Century One: A History of the Ontario Veterinary Association, 1874–1974 by A. Margaret Evans, and C.A.V. Barker (review)

504 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW collapsed, successive governments bothLiberalandConservative founditpolitically impossible to do the obvious. They flinchedat creatinga singlepublicly-owned transportation system outof thetwobankruptcompanies andtheCanadianPacific; andthisinspite ofthefactthatbothThomasShaugnessy, theCPR'S president, andhis successor, E.W. Beatty,werepersuaded thatit wasa sensible andeconomical course totake.Insteadof unification, thecountrywastreatedtoacostly personal struggle betweenBeattyand Sir Henry Thornton, the flamboyantpresidentof the new CanadianNational- a strugglethat produceda needless duplication of services, especially intheWest.In •938bothrailways wereasked bytheSenate toestimate the annualsavings thatunification mightbring.The CNR'S estimate was$56.2millions; theCeR'S $75.3millions.Butunification nevercame. Dr Lamb's book,thefirstreallydetailed history ofthecompany fromitsbeginnings tothepresent day,isanindispensable reference work.Its publisher hasobviously designed itwithoneeyeonthelucrative railway buffmarketintheUnitedStates. (It isthe fifth volume in Macmillan's'Railroadsof America' series.)There are far more pictures of locomotives thanthereareof peopleandrathermoredescriptions of engines andmachinery thanthelayreaderwillneed.It isdifficultfor anauthor, facedwithaworkof thisscope andcomplexity, toindulgein theluxuryofanecdote butI, personally, wouldhavewished for less steam andmorebloodinthetext.The astonishing success of theCanadianPacific wastheworkof a remarkable groupof men,not of machines. But the giantsof the CPR, pastand present- Stephen,Van Horne, Shaughnessy, Beatty,and Norris Crump - emergeas little more than cardboardfigures.Yetwithoutthemthe enterprisemighteasilyhavefoundered. The storyof theCanadian Pacific provides thebestpossible evidence thatpeople as muchasevents shapeourdestinies. If thatuniqueandtotallyuntypical nineteenthcentury banker, George Stephen, hadnotexisted, wouldanother have beenfoundto dothejob?Theanswer thatLambgives isnegative. Therailway, hewrites, could not havesurvived theconstruction periodwithouthim.Andwithouttherailway 'Canada wouldalmost certainly notextendtodayfromseatosea.' PIERRE BERTON Kleinberg Century One:A History of theOntario Veterinary Association, z874-z974. A.MARGARET EVANS andC.A.V. BARI•ER. Guelph,Published bytheauthors,1976.Pp.xii,516,illus. $15.75. Richness of detailandclosereportingseparate thisbookfrom manyof the house histories of professional groups. The authors,a historian anda professional veterinarian , haveassembled a goodrun of source materials - records of theassociation 's annual meetings, special reports, andjournalaccounts ofexecutive committee deliberationsandtheyuse themfully.Noeffortwas spared tomake thebook oneof themost complete ofitskind.Theindexcontains about athousand names, many of whichreceive biographical treatment inthetext.The concerns of theassociation are theconcerns of the authors,includingroutinedecisions on administrative matters. REVIEWS 505 The resultisanintimatedescription ofonegroup's struggle uptoprofessional status. Veterinarians(or anyoneelse)curiousaboutthe riseof thisparticularprofessional organizationin the faceof indifferenceand the unlicenced,or aboutthe men and womenwhofoughtthegoodfight,willfindthisbookindispensable. But what can the book tell historiansinquiring into the nineteenth-century phenomenon of professionalization - thatneglected firstcousin of thebetterknown 'industrialization' family?Much,thanksagainto the authors'faithful adherenceto theirsources. Asthereaderproceeds throughtheaccounts of annualmeetings, the various stages throughwhichanoccupation rises to thestatus of a profession fairly leap out at him: the establishment of a professional organizationwith a restricted membership;the changeof name to separatethe new professionfrom the old occupation; thedevelopment of a codeof ethicsto raisethe publicstanding of the group(theearlyassociation was concerned thatitsmembers behave like'gentlemen') andtoeliminatefurther theunqualified; theregulationof internalcompetition; the demandfor avoiceinsetting qualifications; finally,themostdifficultstepofall- the longcampaign to gainpoliticalsupporttomaintaina monopoly, beginningwiththe useof titlesandculminatingin legislation whichprohibitedthe unregistered from doingthose thingstheprofession claimeditsown.It isalongprocess. Not until •958 did the ova lobbysucceed in obtaininglegislation appropriateto the professional needsof veterinarysurgeons. The bookisnotwithoutitsdisappointments. The historyof a profession should containmore than the current concernsthat delineateover time a sequenceof professional growth.To assume, astheauthors do,thattheyarewritingahistoryof the profession of veterinarymedicinethrough an accountof the group'sofficial association is to confusethe part with the whole.As a result,someof the large questions whoseanswers do notliewithintheov.•recordsreceiveinadequate treatment .Forexample,it isnotatallclearintheearlypartof thebookwhyahandfulof part-timeblacksmiths witha fewweekstrainingin 'veterinaryscience' shouldpresumetoprofessional standing in thefirstplace(indeed,themajoritydid not).The answerliesin a fuller understanding of professional development in Britainand Americathanthe bookprovides. Similarly,the bookleaves the readerto hisown devices in fathomingthe stateof veterinaryscience. Sucha science, of course, was crucialtothedevelopment of theprofession, sinceit providedthebaseof systematic theorythateventually vested itspossessors withtheprestige andauthorityofaspecial knowledge. Forthisreadertheremarkofoneof theveterinarians in •9o• thatallthe paperstodatewouldnotconstitute a singlescientific pamphletconfirmedhissuspicionthatveterinarypracticein Ontariowasbasedon a veryslenderscientific base throughoutthenineteenthcentury. Whichbringsup the matterof theempirics. Beingfaithful to one'ssources isa virtue - until fidelity shadesinto allegiance.The authorstoo readilyacceptthe arguments of the vetsin their longstruggleto banishthe empirics,or the 'quacks.' The ov.• wasfar more concernedto stampout empiricsthan it wasany (other) contagious disease. After someslighthesitation in theearlypages, theauthors join theassociation initscrusade. Yetonesenses thereisanotherstorytobetoldhere,that the so-called quackswere performing a usefulservicein rural Ontario, that all 506 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW farmerswhoemployed themwerenotnecessarily thegullstheregistered veterinariansmadethemouttobe ,andthatgovernments thatfailedtooutlaw themwerenot actingsolely frommotives of political opportunism. In sum,historians willbedisappointed thatthebookdoesnottakegreaterpainsto relatetheevolutionof theprofession todevelopments in thelargersociety. Yet only somuchcanbedone,evenin4o0pages. The factisthat,thanks tothisbookandF.E. Gattinger's workontheVeterinary College, wenowknowmoreabout theriseofthe veterinary profession inOntariothanwedoabout anyotherprofessional group.The bookisarealcontribution toCanadiansocial...