6 6 7 .;.... Dee. Apr. Sept. in Fishes Ad 5 and 6. — The last two objections do not present any very great difficulties. The presence of sex in fish may be explained on a basis of descent from a tide- water organism. As has been pointed out, the tide- ways probably constituted the ideal environment for the development of primitive forms of life, in that there they gained the advantage of the life-giving proper- 288 Sex: Its Origin and Determination ties of three elements, water, air and sunlight. As time passed and differentiations of structure showed themselves, the descendants of these tidal forms no doubt migrated toward the sea as well as the land, some finally adapting themselves to the constant aquatic environment and some to the terrestrial. We have geologically recent evidence that this is what has taken place with whales. Sex Rhythm on Acquired Characters With respect to the inheritance of acquired charac- ters this much may be said : The primitive sex rhythm can scarcely be looked upon as coming under this head- ing. It was laid down at a period when the germ cells and the somatic cells were in a sense identical. By ac- quired characters, as now generally understood, are meant characters quite external to and distinct from the germ cells; being such, it is admitted that from them the germ can gain no new properties ; yet all the facts of heredity show that the germ plasm itself can acquire almost any character. Furthermore, in this volume I have attempted to show that the sex rhythm is not in any sense a character as we understand ac- quired characters to be, in that it cannot be imposed upon the individual by feeding or in other ways, be- cause of the very fact that its early origin was in re- sponse to influences which directly affected the single reproducing cells themselves, giving rise to a rhythm that now cannot be disturbed or checked any more than we can disturb or check the cardiac or any one of the other deeper organic rhythms. iNlCHOLS, J. P. — Numerical Proportion of Sexes at Birth. Memoirs of the American Anthropological Asso. Vol. VI. Part 4. 2FLINT. — Human Physiology. 1890. CHAPTEE XV Recapitulation and Conclusion It is now, perhaps, in order to attempt a recapitula- tion and synthesis of the several different propositions that have been advanced in this volume, and a brief re- statement of the general thesis. In general, we have concerned ourselves principally with the problem of the determination of sex, the in- troductory chapter being a general statement of the present status of that problem ; but it should be noted that several propositions subsidiary to the main thesis have been emphasized. The value of the latter are more or less independent of the truth of the former, and it is my hope that whether time and further investi- gation definitely prove or disprove my theory of the practical determination of sex, certain other facts have been adduced which (irrespective of any present prac- tical value they may possess) will go to establish cer- tain already well-known facts upon a firmer basis, and upon the other hand will constitute fresh points of de- parture for other and better equipped students of the subject. Among these I believe to be: First. — A new definition of Life, it being held to be an indefinite number of functioning centres differing from other forms of matter and energy, in that they are capable of maintaining their identity in the presence of a hostile environment by means of a faculty for the ap- propriation of the materials of that environment and without destruction of their own identity to turn, as it were, their environment against itself. It was pointed out that in the universe of matter this phenomenon is 289 290 Sex: Its Origin and Determination unique and belongs only to that form of matter we know as "living." This process, it was pointed out, is essentially "growth." Hence the intimate nature of Life itself is essentially bound up with what we ordinarily recognize as the faculty of growth possessed by all living things. Life is, therefore, nothing more than a series of chemi- cal reactions of a unique or special type. Next in our discussion of the nature of reproduction, that was found to constitute, after all, a form of growth, but growth more in relation to the species than to the individual. In other words, the individual organ- ism always reaches a point where growth, in the sense of a gross increase of size, can no longer for mechanical reasons proceed. Keproduction then takes place as a special device for enabling it to proceed, and as a result we have the species, of which the potentialities for growth are greater than with the individual. Eeproduction on this basis then occurs with the individual organism at the time of greatest growth possible from which has come the observation that, essentially, reproduction is the product of over-growth. At any rate, we observe it very closely associated with the anabolic