114 
D. McEACHRAN. 
be done, both in the United States and Canada, to place the teaching 
of this science in that state of efficiency which its importance de¬ 
mands. 
What these steps should be, I think can only be determined by 
those most interested in this important question—the members of the 
profession, the teaching schools and the public. Owing to the large 
number of young men from the United States who annually enter our 
Canadian colleges, the interests of the profession in both countries are 
closely connected ; and this being the case, nothing but hearty co¬ 
operation by the schools of both countries will ensure that progress in 
the interests of the profession which will lead to placing it in its legiti¬ 
mate position among the sciences. 
T. he first step, therefore, to be taken is to get together a convention 
of the profession and of the professors of the colleges, and invite each 
State Board in America, and each Council of Agriculture in the Do¬ 
minion, to send a delegate to watch the interests of the public—at which 
the profession in all its relations to the public would be freely discussed 
—and let us determine upon what educational standard is necessary. 
It appears to me that much good would accrue to the profession by 
such a meeting, properly conducted. 
This profession has too long been left in private hands and to 
private enterprise. If any department of education is deserving of 
Government support and Government supervision, this one is. Were it 
possible to estimate the annual loss to either country, owing to the 
neglect of so valuable an auxiliary to the agriculturist, or the damage 
done by uneducated quacks, or even by imperfectly educated men hold¬ 
ing diplomas, it would arouse the most apathetic, and waken up our 
governing bodies to an active sense of their negligence. By all means, 
let the Governments of both countries take the Veterinary Colleges 
under their patronage, and instead of leaving them to struggle along, 
doing their best according to their means, and that means, in many 
cases, far from sufficient to meet even the ordinary expenses of the 
college, it can hardly be expected that the educational staffs can be as 
complete in numbers, or devote as much of their time to scientific 
investigation, as should be done in the interests of the profession and 
public. It is only occasionally, and under exceptionable circumstances, 
that men are to be found possessing sufficient enthusiasm to cause them 
to accept and persevere in positions of such responsibility, and requiring 
'the amount of hard work and constant application incidental to the 
successful conducting of a Veterinary College. 
