Welcome to the history of veterinary medicine. This page is a time line, in continuation of the previous page.
A New Century
1900
Work projects for farm youth organized; the name '4-H' adopted in 1913.
Founding chief of the United Stated Bureau of Animal Industry, Daniel E. Salmon, DVM is best known for identifying his namesake pathogen, Salmonella, and pioneering the fight against infectious diseases. A member of Cornell University ‘s first entering class, Salmon received his veterinary degree in 1876. Among his other accomplishments in the field of infectious disease, Salmon demonstrated that bovine tuberculosis is transmissible to man.
Lacey Act prohibited importation of injurious animals, birds, and fish.
Of gainfully employed persons, 38 percent were engaged in agriculture.
Mendel's work on heredity rediscovered. That;s kind of interesting, isn't it...what's the story about why it had to be "rediscovered"? I'll try to find out for you.
The biggest change by far ...both for the veterinary profession and for our culture at large at the turn of the century...is the replacement, first in industry and then in cities, and finally in the countryside...of horses and mules with cars, trucks, tractors, and motors. Starting in the 1890's, humane societies rejoiced that electric street cars were ending the cruel drudgery that was the lot of the street car horse. By 1907, animal powered street cars, stagecoaches, and omnibuses had almost ceased to exist in American cities. Even with the high demand for horses in World War 1, the horse industry collasped and unwanted horses in the hundreds of thousands were yearly slaughtered for glue and leather. The slaughter continued throughout the 1920's, with much of the meat being used for the new industry of canned dog food.
The vast majority of turn of the century veterinarians were really horse doctors with minimal training in food animals or pets ...there wasn't much demand.
Anyhow, the collaspe of the horse industry followed by a severe depression in farming in the 1920's followed by the general depression of the 1930's almost wiped out our fledging profession. Indeed, almost all private and many new State veterinary schools or programs...including the one at Harvard and in my own state of South Carolina... closed down or never succeeded in getting fully started.
Between 1914 and 1924, the total number of veterinary students fall by 75%! In 1921, the 29 surviving veterinary schools graduated a total of about 275 new veterinarians. (For you yankees, that's less than 10 each)
What saved the profession was the government effort involving thousands of vets...led by the Bureau of Animal Industries...in our fight to combat major diseases plaguing our food animals and in the quest to satisfy consumer demands (mostly led by women's activists groups) for wholesome milk, poultry, eggs, and meat products.
By 1920, about 10% of all vets are working full time for the BAI and about 50% of the remaining vets receive significant part time pay for their contract work doing official BIA work at local farms. To this day, almost all vets from American veterinary schools take a federal test administered by the successor to the BAI and in theory we are all prepared to recognize, report, and aid in the control of any critical disease outbreak (MadCow, Anthrax, etc) or be called in the defense of our country's food supply in the event of bioterrorism.
1901
Complement fixation test developed.
1902
First plants methodically bred for disease resistance.
Oily flavor in butter eliminated by pasteurization.
Dutch botanist, Hugo De Vries, announced his theory of mutation.
Pseudorabies of pigs–Aujeszky's disease–described and causative virus identified.
Existence and function of hormones discovered.
1903
Demonstrated that a virus causes hog cholera and that recovering hogs are immune for life.
Wright Brothers demonstrated the first airplane.
1904
1905
Insect Pest Act prohibited importation or mailing of live, injurious insects.
Livestock Quarantine Act passed.
1906
Pure Food and Drug Act passed.
Meat Inspection Act passed.
The passage of the above two acts were a major event in our country's history. They were the result of much political debate and controversy over the deplorable state of filthy slaughter houses, numerous articles, a major example of early "investigative journalism", the topic of the famous book "The Jungle" by Sinclair Lewis, and most significantly a victory for mostly female activists demanding wholesome milk and meat for their families. It also helped that President Teddy Roosevelt was fully behind the political push for these acts despite the resistance of Armour Meats and other major and politically influencial packing houses.
These acts were hugely significant to the veterinary profession as a major source of employment and government funds to study animal disease.