character, and as such it, in the last analysis, is a female function, and the popular observation that to the female is given the essential or physical burden of perpetuating the race is found to possess a biologic sanction. The third and fourth chapters constitute a review of the principal theories of sex determination. One point of importance should in this connection be noted, that is, the fact of the great number of theories which have been found to rest upon the basis of the anabolic or over-nourished quality of femaleness, and hence, as a practical means for controlling sex, have advocated Recapitulation and Conclusion 291 over-feeding for the production of females. The im- practicability of the idea frequently disproved, experi- menters have yet frequently returned to this thesis. Starkweather observed that any theory of sex de- termination must explain the general equality between the sex. It should further be pointed out that such a theory should also explain this distinction in metabolic quality between the sexes. The phenomenon of twins is of intense interest, and many theories of sex determination must be rejected, since they fail to explain the conception of a male and female child by the same mother very close together in point of time. But the most significant fact with re- spect to twins has, in its relation to the problem of sex determination, been overlooked ; that is, the presence in conjoined twins, of whose origin in the same germ cell there can be no doubt, of opposite physical characters combined inevitably with sameness of sex. This fact forbids us to consider sex as being in the same category with other inherited qualities. The essential hermaphroditism of the germ plasm was demonstrated from the presence of qualities of both sexes in the developed organism, and the observa- tions of Freud and Weininger upon the presence and development of psychic sexual qualities of both sexes in the normal individual were harmonized with the obser- vations of Thompson and Geddes upon the development of bisexuality from a primitive hermaphroditic state. All this, it was noted, compels us to consider the sex cells or gametes as wholly hermaphroditic, containing the elements of both sexes in equal quota. Further, it was concluded that the function of the male fertilizing element was merely to initiate development and to con- fer upon the organism about to develop certain pa- ternal qualities. But it was further noted in Chap- 292 Sex: Its Oeigin and Detebmination ter VII that since living matter and processes can never remain in a state of absolute equilibrium, we must look upon the germ plasm as sexually alternating, this view being strengthened by the fact of there having been found in various primitive life forms a number of de- grees of alternating sex. This fact, taken in conjunction with the important observations upon conjoined twinSj led us to the follow- ing observation: A sexually alternating hermaphroditic ovum capable of fertilization but once and by but one sperm cell can give rise to two individuals, perhaps differing in other characters, but always of the same sex ; the conclusion from this being that sex is determined by the time of fertilization with respect to the sexual phase through which the ovum happens to be passing at that time. This I believe to be a c6nclusion of great importance and one that has heretofore been overlooked, and I be- lieve it to be quite independent in value to my further conclusions with respect to the time and nature of this alternating phase. In attempting a search for some means of determin- ing the time and nature of these phases, it was recalled that in our chapter on "Life, Growth and Reproduc- tion," the conclusion was reached that reproduction was a form of growth, and that it was an essentially female function; and in a later chapter, "Sex, a Dis- tinction in Metabolism," it was shown by the produc- tion of a great number of observations that f emaleness was an anabolic character and maleness katabolic. A number of authorities are agreed in looking upon this distinction in metabolism as constituting the essential difference between the sexes. Itwas, therefore, concluded that in the last analysis sex merely signified the meta- bolic trend of an organism, and on this basis it became Eecapitulation and Conclusion 293 an inevitable conclusion that the bisexual alternation in the germ cell was merely an alternation in metabolism. It was now clear why so many theories of sex de- termination concerned themselves with attempts at al- ternating metabolism, and, further, why they were uni- formly unsuccessful. It was recognized, perhaps, that the metabolic distinction was the real distinction, but it was not recognized that it was so primitive a dis- tinction. In other words, we cannot create a female by over-nourishing the mother, because femaleness, in- stead of being the product of anabolism, is in itself ana- bolism, and has always