Part 39
=McEachran, Professor Duncan McNab=, F.R.C.V.S., Principal of Montreal Veterinary College, chief inspector of stock, &c., was born at Campbeltown, Argyleshire, Scotland, on the 27th of October, 1841. He is the oldest son of the late David McEachran, who for many years was a member of the town council, and for five years preceding his death was senior bailie of Campbeltown. The family is one of the oldest in Kintyre, descended from McEachran of Killellan and Penygowan. The Ionic cross of Campbeltown, one of the oldest in Scotland, bears the names of Edward and Malcolm McEachran, and the family tombstones, which are found within the ruins of the old church of St. Kiarian, date back as far as the fourteenth century. David McEachran is also buried here. Duncan received his earlier education in the schools of his native place, and at the age of seventeen entered in his professional studies at Edinburgh, under the late Professor Dick. In the autumn of 1862, he came to Canada, and took up his abode in Woodstock, Ontario, where he practised his profession for nearly three years with marked success, at the same time being engaged during part of the winter in giving lectures at Toronto, and by this means rendered valuable service in the establishment of the Veterinary College in that city. During his residence in Woodstock, he contributed in various ways to the advancement of his profession, by lectures at farmers’ meetings, by contributions to the agricultural press, and by the publication of a manual of veterinary science. The work on the “Canadian Horse and his Diseases,” under the joint editorship of himself and his friend, Professor Andrew Smith, of the Toronto Veterinary College, soon ran through two editions, and although a third edition is now called for, Professor McEachran will not consent to its issue, as he fondly hopes to find time in the near future, to publish a larger work on the same subject. In 1866, he left Ontario and settled in Montreal, but before he left for that city, the Board of Agriculture for Upper Canada passed a very complimentary resolution, expressing regret at his departure, and he was entertained by a large number of his friends at a public dinner at Woodstock. On his arrival in Montreal, thanks to his good reputation which had preceded him, and the influence of his numerous friends, his success was speedily assured. Through the influence of the late Major Campbell, president of the Board of Agriculture, aided by principal (now Sir) J. W. Dawson, and the late G. W. Campbell, dean of the medical faculty of McGill University, an arrangement was made for Professor McEachran to deliver a course of lectures on veterinary science, in connection with the medical school, which was the commencement of the now widely-known Montreal Veterinary College. In 1875, the present commodious college buildings were erected on Union Avenue, at the expense of the founder and principal, the government guaranteeing $1,800 per annum toward its expenses for ten years, with the privilege of sending to it thirteen French and seven English students annually free. This college is now considered the first of its kind in America, and justly ranks high, even when compared with many of the schools in Europe, owing to the appreciation of its head for thorough education. While the veterinary schools at Toronto and New York admitted students without matriculation, and graduated them in two sessions, here a matriculation is required, and the course extends over three sessions of six months each. This plan was adopted by the Montreal College before the English schools; even the Royal Veterinary College of England was led by the Montreal school in this very important matter. Professor McEachran has associated with him in teaching the learned Principal and Professors of McGill University, whose classes his students attend for collateral studies. Year by year since the establishment of this college, its progress has been most marked in the number and educational standing of the pupils, and students have been attracted to it from all parts of the United States and Canada. A veterinary medical association has been established in connection with the college, for the reading of papers and the discussion of professional and kindred subjects, and a well-furnished library, containing most of the old works, and all the new ones, embraced in veterinary literature, has been added to the college, mainly through the efforts of its energetic principal. Professor McEachran, during the past few years, has contributed many valuable articles to professional journals and the agricultural press as well as by public lectures, on his favourite theme. In 1875, he earnestly pressed upon the attention of the Dominion government, the necessity for the establishment of a quarantine system, to prevent the importation of certain cattle diseases from Europe, where they were then prevailing to a deplorable extent. Acting on his advice, the government created, in April, 1876, a quarantine station at Point Levis, Quebec, and made the professor chief inspector for the Dominion, and this position he still continues to occupy. In January, 1879, he was sent by the Dominion government to the United States, to investigate the lung-plague—pleuro-pneumonia—and visited New York, Long Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and the district of Columbia; and on his return he reported the prevalence of this serious disease in all the