The Evolution of Man Volume I Part 6

Between this common mitosis, or indirect cell-division--which is the normal cleavage-process in most cells of the higher animals and plants--and the simple direct division (Figure 1.10) we find every grade of segmentation; in some circ.u.mstances even one kind of division may be converted into another.

The plastid is also endowed with the functions of movement and sensation. The single cell can move and creep about, when it has s.p.a.ce for free movement and is not prevented by a hard envelope; it then thrusts out at its surface processes like fingers, and quickly withdraws them again, and thus changes its shape (Figure 1.12).

Finally, the young cell is sensitive, or more or less responsive to stimuli; it makes certain movements on the application of chemical and mechanical irritation. Hence we can ascribe to the individual cell all the chief functions which we comprehend under the general heading of "life"--sensation, movement, nutrition, and reproduction. All these properties of the multicellular and highly developed animal are also found in the single animal-cell, at least in its younger stages. There is no longer any doubt about this, and so we may regard it as a solid and important base of our physiological conception of the elementary organism.

Without going any further here into these very interesting phenomena of the life of the cell, we will pa.s.s on to consider the application of the cell theory to the ovum. Here comparative research yields the important result that EVERY OVUM IS AT FIRST A SIMPLE CELL. I say this is very important, because our whole science of embryology now resolves itself into the problem: "How does the multicellular organism arise from the unicellular?" Every organic individual is at first a simple cell, and as such an elementary organism, or a unit of individuality. This cell produces a cl.u.s.ter of cells by segmentation, and from these develops the multicellular organism, or individual of higher rank.

When we examine a little closer the original features of the ovum, we notice the extremely significant fact that in its first stage the ovum is just the same simple and indefinite structure in the case of man and all the animals (Figure 1.13). We are unable to detect any material difference between them, either in outer shape or internal const.i.tution. Later, though the ova remain unicellular, they differ in size and shape, enclose various kinds of yelk-particles, have different envelopes, and so on. But when we examine them at their birth, in the ovary of the female animal, we find them to be always of the same form in the first stages of their life. In the beginning each ovum is a very simple, roundish, naked, mobile cell, without a membrane; it consists merely of a particle of cytoplasm enclosing a nucleus (Figure 1.13). Special names have been given to these parts of the ovum; the cell-body is called the yelk (vitellus), and the cell-nucleus the germinal vesicle. As a rule, the nucleus of the ovum is soft, and looks like a small pimple or vesicle. Inside it, as in many other cells, there is a nuclear skeleton or frame and a third, hard nuclear body (the nucleolus). In the ovum this is called the germinal spot. Finally, we find in many ova (but not in all) a still further point within the germinal spot, a "nucleolin," which goes by the name of the germinal point. The latter parts (germinal spot and germinal point) have, apparently, a minor importance, in comparison with the other two (the yelk and germinal vesicle). In the yelk we must distinguish the active formative yelk (or protoplasm = first plasm) from the pa.s.sive nutritive yelk (or deutoplasm = second plasm).

(FIGURE 1.12. Mobile cells from the inflamed eye of a frog (from the watery fluid of the eye, the humor aqueus). The naked cells creep freely about, by (like the amoeba or rhizopods) protruding fine processes from the uncovered protoplasmic body. These bodies vary continually in number, shape, and size. The nucleus of these amoeboid lymph-cells ("travelling cells," or planocytes) is invisible, because concealed by the numbers of fine granules which are scattered in the protoplasm. (From Frey.))

In many of the lower animals (such as sponges, polyps, and medusae) the naked ova retain their original simple appearance until impregnation. But in most animals they at once begin to change; the change consists partly in the formation of connections with the yelk, which serve to nourish the ovum, and partly of external membranes for their protection (the ovolemma, or prochorion). A membrane of this sort is formed in all the mammals in the course of the embryonic process. The little globule is surrounded by a thick capsule of gla.s.s-like transparency, the zona pellucida, or ovolemma pellucidum (Figure 1.14). When we examine it closely under the microscope, we see very fine radial streaks in it, piercing the zona, which are really very narrow ca.n.a.ls. The human ovum, whether fertilised or not, cannot be distinguished from that of most of the other mammals. It is nearly the same everywhere in form, size, and composition. When it is fully formed, it has a diameter of (on an average) about 1/120 of an inch.

