Problem of Facial Eczema

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 183, 5 August 1938, Page 6

Problem of Facial Eczema

PALMERSTON NORTH APPOINTMENT DR. J. MELVILLE AS RESEARCH WORKER It is understood that Dr. J. Molvillc, of Christchurch, has been appointed to the position of plant biochemist to the Plant Research Bureau, Palmc-rston North, states the Press. A fundamental investigation into questions of grass chemistry is regarded as an essential step in the solution of the facial eczema problem, as there is now a considerable body of evidence that this is a dietetic disease. It is understood that Dr. Melville’s new appointment will be for the purpose of prosecuting investigations along these lines. Dr. Melville has been assistant chemist at tho AVheat Research Institute, Christchurch, for the last two years. He was educated at the University of Otago, and went to London on a post-graduate scholarship in science. There he studied for two years under Professor A. C. Chibnall, F.R.S.. at the Imperial College of {Science and Technology, and he gained his doctorate under Professor Chibnall, who is the leading authority on problems of grass proteins in England. Dr. Melville gained a Commonwealth Fund Scholarship and worked for two years at Yale University, United States, with Dr. H. P. Vickery, of the Connecticut Agriculture Experimental Station, a laboratory which has been investigating plant proteins for 50 years. He returned to New Zealand to take up tho appointment with the AVheat Research Institute.