states he had visited. The result was that shortly afterwards an embargo was placed on the importation of cattle from the United States to Canada and Great Britain, requiring that they should be slaughtered at the port of debarkation, within fourteen days after landing. This action of the British government entailed a heavy loss on cattle exported from the United States, but Canada, owing to her freedom from the diseases, and the perfect condition of her quarantine system, became a gainer in proportion to a large amount. Professor McEachran’s name will ever be associated with the early history of the export cattle trade of Canada, as one, who at the proper moment gave sound advice to the government, which, being promptly acted upon, helped in these early days to assist a trade that has since grown to vast proportions. The efficiency of the quarantine for cattle under his management has been thoroughly tested on two occasions, viz., 1885, when the contagious disease, “foot and mouth,” or vessicular epizootic, was twice brought into the quarantine from Great Britain, so thorough was the quarantine that not only did it not extend beyond, but it did not even affect any other cattle, of which there were several hundreds within the enclosure. The prompt and effective manner in which pleuro-pneumonia was dealt with in 1886, when that fell destroyer was imported in a herd of Galloways, proved beyond doubt the efficiency of the quarantine, and the ability of the inspectors to deal with contagious diseases. If Canada to-day is free from contagious disease, it is due in a great measure to his energy and knowledge of disease. In acknowledgment of his professional attainments he was elected one of the original Fellows of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, on that body being raised to the rank of a university in 1875, being the only one in Canada on whom that honour was conferred. He has been intimately connected with the cattle ranching business in the district of Alberta, Senator Cochrane and he being the pioneers in that business on a large scale in Canada. Together they visited Alberta in 1881, going _via_ the Missouri river to Fort Benton, thence driving across the plains to where Calgary is now built. On his return he published a series of interesting letters, being a narrative of his trip, and description of the country. He was vice-president of the Cochrane Ranche Co. till 1883, when he became general manager of the Walrond Cattle Ranche Co., of which Sir John Walrond, Bart., is president, and which is now the largest and one of the most successful ranches in Canada. Professor McEachran was married on the 9th of June, 1868, to Esther, youngest daughter of the late Timothy Plaskett, Esq., St. Croix, West Indian Islands, to whom two children were born, viz., Evelyn Victoria, born 24th May, 1869, who died May, 1874, and Jeanie Blackney, born 19th September, 1871. In politics, Professor McEachran is a Conservative, but in consequence of his devotion to professional work he has never taken a very active part in politics. He served in the militia force for ten years as Veterinary Surgeon to the Montreal Field Battery of Artillery. He became a justice of the peace in 1886, with jurisdiction over the entire Province of Quebec.
* * * * *
=Holmes, Hon. Simon H.=, Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, Halifax, was born near Springville, East River township, Pictou county, N.S., on the 30th July, 1831. His father, Hon. John Holmes, came from Ross-shire, Scotland, where he was born in 1783, to Nova Scotia, and settled in the province in 1803, and represented Pictou county in the Nova Scotia legislature, from 1839 to 1847, and from 1851 to 1855, and was called to the Legislative Council in 1858. At the time of Confederation in 1867 he was made a member of the Senate of the Dominion of Canada. His mother, Catherine Fraser, was a native of Nova Scotia. Simon H. Holmes received his educational training at the New Glasgow Grammar School and at the Pictou Academy. He adopted law as a profession, and studied in the office of the Hon. James McDonald, now chief justice of Nova Scotia, and was called to the bar of Nova Scotia in August, 1864. He practised for a number of years as a barrister in Pictou, and during that time acquired the honourable distinction of being a logical and able speaker, and one who always made a favourable impression on a jury. Mr. Holmes entered political life in 1867, and yet though he failed to carry Pictou county at the general election of that year, he was successful in 1871; and in 1874 he was re-elected by acclamation, and chosen leader of the opposition. After the contest in 1878, he was called upon to form an administration, of which he became premier and provincial secretary, which position he occupied during the four years following, when he accepted the office of prothonotary of the Supreme Court for Halifax, which office he now holds. Hon. Mr. Holmes was for twenty-four years editor and proprietor of the _Colonial Standard_, Pictou, an outspoken Liberal-Conservative paper, which he conducted with marked ability, and which exercised a great influence in shaping the politics of the province. When quite a young man he took an active interest in the volunteer movement, and rose to the rank of captain; subsequently he held the same rank in the militia, and was, before severing his connection with the corps on entering public life, promoted to the rank of major.