It's also my contention...as an aside...that these early political successes by women's activist groups in fighting for wholesome foods were a direct precursor to their future successes in gaining the vote, prohibition, entry into the professions, and other major cultural changes in the following decades. Yea.
Developed live-virus vaccine for hog cholera.
28-hour law required humane care of livestock in interstate shipment.
First caterpillar tractor powered by gasoline engine produced by Holt Company. (Note; this invention would lead to the development of the tank and would play a major role in winning the Great War.)
American and European foulbrood diseases of bees differentiated.
1907
Branding ink for use in meat inspection developed.
Mediterranean fruit fly introduced to Hawaiian Islands.
Founded the science of nematology in the U.S.
The first practical preventive measure, injection of anti-hog-cholera serum and then the virus, was successfully tested in 1907 by the BAI Field Station near Ames, site of many later advances in hog cholera research.
Dr. Dorset, Dr. McBryde, and W.B. Niles found that serum from the blood of immune hogs conferred immunity lasting only a few weeks to other hogs. But injection of the BAI hyperimmune serum plus injection of virus gave lifelong protection against hog cholera to most hogs.
A system of swine sanitation named for McLean County, Ill., where BAI developed it in 1927, became a valuable adjunct in immunization against cholera by this method. The system, developed primarily to prevent roundworm infestation of hogs, also reduced incidence of filth-borne intestinal diseases. Serious side effects were produced when hogs with even low-level intestinal infections were immunized against hog cholera.
Department scientists realized that a control method involving use of the live virus offered no hope for eradicating hog cholera. So they began work toward a protective vaccine made with killed virus. Research of Drs. Dorset and McBryde, and C.G. Cole at Ames culminated in the development of the crystal violet killed vaccine in 1935.
An initial problem of contaminants in the vaccine was overcome when F.W. Tilley patented a procedure 10 years later for preparing a consistently sterile crystal violet vaccine.
Scientists long sought reasons why this and later improved vaccines did not confer immunity to some hogs. The problem was partly solved in 1949 with the discovery of a variant of the hog cholera virus. Antiserum against both types of virus was needed for protection.
Researchers in Iowa meanwhile had learned much about the transmission and persistence of the hog cholera virus. They found that the virus is present in the circulating blood of the sick animal and also in the various secretions and excretions. The virus remained active throughout the winter in carcasses of cholera-infected hogs buried in the fall, and unburied carcasses of infected pigs remained infectious for 11 weeks during cold weather.
Contrary to popular belief at one time, pigeons did not prove to be carriers of hog cholera virus, although transmission by crows and buzzards was not ruled out. Extensive experiments at Ames demonstrated conclusively that the house fly and stable fly are capable of transferring the cholera virus from sick to well pigs. Prevalence of biting flies and incidence of hog cholera correlated closely during the years of the study.
1908
In 1908, Leonard Pearson, VMD reported the first U.S. cases of Johne‘s disease (bovine paratuberculosis ), which is highly contagious and causes chronic diarrhea and wasting in infected cattle. An 1890 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, Pearson eventually became full professor and then dean of the institution. In addition to his advances in the diagnosis and treatment of Johne‘s disease, Pearson also contributed to the domains of agriculture, livestock breeding and - as a prolific writer - veterinary literature.
Ronald Reagen...born 1911
Died June 5th, 2004 as I was writing this page
In 1908, Congress authorized the Remount Service, which was to procure horses, condition them, provide initial training, and issue them to using units. Before that time, horses and mules for Army use had been purchased by the Quartermaster Department under contract after advertising for bids. This practice had been quite unsatisfactory in terms of getting a number of older horses, many in poor physical condition. The first remount depot was at Fort Reno, Oklahoma. The Front Royal, Virginia, Depot was opened in 1911.
The principle function of the Remount Service during peacetime was to procure, process, train, and issue horses, mules, and dogs (1942-1948) for military use and to train personnel in animal management. It was also responsible for purchase of forage for these animals. Another function of the Remount Service was that of supervising the Army horse breeding program designed to raise the quality of horses.
