<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></SPAN>CHAPTER II<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</SPAN></span></h2>
<h3>THE TRANSITION FROM CELL TO HUMAN BEING</h3>
<p class="newchapter"><span class="firstword"><span class="dropcap">I</span>n</span> the functional processes alluded to in the preceding
chapter, the male germ-cell and the female
germ-cell unite in a practically equal division of
substance. We say “practically” because the maternal
and the paternal influences are not equally
divided in the offspring. One or the other usually
predominates. But, as a general rule, it may be
said that in the development of the embryonal life
the process of cell division proceeds in such a way
that every germ of the child's future organism represents
approximately one-half maternal and one-half
paternal substance and energy.</p>
<p>In this process lies the true secret of heredity.
The inherited energies retain their full measure
of power, and all their original quality in the
growing and dividing chromosomes (the chromosome
is one of the segments into which the
chromoplasmic filaments of a cell-nucleus break
up just before indirect division). On the other
hand, the egg-substance of the female germ-cell,
which is assimilated by the chromosomes, and which
is turned into <i>their</i> substance by the process of
organic chemistry, loses its specific plastic vital
energy completely. It is in the same way that food<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</SPAN></span>
eaten by the adult has absolutely no effect on his
qualitative organic structure. We may eat ever
so many beef-steaks without acquiring any of the
characteristics of an ox. And the germ-cell may devour
any amount of egg-protoplasma without losing
its original paternal energy. As a rule a child
inherits as many qualities from its mother as from
its father.</p>
<h5>DETERMINATION OF SEX</h5>
<p>Sex is determined after conception has taken
place. At an early stage of the embryo certain
cells are set apart. These, later, form the sex
glands. Modern research claims to have discovered
the secret of absolutely determining sex in the
human embryo, but even if these claims are valid
they have not as yet met with any general application.</p>
<h5>EARLY DEVELOPMENT</h5>
<p>Some twelve days after conception, the female
ovule or egg, which has been impregnated by the
male spermatazoön, escapes from the ovary where
it was impregnated, and entering a tube (Fallopian)
gradually descends by means of it into the cavity
of the womb or uterus. Here the little germ begins
to mature in order to develop into an exact counterpart
of its parents. In the human being the womb
has only a single cavity, and usually develops but
a single embryo.</p>
<h5>TWINS</h5>
<p>Sometimes two ovules are matured at the same
time. If fecundated, two embryos instead of one
will develop, producing twins. Triplets and quadruplets,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</SPAN></span>
the results of the maturing of three or four
ovules at the same time, occur more rarely. As
many as five children have been born alive at a
single birth, but have seldom lived for more than
a few minutes.</p>
<h5>GESTATION</h5>
<p>The development of the ovule in the womb is
known as gestation or pregnancy. The process is one
of continued cell division and growth, and while it
goes on the ovule sticks to the inner wall of the
womb. There it is soon enveloped by a mucous
membrane, which grows around it and incloses it.</p>
<h5>THE EMBRYO</h5>
<p>The <i>Primitive Trace</i>, a delicate straight line appearing
on the surface of the growing layer of cells
is the base of the embryonic spinal column. Around
this the whole embryo develops in an intricate
process of cell division and duplication. One end
of the Primitive Trace becomes the head, the other
the tail, for every human being has a tail at this
stage of his existence. The neck is marked by a
slight depression; the body by a swollen center.
Soon little buds or “pads” appear in the proper
positions. These represent arms and legs, whose
ends, finally, split up into fingers and toes. The
embryonic human being has been steadily increasing
in size, meanwhile. By the fifth week the heart
and lungs are present in a rudimentary form, and
ears and face are distinctly outlined. During the
seventh week the kidneys are formed, and a little
later the genital organs. At two months, though<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</SPAN></span>
sex is not determined as yet, eyes and nose are
visible, the mouth is gaping, and the skin can be
distinguished. At ten weeks the sexual organs
form more definitely, and in the third month sex
can be definitely determined.</p>
<h5>THE FOETUS</h5>
<p>At the end of its fourth month the embryo—now
four or five inches long and weighing about an
ounce—is promoted. It receives the name of foetus.
Hairs appear on the scalp, the eyes are provided
with lids, the tongue appears far back in the mouth.
The movements of the foetus are plainly felt by
the mother. If born at this time it lives but a few
minutes. It continues to gain rapidly in weight. By
the sixth month the nails are solid, the liver large
and red, and there is fluid in the gall bladder. The
seventh month finds the foetus from twelve and a
half to fourteen inches long, and weighing about
fifty-five ounces. It is now well proportioned, the
bones of the cranium, formerly flat, are arched. All
its parts are well defined, and it can live if born.
