similar structural units, known as cells. Of course, cells are
definitely arranged according to the use for which the tissue that
they chance to compose may be designed; they have, moreover,
distinctive individual peculiarities which can be easily recognized
under the microscope; but the essential features of the cells remain
the same, wherever they may be located. That is to say, each cell is
a minute portion of living matter, or protoplasm, separated from its
neighbors by a partition, the cell-membrane; each has its own seat of
government, the nucleus, located near its center; and each, to all
intents and purposes, leads an individual existence.

THE GERMINAL CELLS.--Many of the cells in the human body are able to
produce others of their kind. This they do virtually by growing and
splitting in half; cell-division, as this splitting is called, really
represents reproduction reduced to the simplest terms. Most cells can
do no more than produce units like themselves. The bodies of women
contain, however, a type of cell which possesses a far more wonderful
power. Provided the requisite conditions for such development are
met, these cells are capable of developing into human beings. Each of
these remarkable units is called an Ovum, or egg-cell, and represents
one variety of the germinal cells. But the other variety, represented
by the Spermatozoon and developed only in the male sex, is also
required for the production of a human being.

Every ovum originates in the ovaries. These are organs peculiar to
women, having the size and shape of large almonds, and placed in the
lower part of the abdominal cavity. Though the ovaries are two in
number, one alone is sufficient for every requirement of health. It
has been estimated that the ovaries together contain at the time of
birth about 40,000 ova, distributed equally between them. Since less