54 Mr. W. Heape. The artificial Insemination of Mammals 



precluded from fertilising any mammalian ovum. The indiscriminate 

 crossing of mammals is sufficiently guarded against naturally by the 

 variation in size, in habit, and in the formation of the generative 

 organs of the different species ; it remains to be proved that the sper- 

 matozoa of one species will not fertilise the ova of other species 

 and that the maternal organ will not receive and nourish the hybrid 

 embryo. 



I would here draw attention to the use of the word " inseminate. ' r 

 The terms " fertilisation " or " impregnation " have very generally,, 

 though as I believe erroneously, been used to denote the fact that 

 the male generative substance has been introduced onto or into the 

 generative organs of a female plant or animal, and it has even been 

 assumed by some authors that the female herself has thus become 

 "fertilised," or "impregnated." This assumption has probably 

 given rise to some confusion, those who believe in telegony may* 

 likely enough, be influenced by it. As far as is known, the female 

 absorbs no essential part of the male elements with which she is 

 supplied, although it may be found that she does so. However 

 that may be, the female herself is not fertilised by means of pollen or 

 spermatozoa, and her ova are not necessarily impregnated in conse- 

 quence of the introduction into her generative organs of the male 

 element. It has seemed necessary, therefore, to make a distinction 

 between the introduction of seminal fluid into the female generative 

 organs of animals and the subsequent possible fertilisation of their 

 ova, and for that purpose I have used the word " inseminate," which 

 can thus be applied to animals in precisely the same way as the word 

 " pollenate " is applied by some botanists to denote the placing of 

 pollen on the stigma of a plant. 



Sometime about the year 1770, Spallanzani (No. 35) made experi- 

 ments on the artificial insemination of various oviparous animals 

 and subsequently was induced to attempt a similar experiment on a 

 mammal. He chose a bitch of the " Barbet " breed for the purpose 

 and kept her in a room for a long time, feeding her himself. 



She came " on heat " in due time and after the bleeding stage 

 was over, showed strong desire for coition. Spallanzani then ob- 

 tained from a young dog of the same breed, 19 grains of seminal 

 fluid, and this, he says, he injected without delay into the "matrice" 

 of the bitch by means of a small pointed syringe, taking care to keep 

 the instrument the same temperature as the seminal fluid, viz., 

 about 30° Reaumur. Two days after the injection the period of 

 "heat" was finished ; twenty days later the abdomen seemed swollen, 

 and on the twenty-sixth day the bitch was set at liberty. The ab- 

 dominal swelling increased, and sixty-two days after the injection 

 was administered she gave birth to three pups. 



On the 12th January, 1782 [according to Tarnier (No. 37), sixteen 



