The first record of an attempt to teach veterinary science at the Agricultural & Mechanical College (as Texas A&M University was called at the time) was made in the third session of the college in 1878-79 when the college surgeon, D. Port Smythe, M.D., was also listed on the faculty as professor of anatomy, physiology and hygiene. No course is described, however, and no further record is available to indicate that such a course was actually given.