been so. The metabolic rhythm in the germ cell preserves itself from all outside inter- ference, and we cannot here alter primitive function to any degree without destroying the structure any more than we can grossly alter the cardiac rhythm without destroying the heart itself. In seeking some means for determining the time period of this rhythm of the germ plasm, the de- pendence of many organic rhythms upon the lunar month was noted. It was further observed that the phenomenon of twin births of opposite sex would re- quire that the rhythm be a short one. The only short lunar cycle is the tide cycle, or in other words, the lunar day. I had already noted, and for a number of years made use of, the tide cycle as its manifestations could be observed, in the process of parturition. I had also observed the striking fluctuations in infectious disease on a basis of the lunar month. These facts, already suspicious, acquired an added significance when taken in conjunction with an observation of Darwin's to the effect tliai.iha-mQ&i.iTnnnrtaTit Rvent in the dftscent of the higher animal forms was, perhaps, the migration of anifflal lit e from sea'water To "E nd. THiswoTiTd subject our ancestral forms for many millions of generations to 294 Sex: Its Origin and Deteemination daily tidal changes, Darwin wonder s whether this may noTa^'couSriorlffiLe great number of animal functions wMch seem lo^depehd uponthe'lunar'period. " WrEhT this^asSng*c6iniment of Darwin's in mind, it occurred to me that this period of tidal influence would produce exactly those conditions already found to be so characteristic of the two sexes, and afford a means for fixing the sex variation and establish in the germ cell regularly alternating and equal male and female, or katabolic and anabolic phases, capable of being dis- turbed only by fertilization, at which time the future sex of the organism is determined. Obviously as these ani- mal forms became more and more terrestrial in their habits and migrated from the tideways, the grosser manifestations of the tide rhythm would become ob- scured; nevertheless, heredity and the fact of its use- fulness in maintaining sexual differentiation would cause it to be retained as a primitive rhythm in the germ cells. Undoubtedly it is because of this fact that better results were secured by the adoption of a cycle corresponding with actual tidal changes than were to be had by observing lunar positions. Clinical results seemed strongly to bear out this theory. The practical value of my observations upon the positive and negative phases of labor, the lunar fluctuations in infectious diseases and the influence of the metabolic cycle in deaths and surgical operations is, however, quite independent of the above theory of sex determination. In conclusion, it will be observed that this volume has attempted a co-ordination and sjTithesis of certain large groups of facts as follows : The Nature of Life, Reproduction and Sex. The latent bisexuality of all animal life and the primitive hermaphroditism of the germ plasm. RECAPITtTLATION AND CONCLUSION" 295 The nature and origin of twins, particularly of con- joined twins. The primitive alternating and metabolic nature of sex. The manifestation of lunar rhythms in labor, in in- fectious disease, their influence on births, deaths, sur- gical operations, menstruation, gestation and the deter- mination of sex. INDEX OF REFERENCES Adami. — Pathology, Vol. 1. Albini. — Centralblatt f. Medicinisclie Wissenschaft. 1868. Bancroft, H. H. — Xative Eaces of the Pacific States. Vol. 1. Bateson. — Mendel's Principles of Heredity. University of Cam- bridge Press. 1909. Beakd, John. — The Determination of Sex in Animal Develop- ment. Zoologische Jahrbiicher f . Anatomie nnd Ontogenie. Vol. 16, 1902. Beenek. — Ueber die TJrsaehe der Geschlechtsbildung. Eine biolo- gische Studie. Christiania. 1883. BiscHOFF. — Man and Woman. BiEEQtriEEL and Eodiee. — Traite de chimie pathologique. 1854. BoEN, G. — Experimentelle Untersuchungen iiber die Entstehung der Geschleehtsimterschiede. Breslaner Aertzliche Zeitschrift. BucHEE. — Arbeit nnd Ehythmus. 3d ed. 1902. CoPEMAN and Paesons. — Observations on the Sex of Mice. Proc. Eoyal Soc. Vol. 73. CosTE, H. Peeet. — Sexual Periodicity in Man. Modesty, Sexual Periodicity. Auto-Erotism. The Ehythm of the Pulse. University Magazine and Free Ee- views. 1898. Ceaig, Chaeles F. — N. Y. Med. Jour., February 25, 1911. CuENOT. — Sur la determination du sexe chez les animaux. Bull. Sci. de la France et Beige, XXXII. 1899. Cunningham. — Sexual Dimorphism iu the Animal Kingdom. Daewin, Chaeles. — ^Descent of Man. Animals and Plants imder Domestication. Vol II. Dawson, E. Eumlet. — The Causation of Sex. A Xew Theory of Sex Based on Clinical Material, etc. 1909. 