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Ewart, James Cossar, 1851-1933 (zoologist and professor of natural history, University of Edinburgh)

 Person

Biography

James Cossar Ewart was born in Penicuik, Midlothian, on 26 November 1851. He was educated in Penicuik and entered the University of Edinburgh as a medical student in 1870, graduating as a Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery in 1874.

Ewart found employment in London as Curator of the Zoological Museum at University College, and also published a number of papers on the structure of the retina and lens, the sexual organs of the lamprey, and the placentation of the Shanghai River deer. His research on Bacillus anthracis was presented as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Medicine at Edinburgh.

After a brief return to Edinburgh as Lecturer in Anatomy in the Extra-Mural School, Ewart was appointed to the Chair of Natural History in the University of Aberdeen at the end of 1878. It was there that Ewart became interested in marine biological investigation and established an experimental station on the coast in the area, the first of its kind in Britain. In 1882 Ewart secured the post of Regius Professor of Natural History at the University of Edinburgh, a position he was to hold for 45 years.

In around 1894, Ewart began his investigations into experimental breeding, the work for which he was to become best known. He was especially concerned with disproving the long-held theory of Telegony, which held that a sire may 'infect' the dam he serves so as to influence the characteristics of future offsprings from different sires. To do this, Ewart repeated a classic experiment which supposedly proved this theory, the case involving the Arab mare belonging to Lord Morton which produced a striped foal after mating with a quagga, even when subsequently served by an Arab stallion. Ewart's experiment used a Burchell's zebra (the quagga having become extinct), but found that the 'subsequent foals' showed no signs of having been affected by a previous zebra sire. The results of his work were published in The Penycuik Experiments (1899). Ewart's preoccupation with the evolution of horses, particularly the theories that early horses were striped and that the modern domestic horse had a multiple origin, was to occupy him for large part of his career.

Following his major publications on horses, Ewart turned his attention to experiments on sheep, being largely occupied with cross-breeding for fleece improvements, travelling as far as Australia and New Zealand to advise sheep breeders and related institutions there. Ewart's later work focused on the origin and history of feathers in birds and their relation to scales in reptiles. The rearing of penguins at the then fairly new Edinburgh Zoo provided him with the relevant material.

Ewart remained adamant that animal breeding should be taken seriously by universites and funding bodies, both for its academic importance in terms of the emergent science of genetics as well as its practical and financial use to agriculturalists around the world. It was certainly at least partly due to Ewart's knowledge, reputation and advocacy that a University Lectureship in Genetics, the first post of its kind in the UK, was instituted in 1911 at the University of Edinburgh.

James Cossar Ewart died at his home in Penicuik on New Year's Eve 1933 after a short illness. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in June 1893, having jointly delivered the Croonian Lecture in 1881, jointly with George John Romanes. F.H.A Marshall described him as not only 'a distinguished man of science but also as a delightful companion, a kindly and courteous host, and a loyal and loveable friend.'

Found in 56 Collections and/or Records:

Board of Studies in Pure Science Scroll Minute Book, 1895-1914

 Item
Identifier: GB 0237 EUA IN1/ACA/SCI/1/5
Scope and Contents

Includes letters and reports, covering subjects such as course summaries. Those present at meetings included Alexander Crum Brown, Leonard Dobbin, James Cossar Ewart and James Geikie.

Dates: 1895-1914

Copy of a letter (incomplete) to the Moray Bequest from James Cossar Ewart, 24 November 1898

 Item
Identifier: Coll-14/9/4/25
Scope and Contents

Ewart requests financial aid from the Trust to continue his 'Penicuik experiments'. He details all the grants he has thus far received and itemises his expenditure.

The end of the letter is not present.

Dates: 24 November 1898

Copy of a letter to Charles Mackinnon Douglas from James Cossar Ewart, 20 March 1916

 Item
Identifier: Coll-14/9/22/18
Scope and Contents

Ewart writes that he is sending Douglas another paper on the development of the horse, but that he will require financial help to continue with the work. He supposes that the Development Commissioners are not worth approaching, but asks Douglas to consider the matter favourably.

Dates: 20 March 1916

Copy of a minute from the Edinburgh University and College of Agriculture Joint Committee on Research in Animal Breeding, 12 June 1914

 Item
Identifier: Coll-14/9/20/12
Scope and Contents The minute records a letter from the Secretary to the Development Commission which requests that the Committee remodel the scheme of experiments submitted with their application in order to convert it into a unified scheme of research. There is also a motion from Ewart that an Executive Committee be appointed to receive, allocate and disburse grants from Government or other sources in aid of research in animal breeding, to select a Director and researchers and to approve schemes of...
Dates: 12 June 1914

Draft letter to Herbrand Arthur Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford from James Cossar Ewart, 14 January 1909

 Item
Identifier: Coll-14/9/15/1
Scope and Contents Ewart writes that the examination of the skulls from the Roman fort near Melrose has proved that horses representing four distinct varieties or species were living under domestication during the first century. The Zoology Board of the Royal Society Government Grant Committee have started an investigation to ascertain the origins of various species of horse by examining bones and cross-breeding. Ewart requests Russell's financial help with meeting the costs of this investigation....
Dates: 14 January 1909

Draft letter to Sir Thomas Hudson-Beare from Charles Mackinnon Douglas, 04 June 1912

 Item
Identifier: Coll-14/9/18/37
Scope and Contents

Douglas writes in favour of Ewart's farm at Fairslacks as a suitable place for breeding experiments. He also highlights the distinction between a demonstration farm for the instruction of farmers, and an experimental farm designed to afford normal conditions in which investigation can be carried out. He also states that he sees no reason why Jersey cows should not be kept in good health at Fairslacks.

Dates: 04 June 1912

Faculty of Science Draft Minute Book, 1894-1905

 Item
Identifier: GB 0237 EUA IN1/ACA/SCI/1/6
Scope and Contents

Includes letters and reports, covering subjects such as course summaries and appointments. Those present at meetings included Alexander Crum Brown, Sir Andrew Douglas Maclagan, James Cossar Ewart and James Geikie.

Dates: 1894-1905

Faculty of Science Minute Book, 1901-1905

 Item
Identifier: GB 0237 EUA IN1/ACA/SCI/1/8
Scope and Contents

Includes letters and reports, covering subjects such as course summaries and appointments. Those present at meetings included Alexander Crum Brown, James Gordon MacGregor, James Cossar Ewart and James Geikie.

Dates: 1901-1905

Faculty of Science Minute Book, 1905-1912

 Item
Identifier: GB 0237 EUA IN1/ACA/SCI/1/9
Scope and Contents

Includes letters and reports, covering subjects such as course summaries and appointments. Those present at meetings included Alexander Crum Brown, James Gordon MacGregor, James Cossar Ewart and James Geikie.

Dates: 1905-1912

Faculty of Science Minute Book, 1913-1918

 Item
Identifier: GB 0237 EUA IN1/ACA/SCI/1/11
Scope and Contents

Includes letters and reports, covering subjects such as course summaries, students, grants and appointments. Those present at meetings included Sir Edward Albert Sharpey Schafer, James Gordon MacGregor, James Cossar Ewart, Thomas John Jehu and James Geikie.

Dates: 1913-1918