This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1889 edition. Excerpt: ...so that the two together would form one, this one can hardly call 'rejuvenescence.' It would be simply an addition, as is under other circumstances attained by simple growth, --that is, if we leave out of account what in my eyes is the most important moment in conjugation, viz., the mingling of two ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1889 edition. Excerpt: ...so that the two together would form one, this one can hardly call 'rejuvenescence.' It would be simply an addition, as is under other circumstances attained by simple growth, --that is, if we leave out of account what in my eyes is the most important moment in conjugation, viz., the mingling of two heredity-tendencies (Vererbungstendenzen)." (Does Professor Weismann not feel that there is something "indefinite and misty" even about this?) He sarcastically compares the two exhausted individuals to two exhausted rockets, which are supposed to rejuvenesce in mutually affording the constituents of nitroglycerine. More forcibly he urges the difficulty suggested by continued parthenogenesis, --a difficulty which we shall afterwards have to discuss. "To the conception of rejuvenescence," he says, in conclusion, "I could only agree, if it were proved that multiplication by division can never, --not merely in certain conditions, --but never continue unlimitedly. This cannot, however, be proved, just as little as the reverse." But Weismann must surely admit, that the demonstration of even some cases where species, normally reproducing asexually, come to an absolute standstill if conjugation be prevented, would give considerable strength to the interpretation of fertilisation as rejuvenescence. Such cases have, happily, come to hand, as we shall now see. We have already referred to Maupas's proof of true sexual union in ciliated infusorians. By an elaborate process of nuclear division, disruption, elimination, interchange, union, and reconstruction, two "slipper animalcules" fertilise one another. What is the meaning of all this? Each infusorian, after conjugation, proceeds to divide, but the results are to...
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PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
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PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
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PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
This books is an eminently readable, non-pornographic, discussion of the development of sex over the course of evolution. Geddes and Thomson attempt to show a progressive hierarchy of sexual specialization, from splitting in single-celled organisms, to pairing, to development of specialized sexes. They suggest male and female are rooted deep in the historic past and are therefore relatively immutable. Typical of their time, they are interested in the conservation of energy (Kelvin's Thermodynamics) and interpret sexual difference as an efficient strategy by which half the species is freed for more active life, while the other half is designed around the energy requirements of reproduction. Other aspects make the book useful for anyone with an interest in Darwin and development of evolutionary thought.
It is worth noting that Patrick Geddes is recognized as an important figure in designing cities based on the needs of the organisms in them. This book is an often ignored part of his better known research, as it helps explain the ecology of nature in terms of sex and gender.
Overall: Excellent book, overtones of late Victorian England, goes well with history of science or architecture
