ARSENYEV, Konstantin Ivanovich, ir-san'yef, Russian statistician, historian and geographer: b. 12 Oct. 1789; d. Petrazavodsk, 29 Nov. 1865. He was the son of a priest of the village of Mirkhanov,. government of Kos troma, Chukhlomski district. He was educated in the Seminary of Kostroma and the Peda gogical Institute of Saint Petersburg, from which he was graduated in 1810. A year later he was appointed instructor of geography and Latin at the institute. In 1819 the institute was changed to the University of Saint Petersburg and Arsenyev became adjunct professor of geog raphy and statistics. He was dismissed, how ever, two years later on the charges of free thinking and teaching rules destructive to the morality of the students. He continued, how ever, teaching in the School of Engineers and Artillerists where he also held a position. In 1824 he became instructor in statistics and his tory to Crown Prince Aleksandr II. He un doubtedly influenced the mind and the charac ter of the future Tsar-Liberator. Quitting his duties as educator of the Crown Prince, he en tered the civil service at the same time devot ing himself to scientific work. He held the posi tion of head statistician of the Ministry of the Interior (1832-53), then newly organized. He did a great deal for the organization of Russian statistics and can be called one of its fathers. In 1845, together with Count Th. P. Litke, he founded the Geographical Society of which he was associate chairman(1850-54). He
had attained the rank of privy councillor at the time of his death. His most valuable contri butions are his historical work 'The Rule of Peter II) (Saint Petersburg 1839) ; 'The Rule of Catherine I) (Saint Petersburg 1856). As the educator of the Crown Prince he had access to the documents of the imperial archives and ministerial bulletins. This enabled him to en rich Russian history with many new data. His 'Statistical Sketches of Russia) (Saint Peters burg 1848), for which he used unpub lished documents of the department of mines of the Ministry of the Interior and other government bureaus are also of great value. Besides the works mentioned he wrote 'The History of the People and the Re publics of Ancient Greece' (Saint Petersburg 1825-26) ; 'Short General Geography' (ib. 1818, 20th ed., 1849, the only textbook for 30 years) ; 'Survey of the Physical Conditions of Russia and its Advantages for the Existing Public Industries' (Saint Petersburg 1818). He also contributed a number of articles and studies to current periodicals. Consult 'Historical Papers of K. I. Arsenyev' edited posthumously by Pekarski in Saint Petersburg 1872. It repre sents a collection of documents from archives and has Arsenyev's biography attached to it.