297 298 Sex: Its Oeigin and Determination Delange. — Archive de zool. experimentale, Vol. 7, pp. 388-5. DiJsiNG, C. — Die Eegulierung des Geschlechtsverhaeltnisses bei der Vermehrung der Menschen, Tiere imd Pfianzen. Jena- ische Zeit. f. Natur, XVII. 1884. Die Experimentelle Pruef ung der Theorie von der Eegulierung des Geschlechtsverhaeltnisses. Jenaische Zeit. f. Natur. XIX N. F. XII. 1886. Die Eegulierung des Geschlechtsverhaeltnisses bei Pferden. Landw. Jahrbuecher, XVI. 1887; XVII. 1888; und XXI. 1892. Edgae. — Practice of Obstetrics. Ellis, Havelock. — Sexual Selection in Man. Man and Woman. Contemporary, Science Series. Studies in the Psychology of Sex. Fere.— Travail et plaisir. Chap. Ill, 1904. FisoN and Howitt. — Kamilaroi and Kurnai. 1880. FiSHEE. — George Jackson : Teratology. Eeference Handbook of Medical Sciences. 1889. Flint. — Human Physiology. Freud, Sigmdnd. — Three Contributions to the Sexual Theory. Jour. Ment. and Nervous Dis. Monograph Series. 1910. Geddes and Thompson. — The Evolution of Sex. Contemporary Science Series. 1899. Gentry. — Influence of Nutrition on Sex Among the Lepidoptera. Proc. of Acad, of Sci. of Philadelphia, 1873. Gillespie, William. — Discussion of Indications for the Use of the Obstetric Forceps. Sylvester J. Goodman, Ohio State Med. Jour. October. 1912. GiRONDE DE BuzARAiNGUES. — Traite de la generation. 1828. Goodell. — Medical Times. Philadelphia, 1870. Goodman, Sylvester J. — Indications for the Use of the Obstet- ric Forceps. Ohio State Med. Jour. October, 1912. Goodno, William C. — Practice of Medicine, 1894. Gould and Pyle. — Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine. Haeckel, Ernest. — The Evolution of Man. Stammbaum des Menschengeschlechts. 1870. Index of Refbeences 299 Harris. — Amer. Jour, of Obstetrics. 1882. Hirst and Piersol. — Human Monstrosities. 1891. HoFFACKER and Sadler. — Ueber Eigenschaften welche sich bei Menschen und Tieren vereben. 1828. HoTNE, T. S.— The Clinique. Vol. II, p. 399. Huff. — American Jour, of Obstetrics. Vol. XXII. Jehring. — Ueber Generationsweehsel bei Saeugethieren. Arch, f. Anat. und Phys.— Phys. Abt. 1886. Joseph, G. — Ueber die Zeit der Geschlechtsdifferenzierung in den Eiern einiger Liparidinen. 48 Jahresb. d. Sehles. Aerzte Gesell. 1871. KiERNAN. — Med. Standard November, 1888. King, Helen Dean. — Biological Bulletin, Vol. XIII, No. 1, June, 1907. Krafft-Ebing. — Psyehopathia Sexualis. Le Dantec, Felix. — The Nature and Origin of Life. Trans. 1906. Leland, Charles. — Godfrey : The Alternate Sex. Lenhossek. — Das Problem der geschlechtsbestimmenden Ur- sachen. 1903. LoEB, Jacques. — The Dynamics of Living Matter. Lecture X. 1906. The Mechanistic Conception of Life. Biological Essays. Ltdston, Frank. — Phil. Med. and Surg. Eeporter. September, 1888. McClung, C. E. — The Accessory Chromosome Sex Determinant. Biological Bulletin Vol. 3, Page 43, 1902. McKendrick and Wosler. — Archiv. des Vereins fuer gemein- schaft. Arbeiten zur Foerderung der wissen. Heilkunde, III. Pp. 431-441. Marechal, p. — Eeeh§rches sur la biologic et le developpement des hymenopteres parasites. Arch. Zool. Exp. et Gen. 14 Ser. II. 1904. Morgan, Thomas Hunt. — Address, Sex Determination. Ameri- can Association for the Advancement of Science, N. Y. 1906. Exnerimental Zoology. 1907. 300 Sex: Its Origin and Detebmination Miner, J. B. — Motor, Visual and Applied Rhythms. Psychologi- cal Review Monograph Supplements, Vol. 5, No. 4. 1903. MiNOT, Charles Sedgwick. — Human Embryology. 1902 Physical Basis of Heredity, Science. Vol. 8. Muzzer and Kelly. — Practice of Medicine. Newcomb, Simon.— a Statistical Inquiry into the Probability of Causes of the Production of Sex in Human Offspring, Car- negie Inst., Washington, 1904. P. 34. Nichols, J. P. — Numerical Proportions of Sexes at Birth. Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association. Vol. 6. Part 4. Ndssbadm, M. — Die Enstehung des Geschlechts bei Hydatina senta. Arch, f . Mikr, Anat. XLIX. 1899. Pepper. — A System of Medicine. Vol. II. Pflueger, E. — Einige Beobachtungen zur Prage iiber die das Geschlecht bestimmenden Ursachen, Arch. f. d. g. Phys. XXVI. 1881. Hat die Concentration des Samens einen Einfluss auf das Geschlecht? Arch. f. d. g. Phys. XXIX. 1883. Ueber die das Geschlecht bestimmenden Ursachen und die Geschlechtsverhaeltnisse der Froesche. Arch. f. d. g. Phys. XXIX. 1883. Pdnnett, p. C. — Proe. Cambridge Philosophical Society. Vol. 3. Raue, C. G.— Hahnemanian Monthly. Vol. VI. 1865. Reed, T. E.— The Sex Cycle of the Germ Plasm. N. Y. Med. Times. September, October, November, December, 1906; January, 1907. Riley. — Controlling Sex in Butterflies. Amer. Native. 1873. Sadler. — The Laws of Population. 1830. Sauerbruch and Heyde. — Muenchener medicinische Wochen- schrift. August 8, 1911. Scales. — Medical Investigator. January, 1875. ScHENK, L. — Meine Methode der Geschlechtsbestimmung, Ver- handl. Internat. Zool. Congress Berlin, pp. 363-374. Index of Refekences 301 Shulte. — Zur Frage von den geschlechtsbildenden Ursachen. Arch. Mikr. Anat. LXIII. ScHiRMEE. — Centralblatt f . Gynakologie. Leipsic. Vol. 31, No. 3. SiDis, Boris. — An Experimental Study of Sleep. 