Part 3

Everything that a man can do with a physical body is resolvable into force and motion. He may move a body from one place to another; he may group two or more bodies together; or he may take two or more bodies apart; or he may cut or break a body into two or more parts. But, at last, all of these operations are equivalent to moving one or more bodies from one place to another, by force and motion.

A sewing machine, adding machine, watch, steam engine, and every other machine is constructed by force and motion. Every piece of music is sung or played by force and motion. Every painting is made by grouping two or more pigments (colors) together in a particular manner by force and motion.

Intellect, memory and will-power are necessary to produce two or more forces and motions in a prescribed order and within a given time. For example, each note in a piece of music requires, for its production, a certain force and peculiar motion (vibration) of cord, pipe or string within a certain time. It is obvious that intellect, memory and will-power are necessary to sing or play any piece of music. Before anyone can speak any given word he must have intellect, memory and will-power: (1) he must know the word to be uttered, (2) he must remember it until it is uttered, (3) he must have the will-power necessary to exert the force and produce the motion of air necessary to utter it. Let the reader speak the words: “earth,” “air,” “fire,” “water,” and analyze the process.

Intellect, memory and will-power are necessary to generate, guide, and control the forces and motions required to make a watch or any other compound machine or structure, within a given time. Suppose that a watchmaker is required to make each spring, wheel and part of a watch by hand, to put every part in its place and start it to running on or about the 280th day after he begins the work. (Haeckel Ev. Man, p. 199.) To do this work he must have intellect, memory and will-power to generate, guide, and control and time the forces and motions which are necessary to make each part of the watch and to fit and group them together when completed. He must know and remember every part of it; remember the material of which it is made; remember its form and size; compare each piece with the pattern; remember the time in which he is to do the work. He must have the will-power to begin and continue the work until it is done, doing such part of it each day as to complete it on or about the day fixed.

But the forces and motions, which build up the body of the embryo, work in the dark without brain or sense-organs. To put the watchmaker on the same basis with the Creator, we will have to suppose that the watchmaker is blind and has no sense of touch. Would it be possible for him to make a watch under these conditions?

The mother’s food is taken into her mouth, chewed and mixed with saliva and passes into her stomach. Here it is mixed with gastric juice and converted into chyme. It then passes into the small intestine (duodenum) where it is mixed with pancreatic secretion, bile and “the secretion of the glands Brunner and the Crypts of Lieberkühn” and thus converted into chyle. Most of the “nutritive constituents” of the chyle pass through the epithelium of the small intestines into the subjacent blood and lymphatic vessels and are carried off. Those passing into the blood capillaries are taken by the portal vein to the liver; while those entering the lacteals are carried into the left jugular vein by the thoracic duct. (Martin, Human Body, pp. 361-377.)

This is a very brief outline of the processes, by which the food, one eats is converted into blood and passes into the arteries and veins.

The embryo at first, has no heart, arteries, nor veins. After its body has developed and grown to a certain extent, the mother’s heart and arteries carry arterial blood to it through the “umbilical vein.” This blood finally reaches the heart of the embryo, and is carried by its heart and arteries to every part of its body, then returned through “two umbilical arteries” and the placenta to the veins of the mother. In this way, the embryo has a sort of circulation of its own. But it appears to have no independent circulation during the first three or four months of its life; and the blood which circulates through it must be aerated or oxygenated in the mother’s lungs.

We may say, in general terms, that the mother’s heart and arteries exert all the force and produce all the motion which build up the embryo. It is true that the work of her heart and arteries is supplemented, after a time, by that of the heart and arteries of the embryo but the latter work is a small part of the whole.

The water in a stream runs from its head to its mouth because the latter is nearer to the center of the earth than the former. In other words, the water in every stream is carried forward by the force of gravitation. The water in a stream carries silt (mud, fine earth, etc.) which is deposited along its course and at its mouth. As already stated, the mother’s blood is carried to the embryo body by the force of her heart and arteries. Her blood conveys to the embryo, the materials of which it is built up, as the water in a stream carries silt to its mouth. Her blood has no more intellect, memory nor will-power than the water in a stream.

If a portion of the silt at the mouth of the Mississippi should be deposited at its mouth in the form of a colossal man, showing his head, neck, body, arms, legs, hands, feet, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, etc., it would be considered a great miracle. But the formation of the embryo body in the womb of its mother, with all its organs and parts is far more miraculous than the formation of the silt man of the Mississippi would be.

The reader may reply that the atoms of which the embryo is built up are not merely deposited but they are absorbed by the fertilized ovum and its daughter-cells, and converted into new cells; that these cells are chemically combined and differentiated and mechanically arranged in such a manner as to form the embryo body, etc. True; but force and motion are necessary to produce new cells, to make the necessary chemical combinations and mechanical arrangements; and these forces and motions must be generated, guided and controlled by a Being possessed of a conscious intellect, memory, will-power and creative force.

