i6 



NA TURE 



[July i, 1922 



does not usually lead to true rickets if sufficient Vitamin 

 A be present, although the bone formation under these 

 circumstances is not quite normal. This explains the 

 well-known curative effect of cod-liver oil in rickets. 

 So marked is the effect of this remedy, that McCollum, 

 not appreciating the relatively enormous concentration 

 of Vitamin A present in it compared with that in 

 butter, as proved by Zilva, has suggested that cod- 

 liver oil contains some other specific substance absent 

 from butter, to which its great superiority is due. 

 The difference, however,seems to be merely quantitative, 

 and the further complication suggested by McCollum 

 appears to be unnecessary. 



These experiments on rickets have led to what 

 promises to be a discovery of far-reaching importance. 

 Rats on a diet, which in the laboratory will infallibly 



produce rickets, do not acquire the disease if they are 

 exposed to sunlight in the open air or to ultra-violet 

 radiation, and rats which have acquired the disease 

 can be cured by either of these treatments, just as 

 they can be cured by the administration of cod-liver 

 oil. Sunlight and ultra-violet radiation have also been 

 found to be effective cures or preventives of rickets 

 in children. The cures by light and by cod-liver oil 

 seem to proceed in precisely the same way, and the 

 idea naturally suggests itself, especially to the mind 

 of a chemist, that the light actually brings about the 

 synthesis of the Vitamin in the animal body just as 

 it does in the plant. This idea still awaits experi- 

 mental verification or disproof ; but there is no doubt 

 that the discovery of this function of light will lead to 

 profoundly important developments in our knowledge. 



Obituary. 



Prof. W. Gowland, F.R.S. 



PROF. WILLIAM GOWLAND died on June 10 in 

 his eightieth vear. He had originally intended to 

 enter the medical profession and actually worked with a 

 medical man in Sheffield for two or three years. After- 

 wards he became a student at the Royal College of 

 Chemistry, from which he passed in 1868 to the Royal 

 School of Mines. Two years later he obtained the 

 associateship both in mining and metallurgy. He was 

 awarded the Murchison medal in geology and the De la 

 Beche medal in mining. 



His first post was that of chemist and metallur- 

 gist to the Broughton Copper Company, Manchester. 

 Two years later he went out to the Imperial Mint at 

 Osaka, Japan, and held the post of chemist and metal- 

 lurgist there for six years. During the next eleven 

 years he acted as assayer, metallurgist, and chief of the 

 foreign staff at Osaka, and was for some time adviser to 

 the Imperial Arsenal. His work was of a decidedly 

 varied nature, and he did much to introduce Western 

 metallurgical and chemical methods into the depart- 

 ments with which he was associated. It was during this 

 period that he acquired the knowledge of Japanese 

 methods of extracting, refining, and working metals for 

 which he afterwards became so famous. He carried out 

 exploration work in Korea on behalf of the Japanese 

 Government, in the course of which his expedition 

 had some lively skirmishes with the natives. 



As a young man Prof. Gowland was a keen oarsman, 

 and was the first to introduce rowing into Japan. He 

 had two modern " eights " built to encourage boat- 

 racing among the staff of the mint, but they found these 

 craft too unstable for their liking. Eventually they 

 decided to choose their own boats and presented two 

 for his inspection. He found they had selected a pair 

 of " cutters " and had fitted each with port and star- 

 board lights. He was also the first to initiate the 

 Japanese into the use of the wheelbarrow. He had 

 occasion to do this in connexion with some excavation 

 work in the copper mint, and provided the labourers 

 with barrows. The next morning he was astonished to 

 find that the wheels had been removed and the sturdy 

 Japanese were carrying the loaded wheelbarrows. On 

 Leaving Japan in 1889, the order of " Chevalier of the 

 Imperial Order of the Rising Sun " was conferred 



NO. 2748, VOL. I IO] 



on him personally by H.I.M. the Emperor of Japan. 

 During his residence there he gradually built up a very 

 fine Japanese art collection, which included some valu- 

 able kakemonas. 



Returning to England, Prof. Gowland acted as chief 

 metallurgist to the Broughton Copper Company for some 

 years, and in 1902 was appointed professor of metal- 

 lurgy at the Royal School of Mines, in succession to the 

 late Sir William Roberts-Austen. This post he held for 

 seven years and retired in 1909. 



So far as metallurgy is concerned, his chief interest 

 lay in the non-ferrous metals, principally copper, silver, 

 gold, lead, and their alloys. His knowledge, in 

 particular, of the metallurgy of copper was unique, 

 based as it was upon experience of the best methods in 

 vogue, both in the East and West. In 1914 he pub- 

 lished a textbook on the metallurgy of the non-ferrous 

 metals which quickly became recognised as an authori- 

 tative work on the subject, and is now in its third edition. 

 He also contributed various papers to the Institu- 

 tion of Mining and Metallurgy, the Chemical Society, 

 and the Society of Chemical Industry. He was an 

 original member of the Institute of Metals, its third 

 president, and its first May lecturer. In 1907 he was 

 elected president of the Institution of Mining and 

 Metallurgy, and in 1909 was awarded the institution's 

 gold medal. 



There was, however, another side to his intellectual 

 interests, as shown by his membership of the 

 Society of Antiquaries, the Royal Anthropological 

 Institute, and the Numismatic Society. His publica- 

 tions under these heads were numerous and varied, 

 dealing with, e.g., the early metallurgy of silver and 

 lead, the remains of a Roman silver refinery at Silchester, 

 the burial mounds and dolmens of the early Emperors 

 of Japan, and silver in pre-historic and proto-historic 

 times. From 1905 to 1907 he acted as president of the 

 Royal Anthropological Institute. 



Prof. Gowland was a man of great personal charm 

 and distinction. He was extremely thorough in all he 

 undertook, and never spared himself in the execution of 

 his duty. His lectures were very carefully prepared 

 and well delivered. The geniality of his disposition 

 made him a general favourite with his colleagues and 

 students, and he will always be affectionately re- 

 membered at the Royal School of Mines. H. C. H. C. 



