12 
VETERINARY EDUCATION. 
By D. McEACHRAN, F. R. C. V. S., V. S., Edinburgh, 
» . 
Principal of the Montreal Veterinary College. 
-:o:- 
But a few years ago the popular estimate of the educational re¬ 
quirements of those who made a profession of that branch of medical 
science appertaining to the lower animals, was not by any means a 
high one; yet we find in the old works on \ eterinary Science, both in 
the English and Continental languages even of a century ago, eviden¬ 
ces of scientific investigation in the different departments of Veteri¬ 
nary science, which put to the blush the superficial acquii ements of a 
large proportion of the so-called qualified graduates of the present 
day. 
Take for instance the “Anatomy of an Horse” by A. Snape, 
published in 1683, or “Le Cours d’Hippiatrique” by M. Lafosse, m 
1772, and we will find that these men were workers, men whose whole 
time and energies were devoted to study of the science; men who, 
were they to be told that in this enlightened nineteenth century, there 
could be men with presumption enough to pretend, or students simple 
enough to believe, that (even with the superior advantages now enjoy¬ 
ed) they could teach thoroughly in a few months, what took them 
a lifetime to study, would not believe it possible. 
The history of the profession has been so often written, that I 
will onlv give it a passing notice till we come to the profession as 
taught on this continent at the present day. As everyone knows, in 
the old world the present enlightened epoch commenced in the latter 
part of the eighteenth century, and has made almost uninterrupted 
progress ever since. The establishment of the Royal "V eteiinary College 
at Lyons in 1761, by the great Bourgelat, whose name no one who is 
interested in veterinary science can hear without feelings of pride, 
that our profession should be honored by such a master-mind as that of 
Bourgelat; of him, Professor John Gamgee said: “In truth, Bourgelat 
was a great man. He wrote copiously and well on almost e^ ery subject 
of our science and art, materia medica, external conformation, anatomy, 
pathology and the art of shoeing. He was endowed with a clear intellect, 
he esteemed no labour too great which was essential to the attainment 
of his noble end. He was above no occupation connected with his 
adopted calling. Learned in philosophy, reared to the glories of the 
forum, Bourgelat combined the highest degree of intellectual capa¬ 
bility, for the greatest disposition for practical application that it is 
