BIOGLWIMIICAL 1 XTLM)! Ul "IK )N xxvii 



The relations of Mr l.nwes witli the Chemical Society wci-o 

 also intimate. He l)ecame a Fellow in ls.')(), and was ek'cted 

 to the Council in lS()-2. The chief part of the chemical work 

 done in the Kothamsted lahoratory was conununicated to this 

 Society, and ahout twenty-two lectures and pa{)ers ]»y Lawes 

 and (lill)ert, and other Kothamsted workers, appear in the 

 Jonnial and Transactions. 



Mr Lawes was a member of the Royal Conunission 

 appointed in 1857 "To inquire into the best mode of distri- 

 buting the sewage of towns, and applying it to l^eneficial and 

 profitable uses." Two meml)ers of this Conunission, Lawes 

 and Way, conducted for several years important experiments 

 on sewage irrigation at Rugby. The investigation dealt with 

 the quantity and comjDosition of the grass receiving varyin.^- 

 amoimts of sewage, and its value as food for fattening oxen and 

 milking cows, including the composition of the milk obtained. 

 The etiiuent waters from the irrigated fields were also analysed, 

 and the formation of nitrates in large quantities was demon- 

 strated. The final report was published in 1865. 



The aid of Rothamsted was again sought l)y the Govern- 

 ment in 1863, the object in this case being to ascertain 

 whether the malting of barley resulted in any increase of its 

 value as a food. A considerable bulk of barley was divided 

 into two lots, one of which w^as malted, and the loss in dry 

 matter ascertained; feeding experiments were then nia(h', in 

 which the nutritive effect of a given weight of barley was com- 

 pared with that sliown by the quantity of malt which could have 

 been produced from it. The trials with oxen, sheep, and pigs, 

 were made at Rothamsted, and those with milking cows at 

 Rugby. The full report w^as presented to Parliament in 1S()6. 



While the formal reports on the Rothamsted investigations 

 were to a large extent the work of Dr Giil)ert, IMr Lawes was 

 himself an active writer on agricultural .subjects. In midcUe 

 life he was a frequent contributor of .short papers to agricul- 

 tiu-al newspapers and periodicals, l)oth Knghsh and American ; 

 he also lectured from time to time to a'M'icultural associations. 