1909. Spencer, Herbert. — Rhythm of Motion. First Principles. Spieqelberg. — Die Dauer der Geburt. Lehrbuch der Gerburts- huelfe. 11 Anil. 1891. Starkweather, George B. — The Law of Sex. 1883. Thompson, J. Arthur. — Encyclopedia Britannica. 9th Ed. Heredity, 1908. Public Ledger. Philadelphia, Oct. 20, 1913. Thompson, J. Arthur and Geddes. — The Evolution of Sex. 2d Ed. 1901. Thurt, M. — Ueber das Gesetz der Erzeugung der Geschlechter. Leipzig. Treat, M. — De la production des sexes dans les lepidopteres. Petites nouvelles entomologiques. V. 1873. Uleichs. — Memnon: Die Geschlesehtsnatur des mannliebenden TJrnings. Eine naturwissenschaftliche Darstellung, Schleiz. 1868. Van Luit, A. — Qu'est-que determine le sexe ? Vaenier. — Combien de temps dure I'accouehement. L'obstetrique journaliere. 1900. Veit, 6. — Beitraege zur geburtshuelflichen Statistik. Monatssch. f. Geburtskunde, 1854, V. Wallace, Alfred Eussell. — ^Darwinism and Exposition of the Theory of Natural Selection. Weininger, Otto. — Sex and Character. Sixth German Ed. Weismann, a. — The Germ Plasm. Contemporary Science Series. The Evolution Theory. Vol. I, page 298. Williams. — Obstetrics. 1904. Wilms, J. H. — The Prevention of Laceration of the Perineum. Tr,n= nf ihp. Homeo. Med. Soc. of Ohio, 1911. 302 Sex: Its Oeigin and Detbbmination Wilson, E. B. — The Cell in Development and Inheritance. 1900. Science Series Vol. 22, P. 500. 1905. WUNDT. — ^Voelkerpsychologie, 1900, part 1, p. 265. YooN and Berlioz. — Kevue Med. Vol. VIII p. 713. Yung, C. — The Psyehopathology of Dementia Praecox, Jour, of Men. and Nervous Dis. Monograph Series. 1910. Yung, E. — Contributions a I'histoire de I'influence des milieux physicochimiques sur les etres vivants. Arch. Zool. Exp. 1. 1883. De I'influence des variations du milieu physicochimique sur le development des animaux. Arch. des. Sc. physiques et naturelles XIV. 1885. INDEX OF AUTHORS Adami, 198, 300 Ahlfbld, 106 Albini, 57, 76 Andrews, 90 Aecher, 98 Aristotle, 130 Bateman, 112 Bateson, 73 Beard, 15, 20, 49, 50, 59, 72, 118, 148 Bell, 90 Berlioz, 168 Bbener, 63 Bessells, 90 BlEQUEREL, 168 BiSCHOEF, 166 BoMM, 264 Born, 61 Bouchard, 166 Bourne, 126 BOVERI, 103 Briggs, 90 Brocadello, 72 BUOHER, 153 Buddha, 150 Burdock, 13 Castle, 42, 148 Copeman, 73 CosTE, 207, 213, 217 Craig, 203 Crile, 272 CuENOT, 38, 61, 91 Cunningham, 128, 132, 184 Darestb, 106 Darwin, 11, 74, 128, 129, 133, 181, 293, 294 Davy, 167 Dawson, 47 Delage, 53, 103, 104 Delanney, 167 Delmas, 98 Doederlein, 264 Dusing, 57, 58, 75, 90, 91, 180 Edgar, 100 Ellis, 11, 14, 134, 141, 153, 158, 166 Fischer, G. J., 109 Fischer, Martin, 272 Fletcher, 90 Flint, 286 Freud, 143, 275, 295 Galen, 18 Geddes, 11, 14, 63, 78, 81, 123, 143, 158, 170, 275, 291 Gentry, 57, 78, 90 Gerlach, 107 Gillespie, 265 GiEON, 66 Goodell, 112 Goodman, 264 GoDNO, 202 Gould, 98, 109, 112 Grey, 266 Gribshbim, 62 303 304 Sex: Its Origin and Determination Haeckel, 130, 132, 183 Harris, 113 Harvet, 98 Henderson, 373 Hbnking, 53 Heraclitus, 150 Hering, 323 Hertwig, 103 Hilaire, 106, 130 Hippocrates, 13, 18, 65, 191 Hirst, 110 HOFACKER, 16, 63, 76 hofbaubr, 234 Hough, 233 Huff, 112 Hunter, 130 ' Huxley, 150, 183 Jausseno, 103 Jehring, 99 Joseph, 72 Litzman, 286 LoEB, 33, 51, 53, 70, 73, 99, 103 Ltdbton, 140 McClung, 48, 51, 53 MoCrae, 198 McKendrick, 168 Marchall, 99 Meehan, 57 Mignot, 167 Miner, 153 MiNOT, 54, 56, 276 Montgomery, 112 Morgan, 11, 14, 53, 54, 58, 61, 73, 90, 132, 148 Nbwcomb, 64 Newlin, 98 Nichols, 284 ' nussbaum, 59 Kane, 126 Kecker, 227 Kellogg, 90 KlERNAN, 140 King, 61, 80 Korchblt, 71 Kraepelin, 155 Krafft-Ebing, 14, 139, 140 Kreitzer, 267 Landois, 90 Laycock, 185 Le Dantec, 34, 35, 42 Lenhosseck, 71 Leopold, 264 Parsons, 73, 98 Pflueger, 61, 78 Philips, 42 PlERSOL, 110, 267 Punnett, 58, 91 Pyle, 98, 109, 113 Kauber, 107 Eaub, 233 Ebaumur, 131 KiLEY, 57, 90 EODIERI, 168 EOGER, 167 EoRiG, 133 EUBFF, 113 Index of Attthoks 305 Sadler, 16, 63, 76 Sauerbruch, 233 Scales, 58 Schauta, 364 SOHENCK, 13, 59, 80 SCHIEMER, 56 SCHEOEDBR, 57, 180 ScHULTZB, 48, 63, 114, 176 Sbibold, 78 SiDis, 155 Spalteholz, 367 Spencer, 17, 35, 137, 151 Spiegelbeeg, 337 Starkweather, 13, 65, 68, 80, 87, 90, 179, 391 Stieda, 63 Strassbueger, 55 Thompson, 11, 14, 54, 63, 78, 81, 133, 143, 156, 170, 333, 375, 391 Thurt, 57, 180 Treat, 57, 78, 90 Uleichs, 141 Van Beneden, 55 Van Luit, 65 Varnier, 337 Veit, 337 Verworn, 35 VoGT, 334 Von der Heyde, 333 Wallace, 40 Warner, 41, 110 Weininger, 141, 191 Weissman, 14, 40, 55, 80, 103, 114 Wernich, 386 Weetheim, 364 Westenmark, 334 WiLKS, 153 Williams, 337 Wilms, 363 Wilson, 41, 51, 54 Windsor, 77 WOSLER, 168 WUNDT, 153 Yarrell, 130 YooN, 168 Yung, E., 61 Yung, 78 INDEX OF SUBJECTS Activity of males, 171. Acute fevers, lunar influence in, 190. Adaptability, 36. Adjustment of living things, 35. Agent initiating labor, 233. Albini's experiments, 57. Amoeba, 38, 119, 182. Amphibia, 125, 222. Amphimixis, 