When the mammal ovum has been carefully isolated, and held against the light on a gla.s.s-plate, it may be seen as a fine point even with the naked eye. The ova of most of the higher mammals are about the same size. The diameter of the ovum is almost always between 1/250 to 1/125 inch. It has always the same globular shape; the same characteristic membrane; the same transparent germinal vesicle with its dark germinal spot. Even when we use the most powerful microscope with its highest power, we can detect no material difference between the ova of man, the ape, the dog, and so on. I do not mean to say that there are no differences between the ova of these different mammals. On the contrary, we are bound to a.s.sume that there are such, at least as regards chemical composition. Even the ova of different men must differ from each other; otherwise we should not have a different individual from each ovum. It is true that our crude and imperfect apparatus cannot detect these subtle individual differences, which are probably in the molecular structure. However, such a striking resemblance of their ova in form, so great as to seem to be a complete similarity, is a strong proof of the common parentage of man and the other mammals. From the common germ-form we infer a common stem-form.

On the other hand, there are striking peculiarities by which we can easily distinguish the fertilised ovum of the mammal from the fertilised ovum of the birds, amphibia, fishes, and other vertebrates (see the close of Chapter 2.29).

(FIGURE 1.13. Ova of various animals, executing amoeboid movements, highly magnified. All the ova are naked cells of varying shape. In the dark fine-grained protoplasm (yelk) is a large vesicular nucleus (the germinal vesicle), and in this is seen a nuclear body (the germinal spot), in which again we often see a germinal point. Figures A1 to A4 represent the ovum of a sponge (Leuculmis echinus) in four successive movements. B1 to B8 are the ovum of a parasitic crab (Chondracanthus cornutus), in eight successive movements. (From Edward von Beneden.) C1 to C5 show the ovum of the cat in various stages of movement (from Pfluger); Figure P the ovum of a trout; E the ovum of a chicken; F a human ovum.)

The fertilised bird-ovum (Figure 1.15) is notably different. It is true that in its earliest stage (Figure 1.13 E) this ovum also is very like that of the mammal (Figure 1.13 F). But afterwards, while still within the oviduct, it takes up a quant.i.ty of nourishment and works this into the familiar large yellow yelk. When we examine a very young ovum in the hen's oviduct, we find it to be a simple, small, naked, amoeboid cell, just like the young ova of other animals (Figure 1.13).

But it then grows to the size we are familiar with in the round yelk of the egg. The nucleus of the ovum, or the germinal vesicle, is thus pressed right to the surface of the globular ovum, and is embedded there in a small quant.i.ty of transparent matter, the so-called white yelk. This forms a round white spot, which is known as the "tread"

(cicatricula) (Figure 1.15 b). From the tread a thin column of the white yelk penetrates through the yellow yelk to the centre of the globular cell, where it swells into a small, central globule (wrongly called the yelk-cavity, or latebra, Figure 1.15 d apostrophe). The yellow yelk-matter which surrounds this white yelk has the appearance in the egg (when boiled hard) of concentric layers (c). The yellow yelk is also enclosed in a delicate structureless membrane (the membrana vitellina, a).

As the large yellow ovum of the bird attains a diameter of several inches in the bigger birds, and encloses round yelk-particles, there was formerly a reluctance to consider it as a simple cell. This was a mistake. Every animal that has only one cell-nucleus, every amoeba, every gregarina, every infusorium, is unicellular, and remains unicellular whatever variety of matter it feeds on. So the ovum remains a simple cell, however much yellow yelk it afterwards acc.u.mulates within its protoplasm. It is, of course, different, with the bird's egg when it has been fertilised. The ovum then consists of as many cells as there are nuclei in the tread. Hence, in the fertilised egg which we eat daily, the yellow yelk is already a multicellular body. Its tread is composed of several cells, and is now commonly called the germinal disc. We shall return to this discogastrula in Chapter 1.9.

(FIGURE 1.14. The human ovum, taken from the female ovary, magnified 500 times. The whole ovum is a simple round cell. The chief part of the globular ma.s.s is formed by the nuclear yelk (deutoplasm), which is evenly distributed in the active protoplasm, and consists of numbers of fine yelk-granules. In the upper part of the yelk is the transparent round germinal vesicle, which corresponds to the nucleus.

