Each spermatozoön is composed of myriads of atoms. The atoms of each are chemically combined and mechanically arranged in the same manner that those in every other are, all spermatozoä being identical in chemical composition, mechanical arrangement, form and size. The same is true of each ovum and fertilized ovum, and of the atoms in them, respectively, vice versa. So each embryo is composed of myriads of cells, the cells in each having identically the same chemical composition and mechanical arrangement that those in every other embryo of the same age and sex have; all embryos of the same age and sex having substantially the same chemical combinations and mechanical arrangements of their cells, organs and parts. It follows that each human spermatozoön, ovum, fertilized ovum and embryo, of the same age and sex is constructed according to certain prescribed “plans and specifications.”
We are, therefore, compelled to assume that the force and motion necessary to construct the spermatozoön, ovum, fertilized ovum and embryo are generated, guided and controlled by a Being with full knowledge of the “plans and specifications,” of the chemical elements, their affinities and combinations, of mechanical arrangements, etc. The Architect must know the “plans and specifications;” must be able to compare the work of construction with them, as the work progresses; must have memory to bear in mind and recall the plans and specifications; and must have will-power to begin and continue the work until the “structure” is completed. So He must see that each organ and part attains its proper form and size at the right time; that each organ and part is properly proportioned to and correlated with, every other on each day of its growth. In other words: He must see that the forces at work, and the motions produced in each organ and part of the embryo body are proportioned to and in harmony with the forces at work and the motions produced in every other; that the development and growth of each organ and part keeps pace with those of every other. This knowledge, power and creative force belongs only to the Creator.
Sec. 13. Spermatozoön
A spermatozoön is a microscopic body contained in the semen, to which the seminal fluid owes its vitality; and which is the immediate means of impregnating or fertilizing the ovum of the female; a spermatic cell or filament; a spermatozoid. (Cent. Dic. 7, p. 5819.)
The spermatozoön is composed of protoplasm and is one of the smallest cells in the animal body. The seminal fluid is called “sperm” or “the male seed.” Sperm, like saliva or blood, is not a simple fluid, but is a thick agglomeration of innumerable cells swimming about in a comparatively small quantity of fluid. It is not the fluid, but the independent male cells, which swim in it, that cause conception. They have, as a rule, “a peculiarly lively motion.” In most animals, the spermatozoä have a very small naked body, inclosing an elongated nucleus and a long thread like tail, hanging from it. It was long before we could recognize that these structures were simple cells. We now know that the spermatozoä are nothing but simple and real cells of the kind we call “ciliated” cells, equipped with cilia or “lashes.”
The body of the spermatozoön is divided into “head,” “trunk” and “tail.” The head is merely the oval nucleus of the cell; the body or middle part is an accumulation of cell matter and the tail is a thread-like prolongation of the trunk or body. The form of the spermatozoön is not peculiar to it; cells with similar forms are found in various other parts of the body. Such forms as the spermatozoön are called caudate or tailed cells. See Haeckel, Evolution of Man, p. 52-53.
“The spermatozoä,” says Professor Martin, “are motile bodies about 1/500th of an inch in length; they have a flattened, clear body or head and a long vibratile tail or cilium; the portion of the tail nearest the head is thicker than the rest, and is known as the neck. The mode of development of a spermatozoön shows that the head is a cell-nucleus and the neck and tail a modified cell-body.”—(Martin, Human Body, p. 651.)
According to Haeckel, the spermatozoön is about 1/10,000th of an inch in diameter. See Evolution of Man, p. 53, fig. 22.
“The striking differences,” says Haeckel, “of [between] the respective cells, in size and shape … are easily explained on the principle of division of labor. The inert motionless ovum grows in size according to the quantity of provision it stores up in the form of nutritive yelk for the development of the germ. The active swimming sperm-cell is reduced in size in proportion to its need to seek the ovum and bore its way into its yelk.”—Haeckel, Evolution of Man, p. 57.