37, 49, 120. Anabolic character of female sex, 78, 172. Anabolic character of ova, 169. Anabolic character of sex-cells, 168. Anabolic habit of body, 171. Anabolism, 33, 79, 83. Angiostonum, 123. Anodyne, 236. Anomalies, 108. Antibodies, 217. Aphids, 41, 53. Aquatic origin of life, 182. Arachnoidea, 69. Arcella, 119. Armadillo, 99. Arum, 160. Ascaris, 55. Assimilation, 31. Atropin, 236. Auto-fertilization, 120. Bacteria, 31. "Bad days," 156. Bascidian, 122. Bathibius, 182. Beard's contention, 59. Bee, 41, 72, 121. Berner's statistics, 63. Beroe, 124. Biogenesis, 16. Bipolarity, 34. Birthcurve, 232. Birthmark, 44. Births, table of, 256. Bisexual rhythm, 127. Bisexuality, 291. Bison, American, 69. Blastoderm, 100. Bleeders, 135. Blood-plasma, 24. Bonellia viridis, 69. Bom's experiments, 61. Bromides, 265. Bud, 121. Bufo, 61, 125. Causes, chemical, 28. Causes, electrical, 28. Causes, mechanical, 28. Causes, physical, 28. Celenophores, 124. Cell-division, 119. Cellular agglomeration, 34. Cellular sexuality, 35. Cestodes, 123. Chloroform, 261, 265. Choridia, 122. Chromatin granules, 52. 307 308 Sex: Its Origin and Detebmination Chromosomes, 21, 48, 51. Chrysaora, 125. Chrysophrys, 125. Circular insanity, 155. Clam, 121. Cleavage spheres, 99. Cochineal, 171. Cod, 126. Coelenterales, 124. Coitus and fertilization, 285. Colloids, 33. Color blindness, 134. Conception, 277. Continuity of life, 24. Coral, 124. Cuenofs experiments, 58, 61. Cycle in animal life, 22. Cycle of tide, determination of, 224. Cycles, metabolic, in deaths, 271. Cycles, metabolic, in surgery, 271. Cystoplasm, 35. Daphnia, 19, 41. Dawson's theory, 47. Diabetes, 60. Difference between man and woman, 166. Dinophilus, 50, 71. Dissolution, 77, 271. Distinct sphincters, 267. Diversion, 121. Dominance of one sex, 284. Double births, 70, 97. Duplication of parts, 105. Busing's views, 57. Earthworms, 103, 122. Egg, same, same sex, 99. Electron, 150. Eleutheria, 125. Encholoe enphenoides, 126. Environmental influence, 80. Enzymes, 33. Ergograph, 154. Ether, 265. Extract of pituitary gland, 234. False labor pains, 231. Ferments, 33. Ferns, 121. Fertilization, simultaneous, 163. Fishes, 125. Fission, 106, 121. Foetal serum, 233. Forceps, 235, 261, 264. Freud's views, 143. Frog, 125. Fusion, 106. Gametes, 21, 55. Gastrseads, 120, 122. Geddes' conclusions, 63. Generation, spontaneous, 16. Genoblasts, 55, 149. Genochorism, 123. Gentry's experiments, 57. Germplasm, sex cycle of, 175. Gonothyrea, 125. "Good days," 156. Griesheim's investigations, 62. Growth, 31, 34, 290. Gymnocytoda, 182. Hsemophilia, 134. Index of Subjects 309 Haliphysema, 130. Helen-Judith, conjoined twins, 111. Hemicephilia, 56. Heredity, 37, 73, 81. Hering's observations, 323. Hermaphroditic cell, 55. Hermaphroditism, 78, 93, 118, 133, 391. Herring, 136. Hippocrates on generation, 65. II of acker's studies, 63. Homosexuality, 141. Hoyne's observations, 333. Hyalopterus, 41. Hydra, 39, 131, 134. Hydroid polyps, 130, 133. Hydrozoa, 134. Hymenoptera, 51. Infectious diseases, incubation periods, 188. Inherent femaleness, 79, 171. Inherent maleness, 79, 171. Intracellular elements, 35. Intraprotoplasmic sexual phe- nomena, 35. Inviolability of germ cells, 80. Jacob's artifice, 45. Jellyfish, 104, 131, 134. Jones twins, 113. Kariokinesis, 53, 131. Katabolic character of male sex, 78. Katabolic character of spermat- ozoa, 169. Katabolic habit of body, 79, 171. Katabolism, 33, 79, 84, 173. Katabolism of sex cells, 168. Labor, action of uterus, 366. Labor, cycles of, 338. Labor, cycles of negative phase, 338. Labor, cycles of positive phase, 238. Labor, false, 366. Labor, importance of diagnosis, 361. Labor, lacerations, 333. Labor, lubricants, 363. Labor, management of, 259. Labor, nagging pains, 330. Labor, preliminary examina- tions, 360. Labor, proper training, 359. Labor, stages of, 326, 339. Labor, time of, how to calcu- late, 379. Labor, use of forceps, 364. Lapocytoda, 182. Law of equilibrium, 67. Leaf lard, 363. Leech, 132, 160. Lepidoptera, 19. Life, definition of, 289. Living matter, 16. Loeb's experiments, 48. Lunar cycle, 185, 193. Lunar influence in acute fevers, 190. Lunar influence in disease, 188. Lunar influence on man, 213. 310 Sex: Its Origin and Deteemination Lunar month, 180, 186. Lunar temperature rhythms, 200. Mabololo lailai, 187. Mabololo levee, 187. McClung's theory, 48, 51. Mackerel, 126. Male and female births, 284. Marine fiat worm, 123. Marriage, 14. Maternal impressions, 45. Maternal influence, 44. Mathematical views, 64. Matter, living, 24. Maturition of ovum, 102. Measles, 207. Meehan's theory, 57. Mendelian principles, 37. Menopause, 133. Menstrual month, 77. Menstruation, 83. Merotomy, 35. Metabolic cycle in labor, 219. Metabolic distinction of sex, 171. Metabolism, 164. Mid-life, 77. Midwives, 264. Millie-Christine, conjoined twins. 