This encloses a darker granule, the germinal spot, which shows a nucleolus. The globular yelk is surrounded by the thick transparent germinal membrane (ovolemma, or zona pellucida). This is traversed by numbers of lines as fine as hairs, which are directed radially towards the centre of the ovum. These are called the pore-ca.n.a.ls; it is through these that the moving spermatozoa penetrate into the yelk at impregnation.

FIGURE 1.15. A fertilised ovum from the oviduct of a hen. the yellow yelk (c) consists of several concentric layers (d), and is enclosed in a thin yelk-membrane (a). The nucleus or germinal vesicle is seen above in the cicatrix or "tread" (b). From that point the white yelk penetrates to the central yelk-cavity (d apostrophe). The two kinds of yelk do not differ very much.

FIGURE 1.16. A creeping amoeba (highly magnified). The whole organism is a simple naked cell, and moves about by means of the changing arms which it thrusts out of and withdraws into its protoplasmic body.

Inside it is the roundish nucleus with its nucleolus.)

When the mature bird-ovum has left the ovary and been fertilised in the oviduct, it covers itself with various membranes which are secreted from the wall of the oviduct. First, the large clear alb.u.minous layer is deposited around the yellow yelk; afterwards, the hard external sh.e.l.l, with a fine inner skin. All these gradually forming envelopes and processes are of no importance in the formation of the embryo; they serve merely for the protection of the original simple ovum. We sometimes find extraordinarily large eggs with strong envelopes in the case of other animals, such as fishes of the shark type. Here, also, the ovum is originally of the same character as it is in the mammal; it is a perfectly simple and naked cell. But, as in the case of the bird, a considerable quant.i.ty of nutritive yelk is acc.u.mulated inside the original yelk as food for the developing embryo; and various coverings are formed round the egg. The ovum of many other animals has the same internal and external features. They have, however, only a physiological, not a morphological, importance; they have no direct influence on the formation of the foetus. They are partly consumed as food by the embryo, and partly serve as protective envelopes. Hence we may leave them out of consideration altogether here, and restrict ourselves to material points--TO THE SUBSTANTIAL IDENt.i.tY OF THE ORIGINAL OVUM IN MAN AND THE REST OF THE ANIMALS (Figure 1.13).

Now, let us for the first time make use of our biogenetic law; and directly apply this fundamental law of evolution to the human ovum. We reach a very simple, but very important, conclusion. FROM THE FACT THAT THE HUMAN OVUM AND THAT OF ALL OTHER ANIMALS CONSISTS OF A SINGLE CELL, IT FOLLOWS IMMEDIATELY, ACCORDING TO THE BIOGENETIC LAW, THAT ALL THE ANIMALS, INCLUDING MAN, DESCEND FROM A UNICELLULAR ORGANISM.

If our biogenetic law is true, if the embryonic development is a summary or condensed recapitulation of the stem-history--and there can be no doubt about it--we are bound to conclude, from the fact that all the ova are at first simple cells, that all the multicellular organisms originally sprang from a unicellular being. And as the original ovum in man and all the other animals has the same simple and indefinite appearance, we may a.s.sume with some probability that this unicellular stem-form was the common ancestor of the whole animal world, including man. However, this last hypothesis does not seem to me as inevitable and as absolutely certain as our first conclusion.

This inference from the unicellular embryonic form to the unicellular ancestor is so simple, but so important, that we cannot sufficiently emphasise it. We must, therefore, turn next to the question whether there are to-day any unicellular organisms, from the features of which we may draw some approximate conclusion as to the unicellular ancestors of the multicellular organisms. The answer is: Most certainly there are. There are a.s.suredly still unicellular organisms which are, in their whole nature, really nothing more than permanent ova. There are independent unicellular organisms of the simplest character which develop no further, but reproduce themselves as such, without any further growth. We know to-day of a great number of these little beings, such as the gregarinae, flagellata, acineta, infusoria, etc. However, there is one of them that has an especial interest for us, because it at once suggests itself when we raise our question, and it must be regarded as the unicellular being that approaches nearest to the real ancestral form. This organism is the amoeba.

