COLLEGE COMMENCEMENT. 
181 
To Prof. A. Smith, V.S., Edin ., Principal Ontario Veterinary 
College , Toronto : 
Dear Sir: —We, the undersigned, graduates of the Ontario 
Veterinary College, desirous of testifying to our appreciation of 
your valuable services in the cause of our profession, take the 
present opportunity of expressing, in this public manner, a token 
of our feelings in regard to yourself. 
To you, and your indomitable perseverance, is due the high 
standing of veterinary science in this Province, and but for your 
efforts, we feel convinced that the college, of which you are the 
distinguished Principal, and to which we look with pride as our 
alma mater , would not to-day occupy the position it does, and 
might not indeed have an existence. 
For many years past you have unselfishly devoted your time 
and talents to the development of our profession ; and, notwith¬ 
standing the many obstacles you have encountered, you have 
overcome them, and made for yourself a name and position 
which we shall always remember with satisfaction. 
Some of us have not yet forgotten the state of veterinary sci¬ 
ence in this Province before your time. There was then no sys¬ 
tem or educational training to fit men for the practice of a pro¬ 
fession which, from the very force of natural causes, is one of the 
most difficult of the healing art. The whole science was in the 
hands of men who had none of the advantages of thorough in¬ 
struction, and, in too many instances, they were wholly ignorant 
of the rudest elements of veterinary knowledge. This is now 
changed, and we have ample means of training students, of fur¬ 
nishing them with a practical knowledge of their calling in life, 
and we can boast of a system of instruction and a dignity of 
purpose second to none of the other learned professions. 
To you, Sir, do we give the well-deserved credit for all this, 
and we do not flatter you by an idle term when we say that, in 
view of the result and the extent of your labors, you are, indeed, 
the pioneer of veterinary progress in Ontario. 
As a public recognition of the valuable services you have 
rendered, we, therefore, beg that you will accept this portrait of 
yourself, accompanied in this by many kind remembrances of 
