But before death has occurred, in the
one sex or the other, and in fact in both, certain products or parts of
the organism have been set free, certain parts of the organisms of the
two sexes have come into contact with one another, and from that
conjunction, from that union which then takes place, there results the
formation of a new being. At stated times the mare, from a particular
part of the interior of her body, called the ovary, gets rid of a
minute particle of matter comparable in all essential respects with
that which we called a cell a little while since, which cell contains a
kind of nucleus in its centre, surrounded by a clear space and by a
viscid mass of protein substance (Fig. 2); and though it is different
in appearance from the eggs which we are mostly acquainted with, it is
really an egg. After a time this minute particle of matter, which may
only be a small fraction of a grain in weight, undergoes a series of
changes,--wonderful, complex changes. Finally, upon its surface there
is fashioned a little elevation, which afterwards becomes divided and
marked by a groove.
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