From Generation To Generation (1959)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] The earth turns, day follows night, the seasons change, and in the long unraveling of time, an infinite variety of nature's shapes and forms unfold. [Music] Within this shifting world of nature, the human race exists. The human cycle here repeats itself. Man with his family enjoys the wide earth and gradually as time expands, generation follows generation across the years. [Music] In the creation of the family, man and woman fulfill those laws of nature whereby the human race ensures its continuity. [Music] The slow and subtle growth from single cell to newborn child takes place within a setting here seen through the eye of imagery within the pelvis. of the woman lies that protected region where the drama is enacted, which begins in love and ends with the emergence of new life, unlike any which came before or any to come after. [Music] Safe within the pelvic structure rest the uterus, the first shelter where life when implanted will begin to grow. Powerful muscles surround the opening at the center. From the uterus, two tubes with ducts slightly larger than a hair extend back and up. These are the overducts through which the cell of life will begin its first journey. And here on either side of the uterus, there lies an ovary within which the cells are waiting from which human life will begin. Here is such a cell, an oam greatly magnified. In reality, it could scarcely be seen with the human eye. And yet within this minute spot of matter there lies one half the secret of the color of eyes to be of nerves which will react to joy or pain of a brain which will define some new ambition. In fact, within this cell and the masculine cell which will come to it, the whole pattern of God's design lies potent, waiting for the moment when it will expand, take form, and house the human spirit. The earth turns, the seasons change, the rhythms of the human body are given purpose and definition. When a girl becomes a mature woman, about every 28 days, a cycle repeats itself called ovulation. Within one or other of the ovaries, the body prepares to free a cell. Gradually, a liquid forms surrounding the OAM and creating a follicle, which over a period of days increases in size until it finally breaks open. The OAM is expelled and drawn into the ovduct within which it moves toward the uterus. The interior walls of the uterus in the meantime have become enriched with blood cells in preparation to nourish the advancing OAM. The OAM however does not grow unless it is joined by the cell of a man and so it disintegrates and the enriched lining of the uterus serving as yet no purpose is shed. This process is menstruation. Each month the cycle repeats itself. A pattern of expectation awaiting the union from which a human life will grow. [Music] [Applause] [Music] The earth turns. Day follows night. The seasons change every spring. Nature in joyous extravagance celebrates the renewal of life. And likewise man in the communion of his love ensures that his own image will be perpetuated. In each occasion of his ecstasy, perhaps 2 million, perhaps 6 million spermazoa enter the uterus through the vagina. But of all this migrating mass, only one cell is needed to perform the necessary union. Only during the few days when the OAM is in the upper third of the ovduct can it be fertilized. Gradually the sperm move upward through the cavity of the uterus into the passages of the ovducts. In the heads of these advancing cells is the nucleus containing the chromosomes. That vital material which when combined with an equal number of female chromosomes will determine the physical development of the child. While a number of spermatiza may enter the oam, only one fertilizes it. Now new life begins. Within the oam, the nucleus of the sperm enlarges. Male and female chromosomes intermingle. The halves are drawn to opposite poles and two new cells are formed with equal numbers of chromosomes from mother and father. These chromosomes, it is believed, are composed of thousands of infinite decimal units too small to be seen even under the microscope. These are the genes, each having its predetermined and exact location in lengthy succession. They exercise a chemical control directing and restricting those changes which determine future form and function. Whether for instance the child will eventually have a large bony frame like his father or a tendency to slimness like his mother, whether the color of his eyes will be brown or blue. The location of the genes within the chromosomes is not a matter of chance. Their order is determined by the union of the fathers and mother's genes and of their parents' genes and their parents' parents backward from generation to generation until the sources are lost in the vast ocean of time. And so this newly developing unit of life, in reality no bigger than a pinpoint, contains within it an echo of the whole parental history, an unbroken line from the dim past which will carry life forward into the future. After six or seven days, the cell cluster arrives within the uterus, the walls of which have been enriched in the menstrual cycle. Here the journey ends. It settles usually against the upper part of the uterine wall. Its outer cells gently dissolve the surrounding tissue and so it nestles into the lining of the uterus which closes over it. Here is the first resting place, the first sheltered and protected home. Now within the new cell structure, a clear transparent liquid has formed. Two cavities appear, the amniotic sack and the yolk sack. A different type of cell, the mesoderm, grows between the cavities and gradually the growing organism moves toward the center of the fluid attached by a stalk which will eventually become the umbilical cord. Here the embryo gradually takes form as though an invisible sculptor remembering the whole evolution of mankind is at work modeling the living material. The form turns inward creating a groove. The inner walls of which will one day become