The use of team work in the practical management of research in the inter-war period: John Boyd Orr at the rowett research institute

Minerva

Volumn 37, Issue 3, 1999, Pages 259-280

  Smith, David ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33751030129     PISSN: 00264695     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1023/A:1004753825471     Document Type: Article

References (96)

1. On the Development Commission, see Olby, Robert, Social Imperialism and State Support for Agricultural Research in Edwardian Britain, Annals of Science, XLVIII (1991), pp. 509-526.
2. See also DeJager, Timothy, Pure Science and Practical Interests: The Origins of the Agricultural Research Council, 1930-1937, Minenu, XXXI (Summer 1993), pp. 129-150, esp. pp. 131-134.
3. Smith, D.F., The Early Institutional and Scientific Development of the Rowett Research Institute, in Adam, A., Smith, D.F. and Watson, F., To the Greit.Suppon and Advancement of Helth (Aberdeen: Aberdeen History of Medicine Publications, 1995), pp. 45-53.
4. Minutes of meetings, 16 May, 6 June, 29 October, 1919, 15 March, 1920, Rowett Research Institute Archive, Aberdeen (hereafter RRI) Joint Committee Minutes.
5. Minutes of meetings, 1 August, 1919, 3 September, 1920, 5 May, 1922, RRI Joint Committee Minutes; Orr, John Boyd, As I Recall (London: MacGibbon and Kee, 1966).
6. Petty, E. Celia, The Impact of the Newer Knowledge of Nutrition: Nutrition Science and Nutrition Policy, 1900-1939, unpublished PhD thesis, London University, 1987.
7. Kay, H.D., John Boyd Orr Baron Boyd Orr of Brechin Mearns 1880-1971, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, XVIII (1972), pp. 43-81.
8. Olby, R., Social Imperialism and State Support for Agricultural Research in Edwardian Britain, op. cit.
9. Memorandum Reasons for Drafting and Submitting Scheme, June 1919, Public Record Office, Kew (hereafter PRO) D2/26.
10. Ibid.
11. Rowett Institute, First Report (Aberdeen: 1922), p. 16.
12. Quoted in Development Commission, Tenth Report of the Development Commissioners for the Year Ended 31st March, 1920, with a Review of the Work of the Commission During the Past Ten Years (London: HMSO, 1920), p. 19.
13. Hall, A. Daniel, The Present Position of Research in Agriculture, Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, LXIX (1921), p. 302.
14. Development Commission to North of Scotland College of Agriculture, 1 January, 1913, . PRO D2/10.
15. See Weatherall, Mark, The Foundation and Early Years of the Dunn Nutritional Laboratory, in Smith, David F. (ed.), Nutrition in Britain: Science, Scientists and Politics in the Twentieth Century (London: Routledge, 1997), pp. 32-33.
16. Orr, J.B., As 1 Recall, op. cit., p. 89;
17. Russell, E. John, Thomas Hudson Middleton 18631943, Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society, IV, 3 (November 1944), pp. 554-569.
18. University of Aberdeen and North of Scotland College of Agriculture Joint Committee on Research, Interim Report (Aberdeen: 1919), pp. 17-18.
19. Orr, J.B. and Magee, H.E., The Course of Metabolism after Food in the Goat, Journal of Agricultural Science, XIV (1924), pp. 619-625.
20. Minutes of meeting of the research subcommittee, 2 October, 1924, RR1 Joint Committee Minutes.
21. First Report, op. cit., pp. 79-80;
22. Smith, David F. and Nicolson, Malcolm, The 'Glasgow School' of Paton, Findlay and Cathcart: Conservative Thought in Chemical Physiology, Nutrition and Public Health, Social Studies in Science, XIX (1989), pp. 195-238.
23. Elliot, Walter, Crichton, Arthur and Orr, J.B., The Importance of the Inorganic Constituents of the Food in Nutritional Disorders I: Rickets in Pigs, British Journal of Experimental Pathology, III (1922), pp. 10-19.
24. Orr, J.B. and Husband, A.D., The Importance of Mineral Matter for Growing Animals, Scottish Journal of Agriculture, V (1922), pp. 244-250.
25. Orr, J.B., The Vitamin Hypothesis and its Practical Significance in Stock-feeding, Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, XXXIV (1922), pp. 52-67.
26. Orr, J.B., The Composition of Pastures, Empire Marketing Board Publications, no. 18 (London: HMSO, 1929).
27. British Medical Journal, II (1922), pp. 857-858.
28. Orr, J.B. and Gilks, J.L., Studies in Nutrition: The Physique and Health of Two African Tribes, Medical Research Council Special Report Series, no. 154 (London: HMSO, 1931);
29. Orr, J.B., Milk Consumption and the Growth of School-children, The Lancet, I (1928), pp. 202-203.
30. Orr, J.B., Macleod, John J.R. and Mackie, T.J., Studies on Nutrition in Relation to Immunity, Tlie Lancet, I (1931), pp. 1177-1182;