For a long time now we have comprised under the general name of amoebae a number of microscopic unicellular organisms, which are very widely distributed, especially in fresh-water, but also in the ocean; in fact, they have lately been discovered in damp soil. There are also parasitic amoebae which live inside other animals. When we place one of these amoebae in a drop of water under the microscope and examine it with a high power, it generally appears as a roundish particle of a very irregular and varying shape (Figures 1.16 and 1.17). In its soft, slimy, semi-fluid substance, which consists of protoplasm, we see only the solid globular particle it contains, the nucleus. This unicellular body moves about continually, creeping in every direction on the gla.s.s on which we are examining it. The movement is effected by the shapeless body thrusting out finger-like processes at various parts of its surface; and these are slowly but continually changing, and drawing the rest of the body after them. After a time, perhaps, the action changes. The amoeba suddenly stands still, withdraws its projections, and a.s.sumes a globular shape. In a little while, however, the round body begins to expand again, thrusts out arms in another direction, and moves on once more. These changeable processes are called "false feet," or pseudopodia, because they act physiologically as feet, yet are not special organs in the anatomic sense. They disappear as quickly as they come, and are nothing more than temporary projections of the semi-fluid and structureless body.

(FIGURE 1.17. Division of a unicellular amoeba (Amoeba polypodia) in six stages. (From F.E. Schultze.) the dark spot is the nucleus, the lighter spot a contractile vacuole in the protoplasm. The latter reforms in one of the daughter-cells.)

FIGURE 1.18. Ovum of a sponge (Olynthus). The ovum creeps about in a body of the sponge by thrusting out ever-changing processes. It is indistinguishable from the common amoeba.)

If you touch one of these creeping amoebae with a needle, or put a drop of acid in the water, the whole body at once contracts in consequence of this mechanical or physical stimulus. As a rule, the body then resumes its globular shape. In certain circ.u.mstances--for instance, if the impurity of the water lasts some time--the amoeba begins to develop a covering. It exudes a membrane or capsule, which immediately hardens, and a.s.sumes the appearance of a round cell with a protective membrane. The amoeba either takes its food directly by imbibition of matter floating in the water, or by pressing into its protoplasmic body solid particles with which it comes in contact. The latter process may be observed at any moment by forcing it to eat. If finely ground colouring matter, such as carmine or indigo, is put into the water, you can see the body of the amoeba pressing these coloured particles into itself, the substance of the cell closing round them.

The amoeba can take in food in this way at any point on its surface, without having any special organs for intussusception and digestion, or a real mouth or gut.

The amoeba grows by thus taking in food and dissolving the particles eaten in its protoplasm. When it reaches a certain size by this continual feeding, it begins to reproduce. This is done by the simple process of cleavage (Figure 1.17). First, the nucleus divides into two parts. Then the protoplasm is separated between the two new nuclei, and the whole cell splits into two daughter-cells, the protoplasm gathering about each of the nuclei. The thin bridge of protoplasm which at first connects the daughter-cells soon breaks. Here we have the simple form of direct cleavage of the nuclei. Without mitosis, or formation of threads, the h.o.m.ogeneous nucleus divides into two halves.

These move away from each other, and become centres of attraction for the enveloping matter, the protoplasm. The same direct cleavage of the nuclei is also witnessed in the reproduction of many other protists, while other unicellular organisms show the indirect division of the cell.

Hence, although the amoeba is nothing but a simple cell, it is evidently able to accomplish all the functions of the multicellular organism. It moves, feels, nourishes itself, and reproduces. Some kinds of these amoebae can be seen with the naked eye, but most of them are microscopically small. It is for the following reasons that we regard the amoebae as the unicellular organisms which have special phylogenetic (or evolutionary) relations to the ovum. In many of the lower animals the ovum retains its original naked form until fertilisation, develops no membranes, and is then often indistinguishable from the ordinary amoeba. Like the amoebae, these naked ova may thrust out processes, and move about as travelling cells. In the sponges these mobile ova move about freely in the maternal body like independent amoebae (Figure 1.17). They had been observed by earlier scientists, but described as foreign bodies--namely, parasitic amoebae, living parasitically on the body of the sponge. Later, however, it was discovered that they were not parasites, but the ova of the sponge. We also find this remarkable phenomenon among other animals, such as the graceful, bell-shaped zoophytes, which we call polyps and medusae. Their ova remain naked cells, which thrust out amoeboid projections, nourish themselves, and move about. When they have been fertilised, the multicellular organism is formed from them by repeated segmentation.

