ds.

That the primates had once a larger number of offspring is confirmed
by double evidence. Even to-day the number of children at a birth is
often two, sometimes three, rarely four. The day before this was
written came the report of a case of five children at a birth, all of
whom seemed sound and all of whom lived. Still more direct evidence is
found in the fact that occasionally in the human female there are two
pairs of breasts, and very rarely three pairs. These are then disposed
in a double line down the front of the body.

The new plan of caring for the young is one of the priceless heritages
of the higher animals. As we rise in the grade of life the number of
the young produced at one time steadily diminishes, while the care
spent upon them increases. The shad may lay four hundred thousand eggs
and trust them entirely to their fate. The sunfish will lay a
thousand, by no means all of which can be fertilized, but it guards
them somewhat after deposition. The toad lays several hundred, stores
them with a considerable amount of nourishment, and protects them by a
bitter deposit of mucous. The turtle has reduced the number of eggs to
perhaps a score. Each of these is supplied with abundant nourishment,
so that the young may develop to considerable size and activity before
emerging from the egg. This material is enclosed in a firm protective
shell and hidden away from sight by being buried in the ground. In the
mammals comparatively few eggs are produced at one time. These are
fertilized within the body of the parent, are attached to the parent,
and absorb her blood. No shell is needed because nothing will kill the
developing offspring that is not likely to injure the parent. Not only
do the young feed upon the blood of the mother up to the time of
birth, but they are practically dependent upon this same blood after
birth. Though they do not take it directly from the veins, the milk
is, none the less, the transformed blood of the mother. This assures
the young of food as well as of protection. Best of all, the young are
provided with the companionship of the mother. Now for the first time
animals learn by example. Heretofore they have been born with a nearly
undeviating instinct; now intelligence begins to arise. They can
imitate their mother. Heretofore no acquired characters affected the
young. In the mammals, although the young cannot inherit the acquired
habits of the parents, they can get them by imitation, whi