111. Minna-Minnie, conjoined twins, 112. Minot's views, 54. Morgan's views, 58, 61. Morphine, 336, 266. Morphological conception, 91. Morphological explanations, 91. Morphological sex distinctions, 159. Multiple pregnancy, 281. Myometrium, 267. Nature of life, 24. Newcomb's views, 64. Nocturnal emissions, 208. Non-living matter, 16. Nucleins, 33. Nutrition, influence of, 57. Nutrition theories, 21, 78, 81. Objections, 281. Oosperm, 55. Organic mechanism, 33. OscareUa lobular is, 124. Ova, age of, 75. Ova, fertilization of, 70, 72. Ova, size of, 70, 72. Ovarian theories, 47. Ovum, 169. Ovum, female, 118. Ovum, male, 118. Ovum, one, one spermatozoon, 103. Oyster, 121. Palola viridis, 187. Parents' age, influence of, 63. Parthenogenesis, 34, 41, 53, 120. Parturition, 220. Passivity of females, 171. Pelobates fuscus, 126. Pereneal massage, 262. PHuegei's experiments, 61. Physiological conception, 91. Physiological explanations, 91. Placenta, 101. Index of Subjects 311 Plynthus, 120. Pneumonia, 209. Polar bodies, 54. Polydactylism, 105. Polyspermia, 103. Predominance in numbers of one sex over another, 282. Predominance of male over fe- male births, 282. Primary constituents of sex, 81. Principle of balance, 68. Prostitution, 14. Protoplasms, 33. Protozoa, 35. Psychopathological manifesta- tions, 14. Psychosexual evolution, 139. Punnet's comparisons, 58. Pyrrhocorris, 52. Eatio of births in negative hours, 230. Eatio of births in positive hours, 230. Raue's observations, 223. Eeactions, catenary chemical, 32. Eeactions, ordinary diurnal, 199. Eeactions, thermic, 199. Eeactions, three and one-half days cycle, 199. Eelated phenomena, 157. Eelation, endogenous form, 121. Eelation to month, 57. Eeproduction, 30, 34, 290. Eeproduction, asexual, 39. Eeproduction, methods of, 119. Eeproduction, sexual, 39. Eeproductive activities, 222. Eeptiles, 103. Eesidual compounds, 32. Eesting tablet, 236. Ehythm, annual, 216. Ehythm, antagonistic proto- plasmic, 161. Ehythm, diurnal metabolic, 197. Ehythm in mental disease, 155. Ehythm, lunar metabolic, 197. Ehythm, lunar monthly, 212. Ehythm, menstrual, 156. Ehythm of bodily changes, 93. Ehythm of motion, 151. Ehythm of pulse, 207. 'Ehythm, physiological, 151. Ehythm, primary, 152. Ehythm, sexual, 158. Ehythm, social, 154. Ehythm, tidal, 212. Ehythm, universal, 150. Ehythm, vocal, 154. Riley's views, 57. Eitta-Christina, conjoined twins, 112. Eosa-Josepha, conjoined twins, 111. Eotifers, 120. Sadler's studies, 63. Scales' views, 58. Scallop, 160. Scarlatina, 208. 312 Sex: Its Obigin and Deteemination Schench's theory, 59. Schirmer's observations, 56. Schroeder's investigations, 57. SchuUze's experiments, 63. SchuUze's hypothesis, 48. Sea anemone, 124. Sea urchin, 48, 104. Selection, 74. Self-fertilization, 122. Self-reproduction, 123. Serlutarians, 125. Serranum, 125. Sertoli cells, 55. Seven-day fluctuation, 214. Sex determined by time of fer- tilization, 162. Sex, essential nature of, 164. Sex, how to name it, 279. Sex in fishes, 287. Sex in psychic sphere, 136. Sex, modern view, 14, 18. Sex of ovum, 161. Sex, older ideas, 18. Sex, practical determination of, 274. Sex, prediction of, 274. Sex, present attitude, 20. Sex, property of ovum alone, 48. Sex, transference of, 81. Sex-cells, 21. Sex characters, secondary, 129. Sex characters, secondary, in- heritance of, 134. Sex-cycle, 148. Sex-cycle, determination of, 179, 290. Sex-cycle in man, 206. Sex determinants, 72, 114. Sex differentiation, 40. Sex distinction, 275. Sex rhythm, 148. Sex rhythm on acquired char- acter, 288. Sexes, equality in numbers, 85. Sexual distinction in psychic functions, 138. Sexual impulse, 143. Sexual inversion, 141. Sexual object, 143. Siamese twins, 106, 110. Smallpox, 209. Snail, 122. Spaltungstheorie, 106. Spencer's definition, 25. Spermatids, 55. Spermatogenesis, 55. Spermatozoa, 169. Sponges, 120, 122. Spontaneity of living matter, 27. Spore, 121. Sporulation, 119. Stability of man, 35. Starfish, 104. Starkweather's ideas, 65. Stieda's statistics, 63. Stirpiculture, 45. Superfcetation, 98. Superior opposits, 67. Superior parent, 66. Surgical operations, 272. Swimming bells, 134. Sycandra raphanus, 133. Index of Subjects 313 Taetisms, 38. Tadpoles, 61, 80. Tapeworm, 123. Terata, 108. Teratology, 108. Theories reviewed, 44. Thompson's conclusions, 63. Threadworm, 133. Thury's theory, 57. Tidal charts, 369. Tidal influence, 214. Tidal periods, 181, 231. Tide, time table of, 334. Tocei twins, 113. Treat's experiments, 57. Tremotodes, 133. Trirhodus, 41. Trophisms, 28, 157. Tunieata, 125. Twins, 70, 96, 391. Twins, conjoined, 106, 109. Twins, conjoined, dissimilarity of, 110, 277. Twins, dissimilar, 97. Twins, heterogenous, 98. Twins, homogenous, 97. Twins, homologous, 97. Twins, of different sexes, 276. Twins, ordinary, 97. Twins, origin of, 103. Twins, true, 70, 97. Unisexual germ cells, 55. Universal rhythm, 149. Vanessa, 90. Van Luit's ideas, 65. Variations, 36, 41. Venereal orgasm, 286. Vernix caseosa, 263. Verwachsungstheorie, 106. Volvox, 130. Wallace's view, 40. Weininger's