The causation of sex : a new theory of sex based on clinical materials ; together with chapters on the sex of the unborn child, and on the determination of sex at will / by E. Rumley Dawson.

  • Dawson, E. Rumley (Ernest Rumley), -1918.
Date:
1909
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Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The causation of sex : a new theory of sex based on clinical materials ; together with chapters on the sex of the unborn child, and on the determination of sex at will / by E. Rumley Dawson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    73/250 (page 57)
    DOES THE FATHER INFLUENCE THE SEX? 57 She prepares an ovum (male or female) in nnuch the same way as a parlour-maid prepares and lays a fire—it may be a coal or a wood one—and waits for the match to be applied before the fire develops. The application of the match to the fire in the grate, whether wood or coal, starts the fire—it does not make a coal fire into a wood one or vice versa ; and in a similar manner the penetration of the spermatozoon into the prepared ovum starts the process of development of a child, a boy or girl being produced according to which ovary pre¬ pared the ovum. Hence the part played by man is that of applying the match or stimulus which starts the process of development and growth of the offspring from the ovum. Man, in fact, is the fire-lighter, not the fire-layer. Aristotle long ago held that woman supplied the primary material for the development of the future individual ; and it was the function of the man to give the impulse in con¬ sequence of which the future individual came into being : I now apply this to sex causation. The woman supplies a definite and unalterable sexed ovum, the prospective maleness or femaleness of her ova being fixed prior even to her own birth ; man supplies the stimulus which causes the first steps in the child's development ; together the man and woman impart to it, in varying degree, its individuality, its heredity, its ancestral characteristics and likenesses. We shall now see how clinical facts and cases support these views : that the male parent does not influence the sex of the coming child is proved by such cases as these, where a woman has one-sexed children only by different men \ thus : Mrs. V. L. by her first husband had 2 girls ) о boys by „ second „ „ 4 „ J either. S. A. by her first husband had 2 girls) о boys by „ second „ „ 3 ,, J either. P. J. by her first husband had 5 girls] о boys by „ second „ „ I girl J either. R. L. by her first husband had i girl \o boys by „ second „ „ 3 girlsj either. P. B. by her first husband had 2 girls] о boys by second „ „ 2 „ j either. Mrs. Mrs. Mrs. Mrs.