31. Mellanby, Edward, A Lecture on the Relation of Diet to Health and Disease; Some Recent Investigations, British Medical Journal, I (1930), pp. 677-681, at p. 680.
32. Magee, H.E., Anderson, W. and McCallum, J. Diet and Peptic Ulcers in Cavies, The Lancet, I (1929), pp. 12-14;
33. Magee, H.E. and Macleod, J.J.R., Diffusion Through the Walls of Surviving Intestine, American Journal of Physiology, XC (1929), p. 422.
34. Minutes of meeting of research subcommittee, October, 1924, RRI Joint Committee Minutes.
35. Minutes of meeting, 6 June, 1919, RRI Joint Committee Minutes.
36. For Plimmer's career, see Lowndes, John, Flimmer, Robert Henry Aders (1877-1955), in Williams, E.T. and Palmer, H.M., Dictionary of National Biography, 1951-1960 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971), pp. 818-819. For Orr's publications see Kay, H.D., John Boyd Orr, op. cit.
37. Minutes of meetings, 12 February, 23 December, 1919, 3 September, 15 March, 1920, RRI Joint Committee Minutes;
38. Orr, J.B., As I Recall, op. cit., p. 91.
39. Plimmer, Robert H.A., Analyses and Energy Values of Foods (London: HMSO, 1921).
40. Orr, J.B. and Crichton, A., The Requirements of the Pig for 'Vitamin A' and 'Vitamin C', Journal of Agricultural Science, XIV (1924), pp. 114-125.
41. Flimmer, R.H.A., Note on 'Scurvy' in Pigs, Biochemical Journal, XIV (1920), pp. 570-571.
42. Aberdeen Daily Journal, 15 January, 1921, p. 6a.
43. Minutes of meetings, 3 September, 1920, 9 March, 1 July, 1921, RRI Joint Committee Minutes.
44. Minutes of meeting of management subcommittee, 12 July, 1921, RRI Joint Committee Minutes.
45. Minutes of meetings, 28 September, 31 October, 14 November, 21 December 1921, RRI Joint Committee Minutes.
46. Flimmer, R.H.A. and Rosedale, J.L., The Rearing of Chickens on the Intensive System. Part I. The Vitamin Requirements, Biochemical Journal, XVI (1922).
47. Flimmer, Violet G. and Flimmer, R.H.A., Vitamins and the Choice of Food (London: Longmans, Green, 1922).
48. Flimmer, R.H.A. and Flimmer, V., Vitamins: \Vhal We Should Eat and \Vhy (London: People's League of Health), 1925, p. 7.
49. Minutes of meeting, 9 January, 1928, RRI Joint Committee Minutes.
50. 4:1 Minutes of meeting of management subcommittee, 27 March, 1922, RRI Joint Committee Minutes.
51. McGowan, J.P. and Crichton, A., On the Effect of Deficiency of Iron in the Diet of Pigs, Biochemical Journal, XVII (1923), pp. 204-207;
52. McGowan, J.P. Iron Deficiency and Its Possible Relationship to Human Disease, The Lancet, II (1924), pp. 1060-1061;
53. Orr, J.B., The Importance of the Mineral Elements in the Maintenance of Health, British Medical Journal, II (1924), pp. 504-508.
54. A similar account of events appears in statements by both McGowan and Orr. Minutes of special meeting of the finance and research subcommittees, 7 March, 1932, RRI Joint Committee Minutes; 2nd Memorandum (for Meeting March 28th 1932), National Archive of Scotland (hereafter NAS) AF70/376.
55. McGowan, J.P., Pernicious Anaemia, Leucaemia and Aplastic Anaemia (London: H.K. Lewis, 1926);
56. McGowan, J.P., On Rous, Leucotic and Allied Tumours in the Fowl (London: H.K. Lewis, 1928).
57. McGowan, J.P., Memorandum to shew that the closure of the Pathology Department at the Rowett Institute was due to the improper personal animus on the part of the Director and that it was not a purely administrative reform without personal implication, enclosed with McGowan, J.P., to Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, 21 September, 1932, NAS AF70/376; McGowan, J.P., Memorandum to 'Sheep Symposium' on January 4th, 1932, NAS AF70/376.
58. Orr, J.B., Macleod, John J.R. and Mackie, T.J., Studies on Nutrition in Relation to Immunity, op. cit.
59. Minutes of meeting, 6 October, 1926, RRI Joint Committee Minutes.
60. McGowan, J.P., Memorandum to shew that the closure ... was not a purely administrative reform, op. cit.; McGowan, J.P., Memorandum for meeting of joint committee on March 7th, 1932, NAS AF70/376.
61. McGowan, J.P., Memorandum to 'Sheep Symposium', op. cit.
62. Letter to the editor on Rowett Institute Experiments in Sheep Feeding, Press and Journal, 52 January, 1932.; Fraser, Allan H., letter to the editor on Sheep Feeding Experiments, ibid., l February, 1932.
63. Minutes of finance and research subcommittees meeting, 7 March, 1932, RRI Joint Committee Minutes. Macleod's support of team work at the Rowett is of additional interest in view of the controversy over the award of the Nobel prize for the isolation of insulin. There were accusations that, as director of the research, Macleod had been insufficiently active in the project to justify his share of the prize.
