E. T. IvANOFK 249 



to gain acquaintance with this method {vide Review of the Activities of 

 Phi/siological Section during 1909-1913, p. 22). • 



In 1914 the work was interrupted in consequence of the army's 

 demand for veterinary surgeons, and many of the latter had no oppor- 

 tunity of submitting the results of their work in 1913. 



The work done in Russia represents the first attempt to use artificial 

 insemination in mass-raising of domestic animals, an attempt, as will 

 be seen later, by no means perfect in regard to conditions; without 

 systematic organization or strict compliance with definite instructions. 

 The laboratory in my charge was a purely consultative institution. As 

 was subsequently shown, that state of things made possible a great 

 number of very material and injurious digressions from the technical 

 method elaborated by me, and the work was often confined to one or 

 two visits of the veterinary surgeon to a stud-farm, once or twice a week 

 (in the course of one, two, or three weeks) and in the majority of cases 

 was regarded as a side-issue. 



The data at our disposal refer only to the period 1909-1913 (data 

 for the latter year are by no means complete) and were collected partly 

 by means of a questionnaire, partly from reports of the Rural Councils. 

 The questionnaire contained a number of questions, the answers to 

 which should have given a clear idea of the conditions and results of 

 the work. In deahng with the material of the questionnaire only those 

 enquiry forms were made use of, the information of which was sufficiently 

 full and left no suspicion as to the correctness of figures. 



The above material shows the general state of things to be as follows: 

 during the period 1909-1913 inclusive, the method of artificial insemina- 

 tion has been used in more than 30 governments of European Russia and 

 in Siberia. , - . . ■ . •■ • 



Even in those cases where artificial insemination was introduced, 

 not on private initiative, but as a measure of mass-improvement of 

 the peasants' horses (governments of Kherspn, Ekaterinoslav, Taurida, 

 Bessarabia), the organization and management of this work suffered 

 from all kinds of irregularities; for example, at the head of affairs were 

 often found persons without any or with second-hand knowledge of the 

 subject, incompetent people; every worker could at his discretion intro- 

 duce various changes into the organization or technical side of the work. 

 Particularly injurious with regard to the percentage of conceptions was 

 the idea that it is possible to carry out work successfully without regard 

 to the absence of "heat" in the mare; also excessive simplification of the 

 technical side, including in some cases the use, instead of index-cylinders 