It is, therefore, no audacious hypothesis, but a perfectly sound conclusion, to regard the amoeba as the particular unicellular organism which offers us an approximate ill.u.s.tration of the ancient common unicellular ancestor of all the metazoa, or multicellular animals. The simple naked amoeba has a less definite and more original character than any other cell. Moreover, there is the fact that recent research has discovered such amoeba-like cells everywhere in the mature body of the multicellular animals. They are found, for instance, in the human blood, side by side with the red corpuscles, as colourless blood-cells; and it is the same with all the vertebrates.

They are also found in many of the invertebrates--for instance, in the blood of the snail. I showed, in 1859, that these colourless blood-cells can, like the independent amoebae, take up solid particles, or "eat" (whence they are called phagocytes = "eating-cells," Figure 1.19). Lately, it has been discovered that many different cells may, if they have room enough, execute the same movements, creeping about and eating. They behave just like amoebae (Figure 1.12). It has also been shown that these "travelling-cells,"

or planocytes, play an important part in man's physiology and pathology (as means of transport for food, infectious matter, bacteria, etc.).

The power of the naked cell to execute these characteristic amoeba-like movements comes from the contractility (or automatic mobility) of its protoplasm. This seems to be a universal property of young cells. When they are not enclosed by a firm membrane, or confined in a "cellular prison," they can always accomplish these amoeboid movements. This is true of the naked ova as well as of any other naked cells, of the "travelling-cells," of various kinds in connective tissue, lymph-cells, mucus-cells, etc.

We have now, by our study of the ovum and the comparison of it with the amoeba, provided a perfectly sound and most valuable foundation for both the embryology and the evolution of man. We have learned that the human ovum is a simple cell, that this ovum is not materially different from that of other mammals, and that we may infer from it the existence of a primitive unicellular ancestral form, with a substantial resemblance to the amoeba.

The statement that the earliest progenitors of the human race were simple cells of this kind, and led an independent unicellular life like the amoeba, has not only been ridiculed as the dream of a natural philosopher, but also been violently censured in theological journals as "shameful and immoral." But, as I observed in my essay On the Origin and Ancestral Tree of the Human Race in 1870, this offended piety must equally protest against the "shameful and immoral" fact that each human individual is developed from a simple ovum, and that this human ovum is indistinguishable from those of the other mammals, and in its earliest stage is like a naked amoeba. We can show this to be a fact any day with the microscope, and it is little use to close one's eyes to "immoral" facts of this kind. It is as indisputable as the momentous conclusions we draw from it and as the vertebrate character of man (see Chapter 1.11).

(FIGURE 1.19. Blood-cells that eat, or phagocytes, from a naked sea-snail (Thetis), greatly magnified. I was the first to observe in the blood-cells of this snail the important fact that "the blood-cells of the invertebrates are unprotected pieces of plasm, and take in food, by means of their peculiar movements, like the amoebae." I had (in Naples, on May 10th, 1859) injected into the blood-vessels of one of these snails an infusion of water and ground indigo, and was greatly astonished to find the blood-cells themselves more or less filled with the particles of indigo after a few hours. After repeated injections I succeeded in "observing the very entrance of the coloured particles in the blood-cells, which took place just in the same way as with the amoeba." I have given further particulars about this in my Monograph on the Radiolaria.)

We now see very clearly how extremely important the cell theory has been for our whole conception of organic nature. "Man's place in nature" is settled beyond question by it. Apart from the cell theory, man is an insoluble enigma to us. Hence philosophers, and especially physiologists, should be thoroughly conversant with it. The soul of man can only be really understood in the light of the cell-soul, and we have the simplest form of this in the amoeba. Only those who are acquainted with the simple psychic functions of the unicellular organisms and their gradual evolution in the series of lower animals can understand how the elaborate mind of the higher vertebrates, and especially of man, was gradually evolved from them. The academic psychologists who lack this zoological equipment are unable to do so.

This naturalistic and realistic conception is a stumbling-block to our modern idealistic metaphysicians and their theological colleagues.

