The Relations of the Sexes (Duffey)/Chapter 2

SEX is discovered in nearly all forms of organic life. Everything which propagates itself after its kind, displays more or less evidence of a dual sexual nature. Some of the most primitive forms of vegetation, and the Zoophytes and others in the animal kingdom, seem almost asexual. Yet, though undiscovered, the principle of sex no doubt exists in their organizations. The Zoophytes propagate by budding and by sub-divisions. But as there is no effect without a cause, the life-impulse of the buddings and subdivisions is probably a bi-sexual one. Some of the mollusca have been found, upon investigation, to be at one period of the year masculine, and at another feminine, and at these respective periods performing the distinctive duties and functions of the sex to which they then belong.

In the vegetable world we frequently find the plant or tree bi-sexual, uniting both systems in a single blossom. The male organ of fructification is the stamen, consisting of the filament and the anther. These prepare and distribute the pollen or fecundating dust. The corresponding female organ is the pistil, generally consisting of an ​ovary, one or more styles, and one or more stigmas. The style is not, however, essential. When the plant or tree is bi-sexual, these organs are united in a single flower; or it may be the flowers are respectively masculine and feminine in character. Some species of trees and plants, however, like the osage orange, and certain varieties of strawberries, have both male and female plants; the female alone bearing fruit, and failing to do that except in the neighborhood of the male, when the wind and insects impregnate the female blossom with the male pollen.

In the lower forms of animal life, we find the sexual organs act regularly without volition on the part of the individual, and it may be with little or no sensation of pleasure. Thus, with most fishes there is no bodily conjunction. They are oviparous, and their spawn or eggs are deposited in vast numbers, and are afterwards fecundated by the sperm of the male.

Rising higher in the scale of being, we find the generative process more an act of will, though it is still entirely regulated by the periods and conditions of the female. Thus, too, the higher we ascend, the general rule is that the number of offspring decreases. The progeny of certain insects and fishes is counted by hundreds and thousands, and sometimes by millions. The birds raise two or four families a year, each family numbering from two to five. Dogs and cats are about equally prolific, and rabbits perhaps more so. Horses and cows do not often exceed one offspring a year.

​Running through all forms of animal life, we find the principle of generation the same. From the highest to the lowest, the first form of existence dates back to a cell, or rather to a union of two opposite cells, each possessing motion, which motions are united in a new and complex motion, resulting in life and growth. The union of two cells of like character would not produce this result. It seems to be incorrect to claim superiority of the male over the female germ as possessing the elements of life. Admitting that the female germ, or ovum, is never developed beyond a certain point without the conjunction of the male, the latter possesses no intrinsic merit or characteristic which can carry it one single point beyond its companion unaided. As they act equally important parts in the embryonic economy, it is plain to be seen that both are equally endowed with life, and equally necessary. Neither one nor the other alone possesses life, but the union of the two engenders it.

In the vegetable kingdom, we find that the female trees, or female shoots of a tree, possess more abundant vigor than the male ones; though, owing to the heavy burden laid upon the former in producing and ripening the fruit, they do not retain their appearance of freshness so long.

In animate nature there is no general rule in regard to the relative appearance or longevity of the sexes; but each insect, bird, and animal, is governed according to the laws of its special being. It has been discovered, as will be hereinafter described, that, in the case of insects, at ​least, the sex depends upon whether the development is perfect or imperfect; and as all things point that way through the whole range of creation, I think it will be ultimately proved to be the universal law.

Some male insects survive only long enough to copulate with the females, and then die, or are killed by the rest of their tribe. In certain cases, as in the medusæ, among marine creatures, and the aphides among insects, the male is so unimportant that he makes his appearance but once in two, three, or four generations, the females of the intermediate generations being capable of producing their species without his aid. There is much that is curious and well worthy of study in this department of natural history; but it is not specially important in this connection.

