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I have been spending some time recently thinking about the history of my profession and I have been doing a little research on the subject. I stress this is just my personal view but I think we can divide the history of veterinary medicine into three ages. The first age would be the period distant ancient history, The Dark Ages if you like. The second period stretches from the eighteenth century to the mid twentieth … Read entire article »

The town of Lyons from an old print. Part Two – Development, discovery and carnage. The start of my Period of Development is when the worlds first veterinary school was opened in Lyon France in 1762, a Mr Claude Bourgelat who was director of the Académie Royale d’Équitation in Lyon got permission from the then king to open an establishment in which the principles and methods of curing livestock could be taught. The reputation of this school … Read entire article »

The photo is of one of our latest new graduates hard at work in my clinic. Part Three – The golden age. I am going to be more personal in the description of my third age of veterinary medicine as I lived through it myself. I was born in 1950 and my father was a vet and in those days a house which was part veterinary surgery and part living accommodation was the norm … Read entire article »