ideas, 141. Yellow fever, 306. Yung's experiments, 61. Zoophytes, 124. CLOTH, 276 PAGES $2.00 STERILITY IN THE MALE AND FEMALE AND ITS TREATMENT BY MAX HUHNER, M.D., New York CHIEF, GGNITO-URINARY DEPARTMENT, HABLEM HOSPITAL DISPENSABY, NEW TOBK CITY: FORUERLY, ATTENDING GENITO-UBINAKY SCKGEON, BELLEVUB HOS- PITAL, OUT-PATIENT DEPARTMENT, AMD ASSISTANT GYNECOLOGIST, MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL DISPENSABY, NEW YOBK CITY. MEH- BEB AMERICAN UROLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, FELLOW OF THE NEW YOBK ACADEMY OP MEDICINE, ETC. NEW YORK REBMAN COMPANY herald square building 141-145 West 36th Street Order Form Sterility in the Male and Female By MAX HUHNER, M.D. To REBMAN COMPANY, HBBALD SQUABE BUILDING 141-145 West 36th Street, N. Y. Please send me by. -Express (or mail) One Copy of the above work, for which I enclose Money Order for $2.00. Date. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface Page vii CHAPTER I General Considerations About SteriKty — ^Where Man's SesponsibUity Ends — ^Importance of Cervix Test for Sterility — ^Errors Made in Begard to Man's Responsi- bility — Objections to Condom Method for Fixing Man's Responsibility — Errors Made in Fixing the Woman's Responsibility — Practical Value of Cervix Test. Page 3 'CHAPTER n Behavior of Spermatozoa in the Normal Vagina — ^Acidity of Vagina Detrimental to the Vitality of Spermatozoa — Kehrei^s Theory; Haussmann's Observations — ^Au- thor's Observations — Conclusions to be Drawn from the Behavior of Spermatozoa in the Vagina — B^t Time to Have Coitus for Purposes of Impregnation — Statistics of Jewish Women Pogre 10 CHAPTER m Behavior of Spermatozoa in the Normal Cervix — hauss- mann's Observations — Percy's Case — Author's Observa- tions — ^Effect of Catarrhal Secretions upon the Vitality of Spermatozoa — ^Illustrative Cases — Effect of Alkaline Douche upon the Vitality of Spermatozoa Page 17 CHAPTER IV Theoiy of the Importance of the Receptaculum Seminis in Sterility — Objections to Theoiy — Runge's Theory of the Effect of Effluvium Seminis on Impregnation — Runge's Statistics — Author's Objections to Runge's The- ory — ^Deductions to be Drawn from the Behavior of Spermatozoa in the Cervix Page 26 CHAPTER V Behavior of Spermatozoa in the Fundus Uteri — Hauss- mann's Observations — ^Author's Observations — Difficulty in Making Observations Page 40 .Contents CHAPTEE VI Behavior of Spermatozoa in the Fallopian Tuhes — ^Impos- sibility of Obtaining Specimens — Author's Suggestions — Value of Author's Method in Sterility Cases. Page 46 CHAPTEE Vn Eelationship of Various Pathological Conditions to Steril- ity — Sims' Observations — Author's Observations — Kehrer's Observations — Statistics of Various Authors. Page 51 CHAPTEE Vm Statistics About Sterility — Sources of Error — One Child Sterility in Eelationship to Sterility — Statistics of Va- rious Authors — Author's Statistics — Stature, Age, Pe- riods, Heredity and Sexual Passion in Eelationship to Sterility — Difficulty of Obtaining Statistics About Sex- ual Passion — Author's Method of Investigation — ^Eela- tionship of Marriage Age to Sterility — Menstruation and Sterility Page 58 CHAPTEE IX Eelative Frequency of Sterility in the Male and Female ^Statistics of Various Authors — Noeggerath's Theory — Author's Objections to this Theory — Brothers' Ob- servations — Author's Criticism of Brothers' Method of Procedure — ^Author's Statistics as to Man's Eesponsi- bility in Sterility — Engelmann's Observations and Sta- tistics — Author's Objections to Them — ^Women at a Dis- advantage in Statistics On Sterility Page 69 CHAPTEE X Studies in Spermatozoa — Influence of Chemicals and Secre- tions Upon the Vitality of Spermatozoa — ^Author's Ex- periments and Observations — Gonococci and Sperma- tozoa — Motility of Spermatozoa — Quotations fron Var- ious Authorities — Author's Observations Page 82 Contents CHAPTEE XI Aspiration of Testicles — Technique — Author's Statistics. Page 94 CHAPTEE XII Azoospermia — ^Hopelessness of Condition — Condition Im- proved at Times by Treatment of Prostatic Urethra — Importance of Dead Spermatozoa — ^Author's Method of Treatment — Statistics of Martin's Operation. Page 101 CHAPTEE XIII Technique of Eecovering Spermatozoa from the Female Genitals Page 107 CHAPTEE XIV Method of Procedure and Treatment of Sterility in the Male and Pemale Page 116 CHAPTEE XV Examinations and Experiments — ^Preliminary Observations. Page 124 CHAPTEE XVI Examinations and Experiments {Continued) Page 164 CHAPTEE XVII Examinations and Experiments {Continued) Page 205 CHAPTEE XVIII Cases of Aspirations of Testicles Page 235 CHAPTEE XIX Various Statistics of Author's Cases — Spermatozoa in the Female Genitals in Author's Cases — Statistics of the Presence or Absence of Effluvium Seminis in Non- Sterile Married Women — Effluvium Seminis in Non- Sterile Women Page 239 BmuoOEAPHy Page 247 Index Page 253 ;;fi:sI:i§!C Mi