By the end of the eighth month the foetus has
thickened out. Its skin is red and covered by a delicate
down; the lower jaw has grown to the same
length as the upper one. The convolutions of the
brain structure also appear during this month.</p>
<h5>PLACENTA AND UMBILICAL CORD</h5>
<p>During gestation the unborn infant has been supplied
with air and nourishment by the mother. An
organ called the <i>Placenta</i>, a spongy growth of<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</SPAN></span>
blood vessels, develops on the inner point of the
womb. To this organ the growing foetus is moored
by a species of cable, the <i>Umbilical Cord</i>. This
cord, also made up mainly of blood vessels, carries
the blood of the foetus to and from the <i>Placenta</i>,
absorbing it through the thin walls which separate it
from the mother's blood. Only through her blood
can the mother influence the child, since the Umbilical
Cord contains no nerves. The Umbilical
Cord, attached to the body of the child at the navel,
is cut at birth, and with the Placenta is expelled
from the womb soon after the child has been born.
Together with the Placenta it forms a shapeless
mass, familiarly known as the “afterbirth,” and
when it is retained instead of being expelled is apt
to cause serious trouble.</p>
<h5>CHILDBIRTH OR PARTURITION</h5>
<p>At nine month's time the foetus is violently thrust
from that laboratory of nature in which it has
formed. It is born, and comes into the world as a
child. Considering the ordinary size of the generative
passages, the expelling of the foetus from
the womb would seem impossible. But Nature, during
those months in which she enlarged the womb
to hold its gradually increasing contents, has also increased
the generative passages in size. She has
made them soft and distensible, so that an apparent
physical impossibility could take place, though it is
often accompanied by intense suffering. Modern
medical science has made childbirth easier, but the
act of childbirth is usually accompanied by more<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</SPAN></span>
or less suffering. Excessive pain, however, is often
the result of causes which proper treatment can remove
before and at the time of confinement.</p>
<h5>TWILIGHT SLEEP</h5>
<p>The so-called “Twilight Sleep,” a modern development,
by which the pangs of childbirth are
obviated by the administration of drugs or by hypnotic
suggestion, has its opponents and defenders.
The advantage of a painless childbirth, upon which
the mother can look back as on a dream, is evident.
The “Twilight Sleep” process has been used with
the happiest results both for parent and child.
Opponents of this system declare that the use of
powerful drugs may injure the child. A method
commended is the administration of a mixture of
laughing gas and oxygen, which relieves the mother
and does not affect the child.</p>
<h5>THE NEW-BORN INFANT</h5>
<p>The average weight of the new-born child is
about seven and a half pounds. It is insensitive
to pain for the first few days, and seems deaf (since
its middle ears are filled with a thick mucus) for
the first two weeks. During the first few days, too,
it does not seem able to see. The first month of
its existence is purely automatic. Evidences of
dawning intelligence appear in the second month
and at four months it will recognize mother or
nurse. Muscularly it is poorly developed. Not
until two months old is it able to hold up its head,
and not until three months does voluntary muscular<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</SPAN></span>
movement put in an appearance. The new-born's
first self-conscious act is to draw breath. Deprived
of its usual means of supply it must breathe or
suffocate. Its next is to suck milk, lest it starve.</p>
<h5>HEREDITY</h5>
<p>We often find children who offer a striking resemblance
to a paternal grandfather, a maternal
aunt or a maternal great-grandmother. This is
known as avatism. There are many curious variations
with regard to the inheritance of ancestral
traits. Some children show a remarkable resemblance
to their fathers in childhood, others to their
mothers. And many qualities of certain individual
ancestors appear quite suddenly late in life. Everything
may be inherited, from the most delicate
shadings of the disposition, the intelligence and the
will power, to the least details of hair, nails and
bone structure, etc. And the combination of the
qualities of one's ancestors in heredity is so manifold
and so unequal that it is extremely difficult to
arrive at fixed conclusions regarding it. Hereditary
traits and tendencies are developed out of the
energies of the original conjugated germ-cells
throughout life, up to the very day of death. Even
aged men often show peculiarities in the evening
of their life which may be clearly recognized as
inherited, and duplicating others shown by their
forbears at the same period of life.</p>
<p>As has already been mentioned every individual
inherits, generally speaking, as much from his paternal
as from his maternal progenitors. This in<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</SPAN></span>
spite of the fact that the tiny paternal germ-cell is
the only medium of transmission of the paternal
qualities, while the mother furnishes the much
larger egg-cell, and feeds him throughout the embryonic
period.</p>
<h5>THE ENGRAM</h5>
<p>An interesting theory maintains that the external
impressions made upon an organism which
reacts to them and receives them, might be called
<i>engrams</i> or “inscriptions.” Thus the impression of
some object we have seen or touched (let us say
we have seen a lion) may remain engraved on our
mind as an impression. Hence every memory picture
is one of engrams, whether the impression is
a conscious one or an unconscious one. According
to this same theory the reawakening of an older
impression is an <i>ecphory</i>. Some new stimulation
may thus ecphorate an old engram. Now the entire
embryonal development of the human child is in
reality no more than a continuous process of ecphoration
of old engrams, one after another. And the
entire complex of our living human organism is
made up entirely of these energy-complexes engraved
on our consciousness or subconsciousness. The sum
total of all these engrams, in a living human being,
according to the theory advanced, is given the name
of <i>mnema</i>. That which the child receives in the
way of energies contained in the germ-cells from
its ancestors is his hereditary <i>mnema</i>. And that
which he acquires in the course of his own individual
life is his acquired or individual <i>mnema</i>.</p>
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