Sec. 12. Intellect, Memory and Will-power are Necessary, When

Conscious intellect, memory and will-power are necessary to generate, guide and control the force and motion employed in the construction of a compound physical structure, whatever its form or size may be.

Each spermatozoön is composed of myriads of atoms. The atoms of each are chemically combined and mechanically arranged in the same manner that those in every other are, all spermatozoä being identical in chemical composition, mechanical arrangement, form and size. The same is true of each ovum and fertilized ovum, and of the atoms in them, respectively, _vice versa_. So each embryo is composed of myriads of cells, the cells in each having identically the same chemical composition and mechanical arrangement that those in every other embryo of the same age and sex have; all embryos of the same age and sex having substantially the same chemical combinations and mechanical arrangements of their cells, organs and parts. It follows that each human spermatozoön, ovum, fertilized ovum and embryo, of the same age and sex is constructed according to certain prescribed “plans and specifications.”

We are, therefore, compelled to assume that the force and motion necessary to construct the spermatozoön, ovum, fertilized ovum and embryo are generated, guided and controlled by a Being with full knowledge of the “plans and specifications,” of the chemical elements, their affinities and combinations, of mechanical arrangements, etc. The Architect must know the “plans and specifications;” must be able to compare the work of construction with them, as the work progresses; must have memory to bear in mind and recall the plans and specifications; and must have will-power to begin and continue the work until the “structure” is completed. So He must see that each organ and part attains its proper form and size at the right time; that each organ and part is properly proportioned to and correlated with, every other on each day of its growth. In other words: He must see that the forces at work, and the motions produced in each organ and part of the embryo body are proportioned to and in harmony with the forces at work and the motions produced in every other; that the development and growth of each organ and part keeps pace with those of every other. This knowledge, power and creative force belongs only to the Creator.

Sec. 13. Spermatozoön

A spermatozoön is a microscopic body contained in the semen, to which the seminal fluid owes its vitality; and which is the immediate means of impregnating or fertilizing the ovum of the female; a spermatic cell or filament; a spermatozoid. (Cent. Dic. 7, p. 5819.)

The spermatozoön is composed of protoplasm and is one of the smallest cells in the animal body. The seminal fluid is called “sperm” or “the male seed.” Sperm, like saliva or blood, is not a simple fluid, but is a thick agglomeration of innumerable cells swimming about in a comparatively small quantity of fluid. It is not the fluid, but the independent male cells, which swim in it, that cause conception. They have, as a rule, “a peculiarly lively motion.” In most animals, the spermatozoä have a very small naked body, inclosing an elongated nucleus and a long thread like tail, hanging from it. It was long before we could recognize that these structures were simple cells. We now know that the spermatozoä are nothing but simple and real cells of the kind we call “ciliated” cells, equipped with cilia or “lashes.”

The body of the spermatozoön is divided into “head,” “trunk” and “tail.” The head is merely the oval nucleus of the cell; the body or middle part is an accumulation of cell matter and the tail is a thread-like prolongation of the trunk or body. The form of the spermatozoön is not peculiar to it; cells with similar forms are found in various other parts of the body. Such forms as the spermatozoön are called caudate or tailed cells. See Haeckel, _Evolution of Man_, p. 52-53.

“The spermatozoä,” says Professor Martin, “are motile bodies about 1/500th of an inch in length; they have a flattened, clear body or head and a long vibratile tail or cilium; the portion of the tail nearest the head is thicker than the rest, and is known as the neck. The mode of development of a spermatozoön shows that the head is a cell-nucleus and the neck and tail a modified cell-body.”--(Martin, _Human Body_, p. 651.)

According to Haeckel, the spermatozoön is about 1/10,000th of an inch in diameter. See _Evolution of Man_, p. 53, fig. 22.

“The striking differences,” says Haeckel, “of [between] the respective cells, in size and shape … are easily explained on the principle of division of labor. The inert motionless ovum grows in size according to the quantity of provision it stores up in the form of nutritive yelk for the development of the germ. The active swimming sperm-cell is reduced in size in proportion to its need to seek the ovum and bore its way into its yelk.”--Haeckel, _Evolution of Man_, p. 57.

These statements appear to be true; but the work described by Haeckel, cannot be done by man nor woman; nor by their sexual organs; nor by the blind unthinking atoms which go to build up the spermatozoön and the ovum. The Creator only, can make them!

“The phenomena we have described,” he says, on another page, “can only be understood and explained by ascribing a certain lower degree of psychic activity to the sexual principles. They feel each other’s proximity and are drawn together by a sensitive impulse (probably related to smell); they move towards each other and do not rest until they fuse together.” (Haeckel, _Evolution of Man_, p. 58.)