The Remount Service's principle functions during war were to supply replacement riding horses and the draft animals required to haul ammunition, water, food, and heavy artillery and to evacuate the wounded. Motorization and mechanization in the 1930s reduced the need for animals, but did not make them completely obsolete.
1910's
1910
Wild blueberry domesticated.
Demonstrated that pasteurization kills toxin-producing organisms in raw milk without destroying beneficial lactic acid bacteria.
Insecticide and Fungicide Act passed.
Brucella abortus first isolated from cattle in the U.S.
Of gainfully employed persons, 31 percent were engaged in agriculture.
Demonstrated that typhus fever is transmitted by lice.
1911
First Farm Bureau formed in Broome County, NY.
Discovered a virus that can cause cancer in chickens; first experimental proof of an infectious agent of cancer.
1912
Federal Plant Quarantine Act passed.
Thomas Hunt Morgan announced his theory of genes; began using the term 'gene’ in 1904 to describe individual parts of chromosomes that control particular characteristics.
USDA makes initial crosses between Lincoln and Ramboullet sheep breeds, leading to the Columbia breed.
Demonstrated that drought begins when soil moisture is so diminished that vegetation is unable to absorb water from the soil rapidly enough to replace the water lost to the air by transpiration.
1913
Virus-Serum Toxin Act passed.
Forerunner of the light tractor introduced.
First U.S. veterinary license issued for production of anti-hog-cholera serum.
1914
World War I began in Europe.
Smith-Lever Act formalized cooperative agricultural extension work.
Cultures of nitrogen-fixing bacteria supplied to legume growers for the purpose of increasing the plants' nitrogen-fixing capacity.
During World War I, vast numbers of dogs were employed as: sentries; messengers; ammunition, pigeons, and food carriers; scouts; sled dogs; draught dogs; guard dogs; ambulance dogs; ratters; Red Cross casualty dogs: and even cigarette dogs.
America with the exception of a few sled dogs in Alaska was the only country to take part in World War I, that had no service dogs within its military.
The French, British and Belgians by 1918 had at least 20,000 dogs on the battlefield, the Germans 30,000. But America's war department felt that now that they were 'over there,' the war would be quicky over and there would be no need for any dogs!
Hoof & Mouth Disease breaks out in the US starting in Chicago and reaching out to 22 other states. The disease is eradicated in the U.S. by applying quarantines, extreme decontamination programs, and the slaughtering of 172,222 animals.
1915
Discovered bacteriophage.
1916
Stainless steel invented.
Calcium arsenate developed for use on boll weevil.
Federal Farm Loan Act passed.
Federal Highway Act provided for cooperation with states in construction of rural post roads.
Japanese beetles discovered in New Jersey.
1917
A system for growing modern hybrid corn developed.
United States entered World War I.
Demonstrated that raw milk could transmit a bacterium, Brucella abortus, that causes brucellosis in cattle and undulant fever in humans.
Long-term study of dairy improvement started; increased production per cow from 542 pounds of butterfat in 1920 to more than 720 pounds today.
Discovered temperature necessary to kill trichinae.
1919
1920s
The 1920's pretty much marked the end of the horse as transportation and the mainstay of veterinary medicine.
In addition, a severe, general, economic depression in farm prices led to the collaspe of many veterinary practices, the wiping out of many veterinary schools and programs, and a huge reduction in the number of students applying to veterinary school.
On the other hand, this is the decade when our culture became willing to spend money on the care of pets and veterinarians responded by building or converting their practices to include the treatment of dogs and even some cats.
This is also the decade when pet food companies started to become successful at marketing canned dog rations to a dog loving public. The cheapest source of meat, of course, were all the hundreds of thousands of horses no longer needed with the national switch over to motor power.
1920
Of gainfully employed persons, 27 percent were engaged in agriculture.
1921
Field of population genetics in animal breeding founded.
