[17] The theory of Lester Ward, to which I have already referred, supports this view.
[18] I have left out of my inquiry any reference to plants, though all that has been said of the protozoa in the last chapter is equally true of the protophyta, the basis of plant life. Among plants there are many beautiful and instructive examples of the relative position of the female and the male plant. A well-known case is that of the hemp-plant, where the sexes are indistinguishable up to the period of fertility, but when the male plants have shed their pollen, and thus fulfilled their duty of fertilising the female plants, they cease to grow, turn yellow and sere, and if at all crowded wither and die. Many other examples might be cited, but the question is too wide to enter on here. See Lester Ward, op. cit., pp. 318-322.
[19] Encyclopædia Britannica, article on "Sex," by Prof. Geddes; also Evolution of Sex, pp. 20, 21. Prof. Lester Ward, Pure Sociology, Part II, Chap. XIV, gives an ingenuous and complete view of the early superiority of the female, to which he gives the name of the Gynæcocentric theory, as opposed to the usual Androcentric theory, based on the superiority of the male. While fully appreciating the suggestiveness and value of this theory, and also acknowledging very gratefully the help I have derived from it, it must be stated that some of the facts brought forward in its support by the distinguished American cannot be accepted. Nor am I able, as will appear later, to accept the conclusion he arrives at of the passive character of the female. See also a popular article by Prof. Ward, "Our Better Halves", The Forum, Vol. VI., Nov. 1888, pp. 266-275.
[20] Van Beneden, Animal Parasites and Messmates, p. 55.
[21] Milne Edwards, Leçons sur la physiologie et l'anatomie comparée de l'homme et des animaux, Vol. IX. p. 267.
[22] In addition to the works already mentioned, see Darwin, Descent of Man, Vol. I. p. 329; Haeckel, Evolution of Man, and A Manual of the Anatomy of the Invertebrated Animals, by T. Huxley, pp. 261-262.
[23] Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol. I. p. 345.
[24] Thomson, J.A., Heredity, p. 39.
[25] Article by Ryder, Science, Vol. I., May 31, 1895, p. 603.
[26] Schreiner, Olive, Woman and Labour, pp. 77-78.