Supposing the human egg to be 1/120th of an inch in diameter and an ordinary pin’s head to be 1/16th of an inch in diameter, which is about its size, the egg would be about 1/7th of the size of a pin’s head.
Haeckel says: “In the lower vertebrates the formation of ova (eggs) in the germ-epithelium of the ovary continues throughout life; but in the higher animals it is restricted to the earlier stages, or even to the period of embryonic development.
“In man it seems to cease in the first year; in the second year we find no new-formed ova (eggs) or chains of ova (Pfluger’s tubes.) However, the number of ova (eggs) in the two ovaries is very large in the young girl. There are calculated to be 72,000 in the sexually mature maiden.” (Evolution of Man, chap. 29, p. 347.)
“The human ovum,” says Haeckel, “whether fertilized, or not, cannot be distinguished from that of most 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 1/120th of an inch. When the mammal ovum (egg) has been carefully isolated and held against the light on a glass-plate, it may be seen as a fine point even with the naked eye. The ova (eggs) of most of the higher animals are about the same size. The diameter of the ovum (egg) is almost always between 1/250th and 1/125th of an 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,” he continues, “with its highest power, we can detect no material difference between the ova (eggs) of man, the ape, dog, and so on. I do not mean to say that there are no differences between the ova (eggs) of these different mammals. On the contrary, we are bound to assume that there are such [differences] at least as regards chemical composition. Even the ova (eggs) of different men must differ from each other; otherwise we should not have a different individual from each ovum (egg). It is true that our crude and imperfect apparatus cannot detect these subtle individual differences which are probably in the molecular (atomic) structure.”—(Evolution of Man, chap. 6, p. 44.)
Sec. 15. Spermatozoön and Ovum are Special Creations
Each human spermatozoön is formed in the genital organs of a particular man. So each human ovum is formed in the genital organs of a particular woman. Each of them is a new chemical combination, and a new mechanical arrangement, of the atoms of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen (protoplasm) of which they are composed; which atoms are now, combined and arranged, for the first and last time, into a spermatozoön or an ovum. The atoms in a spermatozoön are chemically combined according to a prescribed formula, and mechanically arranged according to a specific plan; and the same is true of the atoms in an ovum. Each spermatozoön has the same chemical composition and the same mechanical arrangement, the same form and size, that every other has. So each ovum has the same combination and arrangement, the same form and size that every other has.
The materials, forces and motions employed in making each spermatozoön are similar to those employed in forming every other; but they are wholly different from, and independent of, those employed in making any other; and the same is true of the materials, forces and motions employed in making each ovum.
In other words, each spermatozoön is composed of its own atoms, and these atoms are selected, assembled, combined and arranged by forces and motions, peculiar to itself, independently of and wholly different from, the forces and motions which build up every other. The same is true of each ovum, the necessary changes being made.