VETERINARY EDUCATION IN ONTARIO. 
119 
VETERINARY EDUCATION IN ONTARIO. 
By J. T. Duncan, V. S., 
Member of the Examining Board for Ontario. 
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Up to the year 1861, no provision for Veterinary education existed 
in Canada. Our vast stock interests were virtually in the hands of 
empirics. The name “ farrier,” by which those who professed to follow 
the business were known, was a synonym for ignorance, brutality and 
drunkenness. So low was the business considered to be, that a well 
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qualified Edinburgh graduate, on settling in this Province, refused ab¬ 
solutely to practice his profession, and went into another occupation. 
In the short space of fifteen years this has all been changed. Now 
we find the name “farrier,” and the quacks who hold it, generally rele¬ 
gated to obscurity. In every important centre of population, and in 
many rural districts, we see properly qualified Veterinary surgeons 
practicing—benefitting the district in which they are placed by the ex¬ 
ercise of their superior knowledge, contributing largely to the prosperity 
of the country, and receiving the respect and esteem of their fellow 
citizens. 
This desirable result has been brought about largely by the estab¬ 
lishment and successful career of the Ontario Veterinary College. 
To some of the members of the Board of Agriculture for Upper 
Canada (now the Province of Ontario) belongs the honor of originating 
the idea of the College. Being convinced of the paramount importance 
of Veterinary education to such a country as this, whose wealth consists 
largely in stock, the Board sent to the late Professor Dick, of Edinburgh, 
requesting him to recommend a gentleman thoroughly qualified both to 
practice and teach the science. Fortunately for Canada, Professor Dick 
selected Mr. A. Smith, V. S., of Ayrshire, Scotland. Largely to his 
commanding talents, extensive acquirements and almost unerring prac- 
ical skill does Veterinary Science owe its high position in this country 
to-day. 
Mr. Smith, accepting the offer made by the Board, proceeded to 
Canada, and, in 1861-62, delivered a short course of lectures to agricul¬ 
tural students. I am not aware that any of these students intended to 
become Veterinarians. But from the interest manifested through the 
country in the Veterinary lectures, it was deemed advisable at once to 
