Artificial Impregnation 279 



copulation is rendered difficult or uncertain, the operation is in- 

 dicated. The limitations of artificial impregnation as a remedy 

 against sterility should be fully recognized, and the value of the 

 process should not be discredited by its application in improper 

 cases. 



It has been urged, and with some reason, in cases of deformity 

 of the penis in stallions, by which the semen is ejaculated in 

 some other direction than forwards, that the fertility of the male 

 may be greatly heightened by artificial insemination added to 

 the imperfect copulation. 



There is a commercial feature, in connection with artificial in- 

 semination, which interests the breeder rather than the veterin- 

 arian and has no relation to sterility. Throughout nature there 

 is a superabundance of male fecundating cells. In a normal ejac- 

 ulation of a healthy adult male, there are sufficient spermatozoa 

 to fecundate innumerable females. It has, consequently, been 

 proposed to extend the procreative power of a valuable breeding 

 male by artificial insemination — by collecting some of the semen 

 from the vagina of the female just served and transferring it, un- 

 der proper precautions, to the vaginae of other females, to cause 

 one copulation to answer for several or many fertihzations. 



The operation of artificial insemination is simple. It may be 

 practiced as an adjunct to copulation. In such case, the male is 

 permitted to serve the female, and promptly thereafter the 

 operator inserts his hand into the vagina, picks up some of the 

 semen and introduces it into the cervical canal. This may be 

 done with the aid of a short spoon, in which the semen may be 

 picked up and inserted through the os. A syringe, of almost 

 any type, may be used to pick up the semen and then inject it 

 into the uterus. The operator may simply use his hand. Even 

 one finger immersed in the seminal fluid and pushed into the 

 cervical canal would, ordinarily, carry sufficient spermatozoa to 

 accomplish the purpose. This plan of insemination is applicable 

 in those cases where some physical hindrance to natural insemi- 

 nation exists, of a character surmountable by the artificial method. 

 A second method of artificial insemination is the transfer of 

 the semen from the vagina of a female, with which the male has 

 recently copulated, to another female. If the two females are 