Female insects are often, though not always, larger than their male companions. Sometimes both sexes are alike, and sometimes the female is smaller and less brilliant in color than her mate. Among birds and animals, the rule is that the male exceeds the female in size and beauty of appearance, though there are some exceptions to this rule. A reason for this difference can easily be discovered in the fact, that the quiet colors which the females wear, serve to keep them in hiding when they are occupied with their young. The males are naturally aggressive animals, while the females are defensive. The former can well afford to present an imposing and striking appearance, while the latter are naturally as retiring ​in looks as in disposition. Among beasts of prey, particularly, courage and strength and a showy appearance are essentials to the male, whilst the institution of the family is shadowed forth in the care and protection which he frequently gives the mother and her young.

As we reach the human race, the law of beauty seems to be reversed, though, after all, this is more in seeming than in reality. Huxley, I believe, denies the supposition in toto, and strongly maintains the superiority of the male in physical beauty. If we judge human beings by the same criterion as animals, Huxley is certainly correct in his statement. The male is the superior in size, with the most striking developments of muscle, form and feature—just the characteristics which we take note of and admire in the inferior orders. The human beard corresponds to the mane of the male lion, which is that creature's distinguishing feature. But, observing as we do, the softer outlines of the female, the smoother skin, clearer complexion, and more delicate features, we naturally declare her sex to be the most beautiful, æsthetically considered. If we were to apply the same rules to the lower orders of creation, we might find reason to reverse our present decision in regard to the relative beauty of the sexes. The female, though smaller, is generally the more graceful in form; and if we only understood the study of countenances among beasts, we might find lineaments of superior beauty in the female. In truth, throughout the whole creation, no doubt each sex excels ​in its own way, without its being possible to institute any just comparison between them.

Scrutinizing the human race, we find the male the larger of the two, with heavier bones, more developed muscular system, larger arteries, and less complicated nervous system, a rougher and less sensitive skin, broader shoulders, smaller waist, (I am speaking of the works of nature, not those of art) and narrower hips. A woman's brain is somewhat smaller than a man's, but perhaps no more so than its comparative size warrants; and its encasing bones are thinner and more pliant, while the brain texture is finer and more delicate. The latest decision of science is, I believe, that, taking the relative weight of the sexes, the relative weight of their brains, and their relative fineness of texture, those of women possess a slight advantage over those of men.

There is some difference in the bony structure of the two sexes; but the most noticeable one is the breadth of the female pelvis, which serves an important part in the exercise of the maternal functions. In women the nervous and the cellular systems seem to take precedence over the muscular system; and the blood is carried more rapidly, yet with less force, through the smaller arteries, while the veins are fuller, and are thrown more upon the surface of the body.

Thus far, men and women, though differing slightly, bear a likeness to one another. But when we approach sexual development the likeness ceases. The male sexual ​organs consist of the penis and urethra, testicles, seminal vesicles, seminal ducts, prostatic and Cowper's glands. The testicles are enveloped in a sac called the scrotum, and are composed of minute convoluted tubes, nearly a mile in length, folding upon themselves, and connecting with ducts which terminate in two canals. On each side of the body there passes down to the testicles a spermatic cord, which consists of an artery and veins, and lymphatic vessels and nerves. The two canals, or vasa deferentia, as they are called, pass up one in each spermatic cord, till they enter the cavity of the abdomen, where they curve over the bladder, and, bending down, connect with the seminal vessels, behind and at the neck of the bladder. These seminal vessels are the prostate and Cowper's glands, each of which add their secretions to the volume of the semen. From these glands, at the time of an emission, the semen proceeds by the ejaculatory ducts through the urethra. The spermatic secretions are composed of the most precious properties of which the blood is compounded. Thus it is evident that the vital resources of the individual are severely taxed when any undue drain upon them takes place.