64. See Bliss, Michael, The Discovery of Insulin (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982). > .
65. McOowan, J.P., Memorandum for meeting of joint committee, op. cit.
66. Minutes of meetings, 7 March, 28 March, 24 April, 1932, RRI Joint Committee Minutes; McGowan, J.P., 2nd Memorandum (for Meeting March 28th 1932), NAS AF70/376.
67. Daily Express (Scottish edition), 7 June, 1932.
68. Robert Greig to Mr Milne, 8 June, 1932, NAS AF70/376.
69. See McGowan, J.P. to Secretary for Scotland, 9, 30 July, 2 September, 1932, McGowan, J.P. to Lamb, John, 21 September, 10 October, 1, 7, 21 November, 15, 17, 30 December, 1932, NAS AF70/376.
70. McOowan, J.P. to Under Secretary of State for Scotland, 14 January, 1933, NAS AF70/376.
71. McGowan, J.P. to Controller and Auditor General, 30 January, 1933, NAS AF70/376.
72. Controller and Auditor General to McGowan, J.P., 1 February, 1933; F.N. Dixon, Exchequer and Audit Department to Rose, Scottish Office, 9 February, 1933; Greig, R. to Orr, J.B., 20 February, 1933; Orr, J.B. to Greig, R., 27 February,!933, NAS AF70/376.
73. McGowan, J.P. to Controller and Auditor General, 3 March, 1933, NAS AF70/376.
74. See, e.g., McGowan, J.P., letter to the editor, Extent of Mal-Nutrition, Press and Journal, 24 November, 1936; Some Aspects of the Malnutrition Problem, Edinburgh Medical Journal, NS 47 (1940), pp. 425-432;
75. letter to the editor, World Food Council, British Medical Journal, I (1947), p. 389.
76. Orr, J.B., Food, Health and Income (London: Macmillan, 1936).
77. Cooler, Roger, War and Modern Medicine, in Bynum, William F. and Porter, Roy, Companion Encyclopedia in the History of Medicine (London: Routledge, 1993), pp. 1536-1573, at p. 1547.
78. Cooler, R., The Meaning of Fractures: Orthopaedics and the Reform of British Hospitals in the Inter-war Period, Medical History, XXXI (1987), pp. 306-332, at p. 313.
79. Sturdy, Sieve, The Polilical Economy of Scienlific Medicine: Science, Educalion and the Transformation of Medical Praclice in Sheffield, 1890-1922, Medical History, XXXVI (1992), pp. 125-159.
80. Middlemas, Keilh, Politics in Industrial Society: The Experience of the British System since 1911 (London: Deutsch, 1979); Perkin, Harold, Tlie Rise of Professional Society in England since 1880 (London: Routledge, 1989).
81. Sturdy, S. and Cooler, R., Science, Scientific Management, and the Transformation of Medicine in Britain C1870-1950, History of Science, XXXVI (1998), jr. 436.
82. Ibid., p. 423.
83. Ibid., p. 446.
84. Olby, Robert, Social Imperialism and State Support for Agricultural Research in Edwardian Britain, op. cit.; and Weatherall, M., The Foundation and Early Years of the Dunn Nutritional Laboratory, op. cit., p. 31. ^
85. Weatherall, M. The Foundation and Early Years of the Dunn Nutritional Laboratory, op. cit.
86. Thomson, A. Lansborough, Half a Century of Medical Research. Volume One: Origins and Policy of the Medical Research Council (UK); Volume Two: Tlie Programme of the Medical Research Council (UK) (London: HMSO, 1973, 1975).
87. Medical Correspondent, Medical Research, The Times, 13 January, 1919, p. 5a.
88. H.C. Ross, letter to the editor, Tlie Times, 17 January, 1919, p. 9c.
89. Medical Correspondent, Medical Research Advantage of Team Work, ne Times, 13 January, 1919, p. 5a. 78 Lazarus-Barlow, W.S., letter to the editor, Tlie Times, 15 January, 1919, p. lOb.
90. Ibid., 21 January 1919, p. 6c.
91. Hutchinson, Eric, A Fruitful Co-operation Between Government and Academic Science: Food Research in the United Kingdom, Minerva, X (January 1972), pp. 19-50; Horrocks, Sally M., Consuming Science: Science, Technology and Food in Britain, 1870-1939, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Manchester, 1993. See also DeJager, T., Pure Science and Practical Interests, op. cit., pp. 136-137 on the strategic positions of Fletcher and Hardy.
92. Olby, R., Social Imperialism and State Support for Agricultural Research in Edwardian Britain, op. cit., at p. 521.
93. Worboys, Michael, Science and British Colonial Imperialism, 1895-1940, unpublished DPhil thesis, University of Sussex, 1980.
94. Sturdy, S. and Cooler, R., Science, Scientific Management, and the Transformation of Medicine, op. cit., p. 451.
95. Kay, H.D., John Boyd Orr, op. cit.; Orr, J.B., As l Reçoit; op. cit.
96. Rowett Research Institute, Family Diet and Health in Pre-war Britain (Dunfermline: 1955); Smith, David F., The Carnegie Survey: Background and Intended Impact, paper at a conference of the European Food History group, Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen, 18 September, 1997.