the vital spinal cord. Two rows of raised spots appear. These will eventually become the column of the spine. This swelling will hold the heart. These minute buds will become arms and legs. Inside the embryo, the cells forming the brain are at work. The forebrain, as weeks go by, will enlarge until it becomes the potential dwelling place for the inheritance of all man's accumulated knowledge. The brain in turn will send forth messages, commands, sensations which will be communicated through the nerve cells. As the embryo develops, the nerves reach into every part of the body. Then about the 25th day, the heart muscle of the new being begins its delicate essential rhythm which will continue throughout its entire lifetime. And yet this minute embryo is no more than half an inch long. warmly protected, it floats in the fluid of the amniotic sack, which in turn floats in the corionic sack. Here, firmly implanted within the inner wall of the uterus, it is guarded by the thick muscles of the uterus itself and the encircling pelvic bone. Safely and surely, a new life is growing. A new life is growing as yet not visible but certain As the trees above her head, certain as the earth beneath her feet. And now this welcome knowledge may be shared. [Music] Heat. Heat. Now the mature summer grows rich with fruit and grain. Between sunlight, stream and hidden root, there is a constant counterpoint of give and take. And also within the body of the woman, another pattern of dependence is developing. For here, the subtle winding stream of good red blood flowing through the mother's arteries brings nourishment to the growing life within. In the embryo too, a new pattern of circulation is beginning to function. In the first weeks of its existence, small islands of red cells form. These gradually become blood vessels, passing from yolk sack to embryo across the body stalk into the branch-like structure, the villi. At an earlier stage, these villi had grown out in every direction, gently dissolving the surrounding tissue so that they became immersed in a constant supply of maternal blood. However, as time goes by, the villi away from the wall of the uterus disintegrate while those nearby the maternal blood supply grow profusely. As the fetus enlarges so that the cavity of the uterus is filled, the remaining villi have grown into a transient efficient organ, the placenta, a way station for the exchange of food and the elimination of waste. The placenta, if it could be examined closely, is like a dense thicket where within each branch there is a delicate core of artery and vein. Through these food materials, oxygen, water and minerals, the very stuff of life are carried from the mother to the baby. This essential nourishment passes through the bodyto which has now become the umbilical cord. And yet within the labyrinth of the placenta in which this interchange takes place, the blood of the mother and child do not intermingle. The nourishing food passes through a cell wall which protects and purifies. While in the opposite direction, the waste products from the child's body pass into the mother's veins to be disposed of through her lungs and kidneys. And yet without this proximity within the placenta, the new life could not be sustained. From the 3rd to the sixth month, growth is more rapid. The change is now apparent in the curve of the mother's abdomen. Inside the stretching muscles of the uterus, the child floats in the amniotic fluid, which acts as a shock absorber and preserves a constant temperature. By the sixth month, the head is smaller in relation to the body. The bones have begun to harden. The organs are welldeveloped. The arms and legs now have a movement of their own. [Music] [Applause] The autumn now has spent itself. The silent snow falls on the earth. And with each passing day, the time of birth comes nearer still and nearer. [Music] When after all the nec necessary months of silent peaceful growth, the child is ready to be born. The rhythm of labor begins. Gentle contractions, scarcely noticeable, have gone on during most of the pregnancy. Now they occur at regular intervals, perhaps one every half hour. [Music] Until this time, the uterus has been an accommodating home which has grown about 20 times its original size. Strong ligaments anchor it to the pelvic structure. The muscles which form its walls are in three groups. those running lengthwise, those which spiral clockwise and counterclockwise. When labor begins without effort on the mother's part, these muscles contract in perfect coordination. This tightening usually begins at the top, moving diagonally downward. The force of the movement pushes the child within its sack of water against the opening of the uterus, the cervix, which expands little by little with each contraction. Familiar activities continue for the process of labor is as natural as breathing. During the coming hours, she will need all her strength. For in her labor there is one single purpose, to bring the life within her body outward. [Music] [Music] After each contraction, there is a period of relaxation. [Music] [Music] [Music] At some time during labor, the fluid, which until now has cushioned the baby, is no longer necessary and escapes. [Music] Sometimes after many hours, sometimes after few, the second stage of labor begins. On this act, she will now focus all her attention and concentrate all her energy. [Music] The cervix has opened. The baby passes into the birth canal. And now with all her might, she pushes, aiding the natural progress of her child. The time of birth is near. [Music] [Applause] [Music] After the baby, the placenta, no longer of any use, is quickly and easily expelled. [Music] The seasons change, day follows night, the earth turns, and in the long unraveling of time, generation follows generation in endless succession. Here in this repeated image, like an endless echo thrust into the future, the human race carries forward the imprint of its own past. And in this act of renewal finds affirmation. Heat. Heat. [Music]