The feminine organs of generation are more numerous and more complicated. First of all are the ovaries, which lie on either side of the uterus, connected with it by the fallopian tubes. Each month the ovaries develope a minute ovum or egg, which, if its progress is not arrested by meeting a male sperm cell, passes off as the cell which ​contains it bursts and sets it at liberty. Within the cavity of the pelvis lies the uterus, a small, pear-shaped organ, taking up, in its ordinary state, little room, and possessing little or no sensation. If the ovum, on its way to its exit, comes in contact with the male germ, the two unite, and remain within the uterus until a perfect human being is developed, and is ready to take its place in the living world. During this process, the uterus displays extraordinary strength and elasticity. The small organ, three or four inches in length, and still less in breadth, stretches without rupturing, until it is large enough to envelope the full-grown fœtus. When delivery takes place, another marvel is exhibited in the wonderful, periodic, spontaneous contractions which it undergoes to expel the fœtus.

In the uterine cavity, the child is nourished by the blood of the mother, its sanguineous system being directly connected with hers, though it has independent, plainly-distinguishable heart-beats. At the end of the period of gestation, which varies from two hundred and seventy to three hundred or more days, a series of regular spasmodic contractions of the uterus result in forcing out the fully-developed fœtus through the vaginal passage, and a child is born into the world.

The vaginal passage leads to the womb, and serves the triple purpose of being a road by which the expelled ovum finds its exit, a cavity in which the male organ deposits the sperm cell and a passage-way for the child at ​birth. The clitoris is the female organ of sensation in the generative act. Whether it serves any other purpose is not clear, but physiologists have, I believe, decided that it does not.

The mammary system of the woman plays an important part in the nourishment of the babe for some time after its birth. In fact, it is about two years from the earliest stage of its existence, before the child leads a separate and independent life. During all this time it is, so to speak, a part of its mother, flesh of her flesh, bone of her bone, and subject to her physical and mental states.

Though the masculine and feminine reproductive organs differ so widely from each other, there is yet a correspondence in their functions. The ovaries and the testes perform similar duties in preparing and retaining the respective germ-cells. They are, moreover, both dual in character, and both equally required in the natural economy. The penis and clitoris have enough of similarity to be compared to one another; though the former performs a more important part than the latter, and all the various processes of generation would proceed, if the latter should be removed, or had never existed.

The uterine and mammary systems are complete and unique, having no developed counterpart in the masculine structure. Nevertheless male mammals, including man, possess a rudimentary uterus, which is discovered in the organ called the "Vesicula Prostatica." Darwin in his ​"Descent of Man," Vol, 1, page 30, says: "The vesicula prostatica of male mammals is now universally acknowledged to be the homologue of the female uterus, together with the connected passage." "It is impossible to read Leuckart's able description of this organ, and his reasoning, without admitting the justness of his conclusion." "This is especially clear," says Mr. Darwin, "in the case of those mammals in which the true female uterus bifurcates, for in the males of these the vesicle likewise bifurcates."

It appears that in the earliest stages of fœtal life, the sexes are perfectly alike in structure. There exists in both a common matrix or rudimentary organ, which, during the course of embryonic life, becomes developed into the distinctive organs of one sex or the other. Whether the child ultimately prove male or female, the amount of progressing and arrested development is about the same. In a female, this cavity or matrix developes in its upper portion into the uterus, while the development of the lower portion ceases at about the third month. In a male child the upper development is arrested, and the lower continues. Thus the early type of sexual organs is to be regarded as common and single, rather than double, as some have considered it; so that sex is something which is decided after conception instead of at that period. It is possible that the laws which govern the production of sex may be ultimately discovered, though it is not at all certain; for no doubt these laws. ​are extremely complicated, and depend in their operations, it may be, on a complication of circumstances or conditions.

The fact cannot be gainsaid that woman's organization is more complete and complex than man's, and that, with her intensified nervous system in addition, she is capable of a greater variety of both physical and mental pleasure and pain, than the other sex.

It is a curious fact, and a significant one, that all the distinctive organs of the female sex are situated within the body, and those of the male on the outside. If one were given to theorizing, one might declare, with a certain show of reason, that sensation would be keenest in man, and sentiment in woman; that man would be influenced more by his passions, and woman more by her feelings and her emotions. Seriously, I think there is some truth in this. At least, the thought will bear consideration.