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



Experiment 16. — A three-quarter bred bitch, " Betsy," whose dam 

 was one of the puppies resulting from Experiment 12, was artificially 

 inseminated with semen obtained from the Basset hound dog cham- 

 pion " Forrester," and nine puppies were born. 



Experiment 17 (1896). The artificial insemination of another 

 Basset hound bitch has resulted in the birth of puppies. 



Nineteen bitches were artificially inseminated in these seventeen 

 experiments, and only four of them failed to conceive. Of these four, 

 one bitch invariably refused the dog, two bitches were known to be 

 uncertain breeders, and the fourth was injected with semen obtained 

 from an old dog and it is possible the failure to breed in this case 

 may be due to the dog and not to the bitch. 



This remarkable series of experiments, extending over twelve 

 years, is of very great interest. All possible care was taken by the 

 owner, an experienced breeder, whose kennels are admirably organised, 

 that no error should creep in, and it may be confidently stated as a 

 result of them — 



First, that artificial insemination of bitches can readily be per- 

 formed ; secondly, that pregnancy can be as readily induced by that 

 means as by the natural method of coition; and, thirdly, that a 

 single emission of spermatozoa by a dog can be made use of to 

 inseminate artificially several bitches, all of which may be expected 

 to bear pups. 



Another interesting fact which is demonstrated by these experi- 

 ments is the facility artificial insemination affords of obtaining crosses 

 between animals which, on account of the great difference in their 

 size (as in Basset and Bloodhounds) cannot readily be obtained by 

 natural means ; while a further matter of interest, of no little import- 

 ance to students of heredity and telegony, is the demonstration of the 

 possibility of inseminating a single bitch with the semen of two or 

 more dogs of different breeds at the same time, and of inducing 

 her by this means to produce a variety of crosses in a single 

 litter. 



Gautier (No. 7) also claims to have artificially inseminated a 

 bitch, but he gives no details of the operation, and I have been 

 unable to find records of any other experiments of this nature on 

 dogs. 



With regard to horses, Gautier (No. 7) cites Dr. Le Bon as 

 responsible for a quotation from a book written in the year 700 of 

 the Hejira, from which it appears possible that artificial insemination 

 of mares was not unknown to the Arabs in those days. 



He describes how the owner of a valuable mare " on heat," armed 

 with a handful of cotton-wool which had been saturated with the 

 discharge from the vagina of the mare, approached by stealth a 

 valuable stallion belonging to a member of a neighbouring hostile 



