From being a matter of wonder and hearsay, it has been demonstrated as a practical and useful method in those cases in which, by reason of some unfortunate anatomic malformation on either the male or the female side, the marriage is unfruitful.

There are many cases constantly occurring in which the birth of an heir is a most desirable thing in a person's life.

The historic instance of Queen Mary of England, whose anxiety and efforts to bear a child were the subject of public comment and prayers, is but an example of a fact that is occurring every day, and doubtless some of these cases could be righted by the pursuance of some of the methods suggested.
There have been rumors from the beginning of the century of women being impregnated in a bath, from contact with cloths containing semen, etc., and some authorities in medical jurisprudence have accepted the possibility of such an occurrence.

It is not in the province of this work to speculate on what may be, but to give authoritative facts, from which the reader may draw his own deductions.

Fertilization of plants has been thought to have been known in the oldest times, and there are some who believe that the library at Alexandria must have contained some information relative to it.