SCHENK’S THEORY
THE
Determination of Sex
BY
Professor at the Imperial and Royal University, and Director of the
Embryological Institute in Vienna
AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION
THE WERNER COMPANY
CHICAGO AKRON, OHIO NEW YORK
1898
Copyrighted, 1898,
BY
THE WERNER COMPANY
CONTENTS
PREFACE
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
PREFACE
The facts observed and recorded by othersassisted me to advance so far on the troddenpath that I made an effort to snatch a secretfrom Nature.
What I succeeded in obtaining, thoughsmall, induced me to set forth in the followingpages the perhaps not unimportant results.
The labor was long, and engaged my attentionfor years. And yet, amidst my continuouslabors in the province of Embryology,it remained all the time a matter of secondaryimportance, my principal attention beingengaged by far more extensive studies.
My desire is to stimulate others to widerobservation. May the facts which I here discuss[iv]prove of utility, and encourage furtherstudies in this direction with the assistanceof modern science.
If we are not in a position to control theprocesses of Nature, we can neverthelessexercise over them a more or less effectiveinfluence, so as to obtain such results as arepossible.
Whatsoever the question may be that wepropose to discuss, it is sometimes very difficultto reach any answer. And yet, when experienceand diligence have helped us over thedifficulties, we succeed at last in reaching theanswer desired. The difficulties assume muchless formidable shapes when an individual issatisfied with shaking his head and regardingthe whole affair with mistrust. In that waythe inexperienced and lazy are at once ableto launch their views without further trouble.They believe or they disbelieve; and theylike to have their say. Any one can in thisway easily win himself a place amongst those[v]who have written on a topic. The man whodesires to obtain a lasting place takes on hisshoulders heavier responsibilities.
This book contains but a portion of thevast and wide-reaching literature dealing withthe subject in hand. That literature extendsback to the date of man’s earliest intellectuallabors. The observations that have been recordedby others are here followed by methodsof investigation, and by considerationswhich may serve to elucidate the facts. Inconclusion, a section has been dedicated tothe methods which I recommend for the artificialinfluencing of sex. Some particularexperiments are subjoined.
May my little boo