. Discovery. Science. DISCOVERY 201 these would doubtless be very grave) to apply it to mammals and to human beings. The original reason for the wide occurrence of sex is to be sought in the greater plasticity it confers, the greater power of varying in response to changed conditions ; but once it was established it reacted markedly upon the later history of life. The gametes are primitively alike ; then a division of labour occurs, and the male gamete or sperm takes on the function of finding the female gamete or ovum, which is concerned with storing up food-material for the future develop- m
. Discovery. Science. DISCOVERY 201 these would doubtless be very grave) to apply it to mammals and to human beings. The original reason for the wide occurrence of sex is to be sought in the greater plasticity it confers, the greater power of varying in response to changed conditions ; but once it was established it reacted markedly upon the later history of life. The gametes are primitively alike ; then a division of labour occurs, and the male gamete or sperm takes on the function of finding the female gamete or ovum, which is concerned with storing up food-material for the future develop- ment of the embryo ; then the individuals which produce the different gametes become different in other ways. that our instincts and the emotions associated with them are the driving force of our actions ; that the most primitive instincts, such as those of fear and of sex, are perennially active in us ; but that the human mind possesses the power called by psychologists the sublimation of instincts, whereby the instinct becomes directed towards other objects—its driving force harnessed to new, more exalted, and more spiritual ends. So fear becomes the basis of reverence and awe, the sexual instinct gives rise to the highest sympathy, the most universal love. Sex is thus intertwined, inevitably and fundamen- tally, with all our activities and with our very * * //\ T T A /\ T /\ FIG. 4.—PEDIGREE OF A FAJIILY IN WHICH HEMOPHILIA OCCURRED ; AFFECTED INDIVIDUALS ARE IN BLACK. J = male, $ = female. Note that the affected individuals are all males: that they do not produce affected children. Reproduced from " Th£ Treasury of Human Inheritance," by kind permission of the Director of the Gallon Laboratory, University of London. the male generally more active, the female generally more passive and concerned with the nourishment and care of the young. As mind develops, new complica- tions arise ; in the first place, the female requires to be courted and sti
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