Fenced about with their transcendental and dualistic prejudices, they attack not only the monistic system we establish on our scientific knowledge, but even the plainest facts which go to form its foundation. An instructive instance of this was seen a few years ago, in the academic discourse delivered by a distinguished theologian, Willibald Beyschlag, at Halle, January 12th, 1900, on the occasion of the centenary festival. The theologian protested violently against the "materialistic dustmen of the scientific world who offer our people the diploma of a descent from the ape, and would prove to them that the genius of a Shakespeare or a Goethe is merely a distillation from a drop of primitive mucus." Another well-known theologian protested against "the horrible idea that the greatest of men, Luther and Christ, were descended from a mere globule of protoplasm."

Nevertheless, not a single informed and impartial scientist doubts the fact that these greatest men were, like all other men--and all other vertebrates--developed from an impregnated ovum, and that this simple nucleated globule of protoplasm has the same chemical const.i.tution in all the mammals.

CHAPTER 1.7. CONCEPTION.

The recognition of the fact that every man begins his individual existence as a simple cell is the solid foundation of all research into the genesis of man. From this fact we are forced, in virtue of our biogenetic law, to draw the weighty phylogenetic conclusion that the earliest ancestors of the human race were also unicellular organisms; and among these protozoa we may single out the vague form of the amoeba as particularly important (cf. Chapter 1.6). That these unicellular ancestral forms did once exist follows directly from the phenomena which we perceive every day in the fertilised ovum. The development of the multicellular organism from the ovum, and the formation of the germinal layers and the tissues, follow the same laws in man and all the higher animals. It will, therefore, be our next task to consider more closely the impregnated ovum and the process of conception which produces it.

The process of impregnation or s.e.xual conception is one of those phenomena that people love to conceal behind the mystic veil of supernatural power. We shall soon see, however, that it is a purely mechanical process, and can be reduced to familiar physiological functions. Moreover, this process of conception is of the same type, and is effected by the same organs, in man as in all the other mammals. The pairing of the male and female has in both cases for its main purpose the introduction of the ripe matter of the male seed or sperm into the female body, in the s.e.xual ca.n.a.ls of which it encounters the ovum. Conception then ensues by the blending of the two.

We must observe, first, that this important process is by no means so widely distributed in the animal and plant world as is commonly supposed. There is a very large number of lower organisms which propagate uns.e.xually, or by monogamy; these are especially the s.e.xless monera (chromacea, bacteria, etc.) but also many other protists, such as the amoebae, foraminifera, radiolaria, myxomycetae, etc. In these the multiplication of individuals takes place by uns.e.xual reproduction, which takes the form of cleavage, budding, or spore-formation. The copulation of two coalescing cells, which in these cases often precedes the reproduction, cannot be regarded as a s.e.xual act unless the two copulating plastids differ in size or structure. On the other hand, s.e.xual reproduction is the general rule with all the higher organisms, both animal and plant; very rarely do we find as.e.xual reproduction among them. There are, in particular, no cases of parthenogenesis (virginal conception) among the vertebrates.

s.e.xual reproduction offers an infinite variety of interesting forms in the different cla.s.ses of animals and plants, especially as regards the mode of conception, and the conveyance of the spermatozoon to the ovum. These features are of great importance not only as regards conception itself, but for the development of the organic form, and especially for the differentiation of the s.e.xes. There is a particularly curious correlation of plants and animals in this respect. The splendid studies of Charles Darwin and Hermann Muller on the fertilisation of flowers by insects have given us very interesting particulars of this.* (* See Darwin's work, On the Various Contrivances by which Orchids are Fertilised (1862).) This reciprocal service has given rise to a most intricate s.e.xual apparatus. Equally elaborate structures have been developed in man and the higher animals, serving partly for the isolation of the s.e.xual products on each side, partly for bringing them together in conception. But, however interesting these phenomena are in themselves, we cannot go into them here, as they have only a minor importance--if any at all--in the real process of conception. We must, however, try to get a very clear idea of this process and the meaning of s.e.xual reproduction.

In every act of conception we have, as I said, to consider two different kinds of cells--a female and a male cell. The female cell of the animal organism is always called the ovum (or ovulum, egg, or egg-cell); the male cells are known as the sperm or seed-cells, or the spermatozoa (also spermium and zoospermium). The ripe ovum is, on the whole, one of the largest cells we know. It attains colossal dimensions when it absorbs great quant.i.ties of nutritive yelk, as is the case with birds and reptiles and many of the fishes. In the great majority of the animals the ripe ovum is rich in yelk and much larger than the other cells. On the other hand, the next cell which we have to consider in the process of conception, the male sperm-cell or spermatozoon, is one of the smallest cells in the animal body.