There is no pretense that the spermatozoön has any brain, eyes, ears, nose, taste or touch; nor that the ovum has any such organs. Then, how can they have any “degree of psychic activity;” how can “they feel each other’s proximity;” how can “they move towards each other?” How could either know in what direction to go in order to reach the other?

It is absurd to suppose that the spermatozoön and ovum have any knowledge of each other, or of anything else; and the only reasonable hypothesis is that the Creator generates, guides, and controls the forces which bring them together and fuse them into the germ-cell.

Sec. 14. Ovum

The word ovum is defined as: “An egg in a broad biological sense; and the proper product of an ovary; the female germ or seed, which, when fertilized by the male sperm, is capable of developing into an individual like the parents.… An ovum consists of a quantity of protoplasm or cell-substance called the vitellus or yolk inclosed in a cell-wall or vitelline membrane, and provided with a nucleus and nucleolus.” (Cent. Dic. 5, p. 4212.)

“The ovum (egg) is extremely small,” says Haeckel, “being a tiny round vesicle about 1/120th of an inch in diameter; it can be seen under favorable circumstances with the naked eye as a tiny particle, but is otherwise quite invisible. This particle is formed in the ovary inside a much larger globule, which takes the name of the Graäfian follicle, from its discoverer, Graäf, and [which] had been previously regarded as the true ovum.” (Evolution of Man, chap. 3, pp. 16-17.)

“Man is developed,” says Darwin, “from an ovule (little egg) about the 1/125th of an inch in diameter, which differs in no respect from the ovules of other animals.” (Descent of Man, chap. 1, p. 9.)

“In man,” says Romanes, “as in most mammals, it (the ovum or egg-cell) is about 1/120th of an inch in diameter.” (Romanes, _Darwin and After Darwin_, 1, p. 120.)

Supposing the human egg to be 1/120th of an inch in diameter and an ordinary pin’s head to be 1/16th of an inch in diameter, which is about its size, the egg would be about 1/7th of the size of a pin’s head.

Haeckel says: “In the lower vertebrates the formation of ova (eggs) in the germ-epithelium of the ovary continues throughout life; but in the higher animals it is restricted to the earlier stages, or even to the period of embryonic development.

“In man it seems to cease in the first year; in the second year we find no new-formed ova (eggs) or chains of ova (Pfluger’s tubes.) However, the number of ova (eggs) in the two ovaries is very large in the young girl. There are calculated to be 72,000 in the sexually mature maiden.” (_Evolution of Man_, chap. 29, p. 347.)

“The human ovum,” says Haeckel, “whether fertilized, or not, cannot be distinguished from that of most other mammals. It is nearly the same everywhere, in form, size, and composition. When it is fully formed, it has a diameter of (on an average) about 1/120th of an inch. When the mammal ovum (egg) has been carefully isolated and held against the light on a glass-plate, it may be seen as a fine point even with the naked eye. The ova (eggs) of most of the higher animals are about the same size. The diameter of the ovum (egg) is almost always between 1/250th and 1/125th of an inch. It has always the same globular shape; the same characteristic membrane; the same transparent germinal vesicle with its dark germinal spot.

“Even when we use the most powerful microscope,” he continues, “with its highest power, we can detect no material difference between the ova (eggs) of man, the ape, dog, and so on. I do not mean to say that there are no differences between the ova (eggs) of these different mammals. On the contrary, we are bound to assume that there are such [differences] at least as regards chemical composition. Even the ova (eggs) of different men must differ from each other; otherwise we should not have a different individual from each ovum (egg). It is true that our crude and imperfect apparatus cannot detect these subtle individual differences which are probably in the molecular (atomic) structure.”--(_Evolution of Man_, _chap. 6_, p. 44.)

Sec. 15. Spermatozoön and Ovum are Special Creations

Each human spermatozoön is formed in the genital organs of a particular man. So each human ovum is formed in the genital organs of a particular woman. Each of them is a new chemical combination, and a new mechanical arrangement, of the atoms of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen (protoplasm) of which they are composed; which atoms are now, combined and arranged, for the first and last time, into a spermatozoön or an ovum. The atoms in a spermatozoön are chemically combined according to a prescribed formula, and mechanically arranged according to a specific plan; and the same is true of the atoms in an ovum. Each spermatozoön has the same chemical composition and the same mechanical arrangement, the same form and size, that every other has. So each ovum has the same combination and arrangement, the same form and size that every other has.

The materials, forces and motions employed in making each spermatozoön are similar to those employed in forming every other; but they are wholly different from, and independent of, those employed in making any other; and the same is true of the materials, forces and motions employed in making each ovum.

In other words, each spermatozoön is composed of its own atoms, and these atoms are selected, assembled, combined and arranged by forces and motions, peculiar to itself, independently of and wholly different from, the forces and motions which build up every other. The same is true of each ovum, the necessary changes being made.