1922
Capper-Volstead Act provided legal status for agricultural cooperatives.
Honeybee Act prohibited the importation of adult honeybees.
1923
1924
President Coolidge appointed a nine-man President's agricultural conference.
1925
Tennessee outlawed teaching evolution in school; Scopes trial held in Dayton, TN.
Discovered that ethylene is the agent responsible for initiating fruit coloring in oranges.
Purnell Act authorized funds for research by agricultural experiment stations on economic and social problems of agriculture.
1926
USDA began inspection of live poultry.
Successful light gasoline tractor invented
Targhee breed of sheep developed.
1927
Federal beef grading initiated.
1928
Bouquets carried on Graf Zeppelin's first transatlantic flight showed the role air travel could play in transporting insect pests and plant diseases.
Antibacterial properties of penicillin discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming. (Not available for commercial use until 1941)
Capper-Ketcham Act provided extension work in agriculture and home economics for men, women, boys, and girls.
Wool Standards Act passed.
Future Farmers of America established. (Note; I'm a fan of Future Farmers of America and have a website about this fine organization as well as 4H and Scouting. Please take a look.)
Ten regional erosion experiment stations set up.
1929
Growing plants in water, hydroponics, invented.
Mediterranean fruit fly discovered in Florida.
First airplane seeding of rice in California.
1930s
1930
Of gainfully employed persons, 21.5 percent were engaged in agriculture.
Tariff Act prohibited imports of meat and animals from countries infected with foot-and-mouth disease.
Strain 19 of Brucella abortus developed; formed basis of brucellosis vaccine.
Controlled citrus blackfly in Cuba using biological control.
1931
First electron microscope built.
1932
1933
Tennessee Valley Authority Act passed.
1933
Washington State College graduates its first female veterinarian, Catherine Elizabeth Roberts. She goes on to be the first licensed female veterinarian in California and is among only twelve in the nation at the time.
1934
Worst drought in U.S. history took place in the Great Plains and covered over 75 percent of the country. (more)
Taylor Grazing Act gave U.S. Department of the Interior power to regulate grazing on public lands in the West.
Jones-Connally Act authorized appropriations for research to eliminate disease from beef and dairy herds.
Glanders of horses eradicated.
USDA and Iowa State Experiment Station imported Danish Landrace hogs.
Line 1 Hereford program started; one of the longest continuing beef cattle line-breeding programs in the U.S.
1935
The establishment of the School of Veterinary Medicine at Tuskegee, Alabama. The first (and only in the US) veterinary school established for primarily black students.
Sulfa drugs discovered.
Otto Stader, VMD
While in small animal practice, he treated an expensive Chow dog with a fractured femur, which he attempted to treat by means of plaster immobilization. The dog chewed off two or three casts and developed serious soft tissue wounds in the process. This lead him to suspect that there were better ways to treat fractures. From his experience with his son‘s bicycle spokes, he developed the external fixator which bears his name today. He manufactured the original Stader splint in the basement of the Geneva Animal Hospital, on a lathe. He had learned from his father who had been a tool and dye maker in Germany. He treated approximately 200 dogs successfully with this external fixator. It was used primarilly for repairing femurs, tibias, fibulas, radii, and ulnae. It became apparent to Dr. Stader and his family that he should move East to enable him to further his interests in veterinary medicine and especially the external fixator. In 1936, the family moved to the suburbs of Philadelphia. He built the Ardmore Animal Hospital on Lancaster Avenue, converting it from a pre-existing home. The animal hospital was state-of the- art, including air conditioning; a large surgery and X-ray, two examination rooms, a pharmacy and four wards of 22 tiled kennels.
Methods for genetic evaluation of beef cattle pioneered.
Two farmers out of every five were tenant farmers.
Atlanta's city directory lists 6 veterinarians
Initiated National Poultry Improvement Plan to improve production and marketing qualities of chickens and turkeys through performance testing.
Developed concept of vegetative waterways, which led to more than 500,000 miles of waterways that channel runoff and prevent severe gully erosion.
