SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
135 
its twentieth annual reunion is an occasion worthy perhaps of 
more than passing notice. 
The celebration of a twentieth anniversary of the organiza¬ 
tion of a brotherhood such as ours is one full of interest, and 
marks a point more or less prominent in its history. 
Ivet ns, therefore, at this twentieth milestone, look at the cir¬ 
cumstances of our position, mark our progress for twenty years 
past, and, possibly, shape our course for another decade. 
For twenty years we have been growing from the small be¬ 
ginning of a graduating class, few in numbers, but possessed of 
commendable enterprise, and to whom occurred this thought— 
that as our alma mater was already taking rank as one of the 
representative educational institutions of the country, the large 
numbers of its prospective graduates should be united, forming 
an association for the benefit, pleasure and profit alike of its own 
members, and^of the institution to which all would owe their pro¬ 
fessional being. 
Fostered in our early weak existence by the teaching faculty 
of the college, and encouraged by its interest in our behalf, 
strengthened yearly by the addition to our ranks of an increas¬ 
ing number of graduates, and among them many who have 
shown their ability and readiness to advance the best interests 
of the association, fortunate in being officered in many instances 
by men who have demonstrated in the history of veterinary 
medical associations of this country, their exceptional executive 
qualifications. We have gradually attained to a size, contem¬ 
plation of which (600 members) inspires the thought “ a power¬ 
ful factor in the development of veterinary medicine.” 
Since that small beginning of ours, and during those twenty 
years which have elapsed, much of importance has occurred 
in the growth of veterinary science, and each year’s record is 
certainly one of great progress. In some particulars the pro¬ 
gress has been exceedingly rapid, and the graduate of twenty 
years ago, in keeping with the changing conditions, has rap¬ 
idly advanced, until at the present time he finds himself to be 
not only the medically and surgically trained veterinarian in 
demand a decade ago, but, owing to the development in the pub¬ 
lic mind of an appreciation of the importance of the healthful¬ 
ness of all animal products, he is in demand as the properly 
qualified person to inspect such products, the sanitary police of¬ 
ficer, the protector of public health. 
As a private worker and student in comparative medicine, in 
the various public official positions, as municipal health officer, 
