The Biology, Physiology and Sociology of Reproduction / Also Sexual Hygiene with Special Reference to the Male

by Winfield Scott Hall

Sacrifice and Compensation in the Phyletic Activities.

a. Lower Organisms.—As an example of a lower organism we may take the amoeba. If one watches an amoeba under the microscope he may see it move about the field, creeping along the surface of the glass plate; throwing out a pseudopodium here; invaginating a mouth or stomach there; taking in and digesting minute plant organisms; transporting itself across the field of the microscope through the aid of improvised locomotory organs. All these activities are egoistic. The amoeba is putting forth effort to gain its sustenance; it is sacrificing energy to receive compensation in the form of support. If we continue to watch this minute organism we will find that sooner or later it goes into a resting stage which does not last long before we can observe important internal changes making themselves manifest first at the nucleus, which slowly divides into two equal portions that separate, each carrying with it about half of the protoplasm of the parent organism. As these two young amoebae lie side by side under the microscope the thoughtful student will inquire—what has become of the parent organism? Whereas at first there was one mature amoeba, now we have before us two young amoebae of the next succeeding generation. The parent organism has sacrificed its substance and its individuality absolutely and completely for the next generation.

Plate I
Reproduction in the Amoeba.

It may be said in general that reproduction always involves a division of the parent organism. In the case of the amoeba the division is into two equal portions. In the case of some of the lower plants and animals the substance of the parent organism is divided into many equal minute spores or eggs, each of which develops a new organism.

b. Higher Organisms.—These also suffer a division of their body protoplasm. However, instead of dividing into two or more equal parts and merging their individuality immediately into the next generation, the higher organisms divide off a very small portion of their protoplasm to make an egg or seed while the parent organism lives on to produce eggs or seeds on subsequent occasions.

While the parental sacrifice in eggs or spermatozoa is minute and inconsiderable in the higher animals, the sacrifices subsequent to this initial division are incalculably greater in higher animals than in the lower organisms. We can cite no better example than the human subject. The human ovum, divided off from the maternal organism, is a minute globule of protoplasm, almost microscopic in size. The sacrifice of the mother in producing the ovum is inconsiderable, but the production of the ovum is simply the first step in the sacrifice which the maternal organism makes.

The fertilized ovum makes a lodgment on the inner surface of the uterus or womb and begins immediately to absorb its nourishment from the maternal organism. It soon develops a heart and blood vessels so related to the blood vessels of the mother that throughout its intra-uterine existence the mother's blood supplies the growing child all of the substance that is built up into bone, muscle, brain and glands, preparing the young child to come into the world a living, breathing, sentient organism. These draughts upon the vitality of the maternal organism are so great that they frequently result in a very sensible depletion of the mother's physical power, particularly manifest in the depletion of the blood.

During the period when the young child is developing within the body of the mother, she must make other sacrifices, viz., the withdrawal from society more closely within the four walls of her home where she busies herself many days in preparation of the wardrobe for the expected child. Then there are sacrifices incident to childbirth represented especially in the pain and travail of parturition. During the first year of the child's life in normal cases, it draws its nourishment from its mother's breast. This nourishment in turn is elaborated by the milk-secreting glands from the mother's blood—still further depleting her system. During its childhood and youth the mother prepares the food, clothing and shelter of her child at no small expense of her own time and strength. For years the mother holds herself ready to watch by the bedside of her child should he fall sick, and there is hardly a mother in the land who has not spent many nights in this vigil by the bed of her sick child.

We might turn now briefly to the consideration of the sacrifices that the father makes.