1936
1937
First soil conservation district in the U.S. organized.
Published first electron micrographs of bacteria.
1938
Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act passed. Lots of veterinarians employed
Bacillus thuringiensis first sold as insecticide.
Insect-sterilization technique for mating disruption proposed.
First artificial breeding cooperative organized for dairy cattle.
Reported filarial dermatosis of sheep; developed treatment.
First successful distemper vaccine produced by the Fromm brothers. Distemper is very deadly to all canines but the early vaccines were produced to protect young foxes being raised for the fur trade. It would be another 8 years before the vaccine was made available to pet dogs.
1939
World War II began in Europe.
Usefulness of crossbreeding to improve the efficiency of beef production demonstrated.
1940s
1940
Developed and tested soilless media for plant growth; vermiculite discovered.
Of gainfully employed persons, 18 percent were engaged in agriculture.
CHIEF, the last living cavalry horse still carried on government rolls, was foaled in 1932 and purchased by the Army in 1940 at Ft.Robinson, Neb. In December of 1949 he was placed in semi-retirement and was fully retired at Ft. Riley, Kan., in 1958.
1941
Mildew- and rot-proof fabrics and bandages developed.
First simple daily nutrition guide published.
Beltsville small white turkey developed; ancestor of today's commercial turkeys.
United States entered World War II.
Deep-vat fermentation developed in Peoria, IL, allowing mass-production of penicillin.
Demonstrated that methyl bromide is a broad-spectrum biocide and controls nematodes.
1942
First nuclear reactor built.
Discovered chemical structure of DDT; military began to use chemical to protect against typhus.
Induced ovulation in domestic fowl.
Dourine of horses eradicated.
1943
Palatable dehydrated eggs developed. (Oh yeah?)
Developed method for cleaning Navy airplane engines by blasting them with ground corn cobs. Isn't that interesting?
Research to create fruit essences began; led to development of concentrated frozen apple and grape juices.
Texas cattle fever eradicated.
1944
Organic Act provided for control and eradication of certain animal and plant pests and diseases.
Antibiotic streptomycin isolated from soil microorganisms.
Complement fixation test to diagnose anaplasmosis in cattle developed.
1945
World War II ended.
Food and Agriculture Organization formed by the United Nations.
Developed a process for preparing purified grade of oleic acid from inedible animal fats, used in cosmetics and as lubricants in textile mills.
Bankhead-Flanagan Act provided for expansion of county extension work.
Foot & Mouth disease breaks out in Mexico threatening the US markets leading to a joint country eradication program. This is an interesting story...click here for more.
1946
Research and Marketing Act passed.
1947
Avian leukosis virus first isolated.
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act passed; replaced Insecticide Act of 1910.
First U.S. case of scrapie diagnosed in sheep.
Organophosphate pesticides developed.
Congress authorized cooperative project with Mexico to eradicate foot-and-mouth disease there.
Discovered antibiotic polymyxin.
Marfed soft white spring wheat released, the major spring wheat grown in Washington until semidwarf wheats were introduced.
1948
Cortisone found to relieve rheumatoid arthritis.
Screened 6,600 plant species for useful chemicals. Found Mexican yam to have highest yield of compound diosgenin, an ingredient that can be used to produce cortisone.
Synthesized esters determined to be similar to the active constituents of pyrethrum; one of these synthetic insecticides, allerthrin, used in aerosol pesticide bombs.
1949
Radiocarbon dating invented.
1950s
1950
North Korea invaded South Korea.
Diffusion photometer designed; first light-scattering instrument to measure the size of molecules.
Economical methods for producing dextran developed; first used as alternative to blood plasma in Korean War.
National Poultry Improvement Plan authorized.
Of gainfully employed persons, 11 percent were engaged in agriculture.
Exotic Newcastle disease (poultry) detected in the U.S.
Discovered that highly chlorinated naphthalene, a wax used in certain greases and oils, caused hyperkeratosis (X-disease) in cattle.
New form of streptomycin discovered.