Conception usually consists in the bringing into contact with the ovum of a slimy fluid secreted by the male, and this may take place either inside or out of the female body. This fluid is called sperm, or the male seed. Sperm, like saliva or blood, is not a simple fluid, but a thick agglomeration of innumerable cells, swimming about in a comparatively small quant.i.ty of fluid. It is not the fluid, but the independent male cells that swim in it, that cause conception.

(FIGURE 1.20. Spermia or spermatozoa of various mammals. The pear-shaped flattened nucleus is seen from the front in I and sideways in II. k is the nucleus, m its middle part (protoplasm), s the mobile, serpent-like tail (or whip); M four human spermatozoa, A spermatozoa from the ape; K from the rabbit; H from the mouse; C from the dog; S from the pig.

FIGURE 1.21. Spermatozoa or spermidia of various animals. (From Lang).

a of a fish, b of a turbellaria worm (with two side-lashes), c to e of a nematode worm (amoeboid spermatozoa), f from a craw fish (star-shaped), g from the salamander (with undulating membrane), h of an annelid (a and h are the usual shape).

FIGURE 1.22. A single human spermatozoon magnified 2000 times; a shows it from the broader and b from the narrower side. k head (with nucleus), m middle-stem, h long-stem, and e tail. (From Retzius.))

The spermatozoa of the great majority of animals have two characteristic features. Firstly, they are extraordinarily small, being usually the smallest cells in the body; and, secondly, they have, as a rule, a peculiarly lively motion, which is known as spermatozoic motion. The shape of the cell has a good deal to do with this motion. In most of the animals, and also in many of the lower plants (but not the higher) each of these spermatozoa has a very small, naked cell-body, enclosing an elongated nucleus, and a long thread hanging from it (Figure 1.20). It was long before we could recognise that these structures are simple cells. They were formerly held to be special organisms, and were called "seed animals"

(spermato-zoa, or spermato-zoidia); they are now scientifically known as spermia or spermidia, or as spermatosomata (seed-bodies) or spermatofila (seed threads). It took a good deal of comparative research to convince us that each of these spermatozoa is really a simple cell. They have the same shape as in many other vertebrates and most of the invertebrates. However, in many of the lower animals they have quite a different shape. Thus, for instance, in the craw fish they are large round cells, without any movement, equipped with stiff outgrowths like bristles (Figure 1.21 f). They have also a peculiar form in some of the worms, such as the thread-worms (filaria); in this case they are sometimes amoeboid and like very small ova (Figure 1.21 c to e). But in most of the lower animals (such as the sponges and polyps) they have the same pine-cone shape as in man and the other animals (Figure 1.21 a, h).

When the Dutch naturalist Leeuwenhoek discovered these thread-like lively particles in 1677 in the male sperm, it was generally believed that they were special, independent, tiny animalcules, like the infusoria, and that the whole mature organism existed already, with all its parts, but very small and packed together, in each spermatozoon (see Chapter 1.2). We now know that the mobile spermatozoa are nothing but simple and real cells, of the kind that we call "ciliated" (equipped with lashes, or cilia). In the previous ill.u.s.trations we have distinguished in the spermatozoon a head, trunk, and tail. The "head" (Figure 1.20 k) is merely the oval nucleus of the cell; the body or middle-part (m) is an acc.u.mulation of cell-matter; and the tail (s) is a thread-like prolongation of the same.

Moreover, we now know that these spermatozoa are not at all a peculiar form of cell; precisely similar cells are found in various other parts of the body. If they have many short threads projecting, they are called ciliated; if only one long, whip-shaped process (or, more rarely, two or four), caudate (tailed) cells.

Very careful recent examination of the spermia, under a very high microscopic power (Figure 1.22 a, b), has detected some further details in the finer structure of the ciliated cell, and these are common to man and the anthropoid ape. The head (k) encloses the elliptic nucleus in a thin envelope of cytoplasm; it is a little flattened on one side, and thus looks rather pear-shaped from the front (b). In the central piece (m) we can distinguish a short neck and a longer connective piece (with central body). The tail consists of a long main section (h) and a short, very fine tail (e).