* * * * *
=Archibald, Hon. Sir Adams Geo.=, K.C.M.G., D.C.L., P.C., Q.C., ex-Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia. This illustrious statesman was born at Truro, Nova Scotia, on the 18th May, 1814. His father was Samuel Archibald, grandson of one of two brothers who came from the North of Ireland, though of Scottish descent, settled at Truro, Colchester county, N.S., in 1761, and both of whom married and had families, and from these brothers sprung most of the families of that name now scattered over the Maritime and other provinces of the Dominion, some of whom honoured the liberal professions, and filled nearly every position of responsibility and trust in the legislature and government of Nova Scotia. His grandfather, James Archibald, was, on the 23rd June, 1796, appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Colchester, Nova Scotia, and held this position till his death. The mother of Sir Adams Archibald was Elizabeth, daughter of Matthew Archibald, who was appointed coroner of Colchester in 1776, and represented Truro in the local parliament for many years. Adams George Archibald was educated at Pictou College under the late Dr. McCulloch, who had at that time the training of many young men who now fill various high positions in public life. He studied law in Halifax in the office of the late William Sutherland, afterwards recorder of the city; was admitted in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island as an attorney in 1838, and as barrister to the bar of Nova Scotia in 1839; and for many years practised his profession successfully both at Truro and Halifax, during which time he filled some very important positions. In 1851 he entered public life, and was elected to represent the county of Colchester in the Nova Scotia assembly, and sat as such until 1859, when the county was divided, and he was returned for South Colchester, which constituency he continued to represent until Confederation in 1867. During three years he occupied prominent positions in the government of Nova Scotia. In 1856 he was appointed solicitor-general of his native province, and in 1857 was sent as a delegate, in company with the late Hon. J. W. Johnstone, to England to arrange the terms of settlement with the British government and the General Mining Association, in regard to the mines of the province, and to ascertain the views of that government on the question of the union of the provinces. And one of the happy results of their labours was to effect a settlement of a long standing dispute between the province and the company, whereby certain collieries were allotted to the company on their surrendering all other collieries and all mines and minerals to the province, except the coal in the areas so allotted. In 1860 he was made attorney-general, and the following year (1861), he was a delegate to the Quebec Conference to discuss the question of an Intercolonial Railway. In 1862 he was appointed advocate-general of the Vice-Admiralty Court. Mr. Archibald being one of the foremost among the advocates of Confederation, he attended as a delegate the Charlottetown Union Conference in June, 1864; the Quebec Conference, held a few months later in the same year, and the final conference held in London (England), during the winter of 1866-7 to complete the terms of confederation. In 1867 he was made secretary of state for the provinces in the Dominion government. In 1869 he was elected to a seat in the Dominion parliament at Ottawa, by the county of Colchester, but resigned the next year (1870), on his being appointed lieutenant-governor of Manitoba and the North-West Territories. In 1872 he was created a companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George by her Majesty the Queen for his services in Manitoba, and in 1886 was advanced a step in the order, being created K.C.M.G. On his return from the North-West he was appointed, on the 24th June, 1873, judge in equity for Nova Scotia; but only held the office until the 4th of the next month, when, on the death of the late lieutenant-governor, Joseph Howe, he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia, and this high office he filled with great dignity and satisfaction to all concerned from the 4th July, 1873, to 4th July, 1883, when he was succeeded by Mr. Matthew Henry Richey. Governor Archibald was one of the directors of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1873; and in 1884 he was chosen chairman of the Board of Governors of Dalhousie College; and in 1885 he was elected president of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, of which he has been an active member from the time of its formation in 1878 to the present. In conclusion, we may add that the Hon. Mr. Archibald is a man of broad views and generous impulses, and a statesman whom the country is pleased to honour. In religious matters he has followed in the footsteps of his ancestors, and is a staunch Presbyterian. He was married on the 1st June, 1840, to Elizabeth Archibald, daughter of the Rev. John Burnyeat, an able and accomplished Anglican divine, the first clergyman of the Church of England, in the parish of St. John, Colchester, whose wife was Livinia, daughter of Charles Dickson, and sister of Elizabeth, wife of the late Hon. S. G. W. Archibald, and mother of the late Sir Thomas and Sir Edward Archibald.
* * * * *
=McCaul, Rev. John=, D.D., late President of University College, Toronto, was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1807, and died at Toronto, on the 16th of April, 1887, in the eighty-first year of his age. He was educated at Trinity College in his native city, and after a very successful university career, graduated with the highest honours in classics. At the request of the authorities of Trinity College, he for some time filled the post of classical tutor and examiner in that institution. While occupying this position, he devoted himself passionately to the pursuit of classical literature, and edited several editions of recognized value of various Greek and Latin texts. In 1838, Dr. Harley, then archbishop of Canterbury, hearing of his repute as a scholar, offered him the principalship of Upper Canada College, in Toronto, and Mr. McCaul having accepted the office, entered upon its duties the following year. In 1843, he became the president and professor of classics, logic, rhetoric and belles-lettres in King’s College, which by the Act of 1849, became the University of Toronto, and was freed forever from sectarian control. From that time up to the date of his retirement, some years ago, from all literary work, Dr. McCaul uninterruptedly filled the chair of classics in the university, of which for some years he was also the president. While zealously maintaining the pre-eminence of his own department, he actively assisted in introducing into the university curriculum the subjects of modern languages and natural sciences. His individual work is seen on every hand in the distinguished men who are to be found in every part of the province, and who cheerfully acknowledge their indebtedness to the late lamented president of University College, for the accuracy and thoroughness of their academic training. Among the works which have been issued from Dr. McCaul’s pen are exhaustive treatises on the Greek Tragic Metres and the Horatian Metres; on the Scansion of the Hecuba and Medea of Euripides; lectures on Homer and Virgil; an edition of Longinus, of selections from Lucian and Thucydides. His edition of the Satires and Epistles of Horace has long been looked upon as a standard one of this favourite author. His researches in Greek and Roman Epigraphy, and his work on “Britanno-Roman Inscriptions,” and “The Christian Epitaphs of the First Six Centuries,” entitle him to take high rank among the greatest classical scholars which the century has produced. Dr. McCaul married in 1840, Emily, the second daughter of the late Hon. Justice Jones. His wife, three sons and three daughters survive him.
* * * * *