school was established at Constantinople, and in 1861 the government of Rumania founded a school at Bucharest. The veterinary schools of Berlin, Hanover and Vienna have been raised to the position of universities.
In 1790 St Bel (whose real name was Vial, St Bel being a village near Lyons, where was his paternal estate), after studying at the Lyons school and teaching both at Alfort and Lyons, came to England and published proposals for founding a schoolUnited Kingdom. in which to instruct pupils in veterinary medicine and surgery. The Agricultural Society of Odiham, which had been meditating sending two young men to the Alfort school, elected him an honorary member, and delegated a committee to consult with him respecting his scheme. Some time afterwards this committee detached themselves from the Odiham Society and formed an institution styled the Veterinary College of London, of which St Bel was appointed professor. The school was to be commenced and maintained by private subscription. In March 1792 arrangements were made for building temporary stabling for fifty horses and a forge for shoeing at St Pancras. The college made rapid progress in public estimation, notwithstanding considerable pecuniary embarrassments. As soon as the building was ready for the reception of animal patients, pupils began to be enrolled; and among the earliest were some who afterwards gained celebrity as veterinarians, as Bloxam, Blaine, R. Lawrence, Field and Bracy Clark. On the death of St Bel in August 1793 there appears to have been some difficulty in procuring a suitable successor; but at length, on the recommendation of John Hunter and Cline, two medical men were appointed, Coleman and Moorcroft, the latter then practising as a veterinary surgeon in London. The first taught anatomy and physiology, and Moorcroft, after visiting the French schools, directed the practical portion of the teaching. Unfortunately, neither of these teachers had much experience among animals, nor were they well acquainted with their diseases; but Coleman (1765-1839) had as a student, in conjunction with a fellow-student (afterwards Sir Astley Cooper), performed many experiments on animals under the direction of Cline. Moorcroft, who remained only a short time at the college, afterwards went to India, and during a journey in 1819 was murdered in Tibet. Coleman, by his scientific researches and energetic management, in a few years raised the college to a high standard of usefulness; under his care the progress of the veterinary art was such as to qualify its practitioners to hold commissions in the army; and he himself was appointed veterinary surgeon general to the British cavalry. In 1831 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. Owing to the lack of funds, the teaching at the college must have been very meagre, and had it not been for the liberality of several medical men in throwing open the doors of their theatres to its pupils for instruction without fee or reward, their professional knowledge would have been sadly deficient. The board of examiners was for many years chiefly composed of eminent members of the medical profession. Coleman died in 1839, and with him disappeared much of the interest the medical profession of London took in the progress of veterinary medicine. Yet the Royal Veterinary College (first styled "Royal" during the president ship of the duke of Kent) continued to do good work in a purely veterinary direction, and received such public financial support that it was soon able to dispense with the small annual grant given to it by the government. In the early years of the institution the horse was the only animal to which much attention was given. But at the instigation of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, which gave £200 per annum for the purpose, an additional professor was appointed to investigate and teach the treatment of the diseases of cattle, sheep and other animals; outbreaks of disease among these were also to be inquired into by the officers of the college. This help to the institution was withdrawn in 1875, but renewed and augmented in 1886. For fifteen years the Royal Agricultural Society annually voted a sum of £500 towards the expenses of the department of comparative pathology, but in 1902 this grant was reduced to £200.