Xanthan gum developed; an edible food gum fermented from glucose by a microorganism.
Discovered the cause of salmon disease in foxes and dogs; the first rickettsial disease agent found to be transmitted by an internal parasite.
Separated the milk protein casein into three components.
1951
Used modified live-virus vaccines to protect swine from hog cholera.
Found that vitamin E prevented yellow-fat disease in mink and pigs.
1952
Spirochetes isolated from cattle rumen.
Parasitic wasps released as biological control against pink bollworm.
Discovered that rust in containers causes bacterial spores to form in milk left standing at room temperature.
1953
Stalin Dies!
James Watson and Francis Crick describe double-helical structure of DNA.
Demonstrated use of light transmittance to detect blood spots in eggs; technology later applied to detect hollow heart and black spot in
First calves born as a result of embryo transfer from donor to recipient cows.
Discovered that adding aureomycin and vitamin B12 to feed reduced loss of rabbits from enteritis by 75 percent.
Reported first case of advanced natural parthenogenesis in birds; spontaneous development of embryos without normal fertilization.
1954
DEET (N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide) insect repellent developed.
Gas-liquid chromatography used to study flavors and aromas.
Process for making instant potato flakes developed.
Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act passed.
Test developed to detect visceral lymphomatosis in live chickens.
Discovered that avian lymphomatosis virus can be present in hens that appear normal and that it is shed in their eggs; showed that a hen injected with virus imparts passive immunity to the chicks.
Vaccines developed to protect chickens from visceral lymphomatosis and infectious bronchitis.
First spray vaccine developed to immunize mink against distemper.
1955
Future veterinarian Roger Ross is born to parents recently immigrated from Canada. Goes on to write this website
Screwworm fly eradicated from Curacao using sterile-fly mating disruption; eradicated from Florida in 1958.
Vaccines become available dehydrated, much improving shelf life and expense.
1956
Aureomycin-sulfamethazine treatment developed to prevent mortality of chicks with cecal coccidiosis.
Test for Aleutian disease of mink devised.
1957
Civil Rights Act passed.
Sputnik launched.
Laser invented.
Humane Slaughter Act passed.
Poultry Inspection Act authorized compulsory Federal inspection of poultry sold in interstate commerce.
Discovered interferon, an antiviral protein produced by the body to fight viral infections.
Slow virus proposed as cause of kuru; now known as a human spongiform encephalopathy disease. Also known as mad cow disease
Virus that causes foot-and-mouth disease purified, isolated, and photographed.
Discovered that zinc is effective in treating swine parakeratosis.
1958
Food Additives Amendment established.
1959
Food for Peace Program inaugurated.
Shipping fever virus isolated.
Automatic feed handling for poultry from bulk storage bins to feeders developed.
1960s
1960
Utah Synthetic C alfalfa released.
1961
Peace Corps established.
Equine piroplasmosis reported in the U.S.
1962
Silent Spring published; documented the effect of chemicals on the environment.
First laboratory test developed to detect bluetongue neutralizing antibody.
1962
Washington State Veterinary students are disqualified from competing in the annual campus songfest after dominating the competition since 1955 The competition committee rules that the contest is only for campus living groups and that the veterinary students don't qualify.
1963
Virulent-virus hog cholera vaccines outlawed.
Discovered Chediak-Higashi syndrome in mink and cattle.
Proved that tropical horse tick, Dermacentor nitens, can transmit equine piroplasmosis.
Discovered that wild carrots give sheep acute sensitivity to sunlight, causing sunburn of sensitive areas.
1964
Agricultural Appropriation Act authorized fifth utilization laboratory at Athens, GA.
Developed plastic frames for bee honeycombs.
1965
United States entered Vietnam conflict.
Discovered molecular structure of transfer RNA.
Juvenile hormone of insects identified and synthesized.
Discovered that addition of vitamins C and E reduced levels of nitrosamines in fried bacon and nitrite-cured products; industry changed processing to minimize consumer exposure to cancer-causing nitrosamines.
