Plain Facts for Old and Young | Page 9

between individuals
of the same species are not, however, confined to the sexual organs. In
most classes of plants and animals, other sexual differences are very
great. In some of the lower orders of animals, and in many species of
plants, the male and female individuals are so much unlike that for a
long time after they were well known, no sexual relation was
discovered.
Hermaphrodism.--An individual possessing both male and female
organs of reproduction is called an hermaphrodite. Such a combination
is very rare among higher animals; but it is by no means uncommon
among plants and the lower forms of animal life. The snail, the oyster,
the earth-worm, and the common tape-worm, are examples of true
hermaphrodites. So-called human hermaphrodites are usually
individuals in whom the sexual organs are abnormally developed so
that they resemble those of the opposite sex, though they really have
but one sex, which can usually be determined with certainty. Only a
very few cases have been observed in which both male and female
organs were present.
There is now living in Germany an individual who bears the name of a
woman; but learned physicians have decided that the person is as much
man as woman, having the organs of both sexes. What is still more
curious, this person has the feelings of both sexes, having loved at first
a man, and afterward a woman. There have been observed, also, a very
few instances of individuals in whom the sexual organs of neither sex
were present. It thus appears that a person may be of both sexes or of
no sex at all.

Sex in Plants.--To one unacquainted with the mysteries of plant life and
growth, the idea of attaching sexuality to plants seems very
extraordinary; but the botanist recognizes the fact that the distinctions
of sex are as clearly maintained in the vegetable as in the animal
kingdom. The sexual organs of the higher orders of plants are flowers.
That part of the flower which produces seeds answers to the female;
another part, which is incapable of forming seeds, answers to the male.
The fertile and sterile flowers are sometimes produced on separate
plants. Very frequently, they are produced upon separate parts of the
same plant, as in the oak, walnut, and many other forest trees, and
Indian corn. In the latter plant, so familiar to every one, the "tassel"
contains the male flowers, and the part known as the "silk," with the
portion to which it is attached--which becomes the ear--the female or
fertile flowers. In a large number of species, the male and female
organs are combined in a single flower, making a true hermaphrodite.
Sex in Animals.--As previously remarked, individuals of opposite sex
usually differ much more than in the character of their sexual organs
only. Among higher animals, the male is usually larger, stronger, and
of coarser structure than the female. The same contrast is observed in
their mental characters. With lower animals, especially insects, the
opposite is often observed. The female spider is many times larger than
the male. The male ant is small in size when compared with the female.
Nevertheless, in all classes of animals the difference in the structure
and the functions of the sexual organs is the chief distinguishing
character. These differences are not so great, however, as they might at
first appear. The male and female organs of reproduction in man and
other animals, which seem so dissimilar, when studied in the light shed
upon this subject by the science of embryology, are found to be
wonderfully alike in structure, differing far more in appearance than in
reality, and being little more than modifications of one general plan.
Every organ to be found in the one sex has an analogue in the other
which is complete in every particular, corresponding in function, in
structure, and usually in position.
Other Sexual Differences.--In this country there is between five and six
inches difference in height and about twenty pounds difference in

weight between the average man and the average woman, the average
man being about five feet, eight inches in height, and weighing one
hundred and forty-five pounds; while the average woman is five feet,
two or two and one-half inches in height, and weighs one hundred and
twenty-five pounds. The relation of the sexes in height and weight
varies in degree in different countries, but is never changed. The
average height and weight of American men and women is
considerably above that of the average human being.
Men and Women Differ in Form.--The differences in form are so
marked that it is possible for the skilled anatomist to determine the sex
of a human being who has been dead for ages, by an examination of the
skeleton alone. In man, the shoulders are broad, the hips