As the result of representations made to the senate of the university of London by the governors of the Royal Veterinary College, the university in 1906 instituted a degree in veterinary science (B.Sc.). The possession of this degree does not of itself entitle the holder to practise as a veterinary surgeon, but it was hoped that an increasing number of students would, while studying for the diploma of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, also adopt the curriculum which is necessary to qualify for the university examinations and obtain the degree of bachelor of science. To provide equipment for the higher studies required for the university degree, the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries in 1906 made a grant to the college of £800 per annum. At this school post-graduate instruction is given on the principles of bacteriological research, vaccination and protective inoculation, the preparation of toxins and vaccines and the bacteriology of the specific diseases of animals. The London Veterinary School has been the parent of other schools in Great Britain, one of which, the first in Scotland, was founded by Professor Dick, a student under Coleman, and a man of great perseverance and ability. Beginning at Edinburgh in 1819–20 with only one student, in three years he gained the patronage of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, which placed a small sum of money at the disposal of a committee appointed by itself to take charge of a department of veterinary surgery it had formed. This patronage, and very much in the way of material assistance and encouragement, were continued to the lime of Dick's death in 1866. During the long period in which he presided over the school considerable progress was made in diffusing a sound knowledge of veterinary medicine in Scotland and beyond it. For many years his examining board, which gave certificates of proficiency under the auspices of the Highland and Agricultural Society, was composed of the most distinguished medical men in Scotland, such as Goodsir, Syme, Lizars, Ballingall, Simpson and Knox. By his will Dick vested the college in the lord provost and town council of Edinburgh as trustees, and left a large portion of the fortune he had made to maintain it for the purposes for which it was founded. In 1859 another veterinary school was established in Edinburgh by John Gamgee, and the Veterinary College, Glasgow, was founded in 1863 by James McCall. Gamgee's school was discontinued in 1865; and William Williams established in 1873 the "New Veterinary College", Edinburgh. This school was transferred in 1904 to the university, Liverpool. In 1900 a veterinary school was founded in Dublin.
In 1844 the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (to be carefully distinguished from the Royal Veterinary College) obtained its charter of incorporation. The functions of this body were until 1881 limited almost entirely to examining students taught in the veterinary schools, and bestowing diplomas of membership on those who successfully passed the examinations conducted by the boards which sat in London and Edinburgh. Soon after the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons obtained its charter of incorporation, a difference arose between the college and Dick, which resulted in the latter seceding altogether from the union that had been established, and forming an independent examining board, the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland granting certificates of proficiency to those students who were deemed competent. This schism operated very injuriously on the progress of veterinary education and on professional advancement, as the competition engendered was of a rather deteriorating nature. After the death of Dick in 1866, the dualism in veterinary licensing was suppressed and the Highland Society ceased to grant certificates. Now there is only one portal of entry into the profession, and the veterinary students of England, Ireland and Scotland must satisfy the examiners appointed by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons before they can practise their profession.
Before beginning their professional studies students of veterinary medicine must pass an examination in general education equivalent in every respect to that required of students of human medicine. The minimum length of the professional training is four years of three terms each, and during that course four searching examinations must be passed before the student obtains his diploma or licence to practise as a veterinary surgeon. The subjects taught in the schools have been increased in numbers conformably with the requirements of ever extending science, and the teaching is more thorough and practical. During the four years' curriculum, besides the preliminary technical training essential to every scientist, the student must study the anatomy and physiology of the domesticated animals, the pathology and bacteriology of the diseases to which these animals are exposed, medicine, surgery, hygiene, dietetics and meat inspection, and learn to know the results of disease as seen post mortem or in the slaughter-house.
In 1881 an act of parliament was obtained protecting the title of the graduates of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and conferring other advantages, not the least of which is the power granted to the college to remove the names of unworthy members from its register. In some respects the Veterinary Surgeons Act is superior to the Medical Act, while it places the profession on the same level as other learned bodies, and prevents the public being misled by empirics and imposters.
In 1876 the college instituted a higher degree than membership—that of fellow (F.R.C.V.S.), which can only be obtained after the graduate has been five years in practice, and by furnishing a thesis and passing a severe written and oral examination on pathology and bacteriology, hygiene and sanitary science, and veterinary medicine and surgery. Only fellows can be elected members of the examining boards for the membership and fellowship diplomas. The graduates of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons registered from its foundation in 1844 until 1907 numbered about 6000.
In the British army a veterinary' service was first instituted at the beginning of the 19th century, when veterinary surgeons with the relative rank of lieutenant were appointed to regiments of Cavalry, the royal artillery and the royal wagon train. After the Crimean War, and consequent on the abolition of the East India Company (which then possessed its own veterinary service), the number of veterinary surgeons employed was increased, and in 1878 they were constituted a "department," with distinctive uniform, instead of being regimental officers as was previously the case. At the same time they were all brought on to a general roster for foreign service, so that every one in turn has to serve abroad. In 1903 the officers of the department were given substantive rank, and in 1904 were constituted a "corps," with a small number of non-commissioned officers and men under their command and specially trained by them. In 1907 the Army Veterinary Corps consisted of 167 officers and 220
