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James Cossar Ewart was at the forefront of zoological research for over fifty years. A fellow of the Royal Society, he was a pioneer in the study of animal reproduction and in improvement by selective breeding. He carried out the so-called 'Penicuick Experiments' on his home ground at Navaar House to hybridise zebras and horses. It was largely due to his presence that Edinburgh University was chosen to site one of the world's first institutes of animal genetics. Born in Penicuik on 26 November 1851 where his family were local builders, Cossar Ewart was educated here and entered Edinburgh University as a medical student in 1871. On graduating, he acted as a demonstrator of anatomy under William Turner and was then appointed Curator of the Zoological Museum at University College, London, where he helped to organise its first course of practical zoology and worked with Ray Lankester who would later direct the Natural History Museum.
Ray Lankester (1847-1929) In London between 1874 and 1878 Cossar Ewart published papers on subjects ranging from the structure of the lens and retina, the sexual organs of the lamprey, the placenta of the Shanghai River deer, and the life history of lower organisms. He presented work on the anthrax bacillus as his degree thesis for Doctor of Medicine (MD) in 1878 and was awarded a gold medal. In 1878 he returned to Edinburgh and became a lecturer in Anatomy in the School of Medicine. Within months, he was appointed Professor of Natural History at Aberdeen where he founded a small marine zoological station -the first in Britain. After three years at Aberdeen University (1879-1882), he was appointed to the Chair of Natural History at Edinburgh (1882-1927), where he carried out many experiments in animal breeding and hybridization, disproving the theory of telegony (the supposed influence of a previous sire on the progeny of the same mother born to other sires). Under his influence and direction, this was a time of great expansion in the range of zoology teaching and research; he reorganised the class of practical zoology and introduced lectureships in core subjects like embryology (1885), invertebrate zoology (1901), heredity and genetics (1910). In 1882 Cossar Ewart became scientific adviser to the Fishery Board for Scotland, writing many reports and papers, for example on the natural history of the herring, cod and other fish, and the electric organ of the skate.
Around 1895 Cossar Ewart began his animal breeding experiments to study cross breeding, inbreeding, reversion and telegony. The best known of these were the 'Penycuick Experiments' in which mares of various breeds were crossed with a Burchell's zebra stallion. A secondary practical aim of these experiments was to produce a draught animal for South Africa that was less subject to local diseases and more tractable than a mule. Cossar Ewart presented his results in 'The Penycuick Experiments' in 1899. It is a good read as well as an important scientific document, and was received with some critical acclaim. Cossar Ewart wrote affectionately about his animals and appreciating their different personalities. When he exhibited the zebra hybrids at the Royal Agricultural Society Show in York in 1900, they were the centre of attention. Cossar Ewart was no stranger to exhibiting animals. Among his papers are show medals and certificates for a St. Kilda ewe, a Libyan stallion, a Celtic mare and foal, and an Arab Highland pony.
Edinburgh Zoo was founded at the turn of the century under the auspices of what was to become the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. The Zoo's first season was boosted by the loan of the travelling menagerie of Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake, an eccentric Maidstone brewer. James Cossar Ewart became one of the Zoo's first vice-presidents. As a result of Ewart's knowledge and experience, the Board of Agriculture for Scotland formed a special committee on animal breeding in 1913. After the First World War, this scheme was enlarged and a new Department of Genetics was formed at the University of Edinburgh. Ewart had turned his attention to the origin and history of feathers in birds and their relation to scales in reptiles. The rearing of penguins in Edinburgh Zoo's new collections provided him with the material he needed. The results of his investigations of the sequence and structure of different types of penguin feathers were published in a paper in 1921. The dramatic and sympathetic laying out of the Edinburgh Zoological Gardens was finished in the twenties to the designs of Patrick Geddes and Frank Mears.
By now approaching 70, James Cossar Ewart retired from his University post in 1927 and spent his last years at his final Penicuik home, Craigiebield House.
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