It is a well known fact that each human spermatozoön is so adapted to, and correlated with, each human ovum that these two cells will, under suitable conditions, fuse and produce a new human being. It is also true that no other substance, on the earth, will fuse with such an ovum with the same result. The same is true of each ovum _vice versa_. These facts prove that each spermatozoön, and each ovum, has a specific composition, and definite arrangement of its atoms; that each spermatozoön has the same composition, and, substantially the same form, size, and structure that every other has; and that each ovum has the same composition, form, size and structure that every other has.

We cannot doubt that each spermatozoön and each ovum is produced anew, separately and apart from, and independently of every other, the production of each having no relation to the production nor to the existence of any other.

Intellect, memory, will-power, force and motion are necessary to group two or more atoms into a prescribed chemical combination, or into a specified mechanical arrangement. So supernatural, psychic and creative force are necessary to endow the human spermatozoön and ovum, with the vital properties and potentialities which they are known to possess.

Thus it appears that each spermatozoön and each ovum has mysterious and wonderful properties peculiar to itself. We cannot believe that they are produced by accident, nor by chance; nor that the atoms, of which they are composed, assemble and group themselves, automatically, into the form of a spermatozoön or an ovum; nor that they are evolved by the factors of evolution. The man in whose genital organs the spermatozoön is formed, has no conscious part nor voluntary agency in its production; nor has he any control, nor any power over it. His sexual organs “grind it out” as a mill grinds out meal. Nor has the woman, in whose ovary the ovum is formed, any part nor agency in its production; nor any control nor any power over it. No man, however wise, scientific and great he may be, can make any combination of atoms with the properties and potentialities of the spermatozoön; nor with those of the ovum.

The atoms in each spermatozoön are unique and peculiar to it, they being similar to, but differing from, those composing any other spermatozoön; and the same is true of the atoms composing each ovum. So, each spermatozoön appears to be endowed with the power to produce a child with a form, features, characteristics and traits resembling those of its father. In like manner it appears that each ovum has the power to produce a child with a form, features, qualities and traits resembling those of its mother.

But the smallest ant is a giant, in comparison with the spermatozoön or the ovum. Neither of them has any brain, nor eyes, ears, nose, touch, nor taste--no brain nor sense-organs. It is impossible to believe that the spermatozoön knows the color of its father’s hair and eyes; his complexion; the length of his nose; the size and form of his head; his facial expression; his characteristics and traits. Nor can we even imagine that the ovum has any knowledge of its mother, nor of her anatomy, organs, form, features or characteristics.

But assuming for argument that the spermatozoön and ovum do know all these things, it would be absurd to suppose that they can, automatically, combine, arrange and differentiate their atoms, and the new daughter-cells, which are produced in the embryo body, in such manner and form as to reproduce the hair, eyes, complexion, form, features, characteristics and traits of the father and mother. The work, which the spermatozoön and ovum appear to do is, in fact, done by the Creator, Himself, He employing them as instruments with which to do the same.

In view of all the facts, we are compelled to infer that the Creator selects the atoms, which form the spermatozoön and the ovum and that he generates, guides and controls the forces, which assemble, group and arrange them into the form of a spermatozoön and ovum.

It follows that each human spermatozoön and ovum is a new, direct and special creation by Almighty God.

Sec. 16. Germ-Cell, Stem-Cell or Fertilized Ovum

The fertilized ovum is variously called, “germ-cell,” “stem-cell,” “first segmentation sphere,” “parent-cell,” “impregnated ovum,” “fertilized egg cell,” and other names of like import, all these phrases meaning the same thing.

Under the head, “Conception,” Haeckel says, among other things:

“The process of fertilization by sexual conception consists, therefore, essentially, in the coälescence and fusing together of two different cells. The lively spermatozoön travels toward the ovum by its serpentine movements and bores its way into the female cell. The nuclei of both sexual cells attracted by a certain affinity approach each other and melt into one.”--(Haeckel, Ev. Man, p. 53.)

How do they acquire this “affinity?” How do they know each other? Have they intellect, memory and will? Are they not driven toward each other by a supernatural, psychic force?

Continuing he says:

“The fertilized cell is quite another thing from the unfertilized cell. For if we must regard the spermia [spermatozoä] as real cells, no less than the ova, and the process of conception as the coälescence of the two we must consider the resultant cell as a quite new and independent organism. It bears in the cell and nuclear matter of the penetrating spermatozoön a part of the father’s body, and in the protoplasm of the ovum a part of the mother’s body. This is clear from the fact that the child inherits many features from both parents. It inherits from the father by means of the spermatozoön and from the mother by means of the ovum. The actual blending of the two cells produces a third cell, which is the germ of the child, or new organism conceived. One may also say of this sexual coälescence that _the stem cell is a simple hermaphrodite_, it unites both sexual substances in itself.” (Ev. Man, pp. 53-54.)