THE HON. HUIA ONSLOW.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18898, 26 June 1923, Page 3

THE HON. HUIA ONSLOW.

NOTABLE SCIENTIFIC WORK. An appreciative obituary article in the Biochemical Journal contains a striking tribute to the scientific researches conducted under conditions of exceptional difficulty by the late Huiai Onslow, son of the fourth Earl of Onslow, who was born at Government House, Wellington, in 1890, and lived for only 31 years. “Rarely, indeed,” it says, “in the history of science can significant researches have been accomplished under conditions calling for such heroic courage as that displayed in this case. In August, 1911, while he was at Cambridge, Huia Onslow was climbing in the Tyrol. Ho dived into a mountain lake and struck his head on a submerged rock, so damaging his spine that the cord was practically severed at the level of the sixth cervical vertebre, and paralysis from the waist downwards, with incomplete use of the bands and arms, was the necessary consequence. Though never again to move from ms bed, Onslow faced his tragic destiny with high courage. He determined still to be of use in the world, and the moment the verdict of “incurable” was pronounced he settled down to pursuits involving not only intense intellectual ability but also scientific experimental work most of which, m spite of his grave disabilities, he earned out by himself. To this end, with immense determination, ho compelled his partially paralysed arms and hands to the attainment of quite remarkable skill. “No one,” savs the writer of the article, “over stood et.' his bedside without feeling almost overwhelmed with the poignancy of what he saw. On a raised pillow the handsome intellectual face lit up with keen interest; the powerless body ... During the year which followed that of his accident he read intensely, as a real student and not for pastime, the literature of a wide range of subjects—philosophy, psychology, genetics—taking the keenest interest in literary matters, in art, and in current affairs. In this year, while living in London, he did experimental work in psychology, and started the Mondelion studies upon mice and rabbits which were to continue for the rest of his life. In the next year he started definite microscopical and chemical work -on hair structure oud hair pigments, a line of inquiry which always interested him, in the first instance because of its relation with his studies in genetics. At this time, as later, he used the microscope himself, and executed nearly all the manipulations connected with the instrument which stood on a little platform stretched over his bed. The chemical work was partly, but by no means exclusively, done by an assistant under his close and continuous supervision. At this time, too, he was writing much, contributing various literary articles and poems to the Spectator and other high-class journals. When the war arrived it was characteristic of Onslow that he should turn his mind to possible service. He worked, not without real success, at methods for the detection of gunfire by daylight, and also upon soundranging. He became joint-secretary of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ .Families’ Association for the North-western district of London. He did not, however, give up his scientific ■work at this time. He studied with S. W. Cole some of the properties of urobilin and allied pigments, and, in particular, worked at the causes of dominant and recessive ■whiteness in animals. In 1915 he returned to live permanently nt Cambridge and fitted up at his house a laboratory into which his couch could bo wheeled. In this year a paper appeared in the Proo. Roy. Soc. in which ho showed that recessive whiteness (albinism) in rabbits as due to the absence of tyrosinase; dominant whiteness, on the other hand, was shown to be due to the presence of an inhibitory factor. A little later there appeared in the Biochemical Journal a paper on the production of the black markings on the wings of Pieris. Mendelian experiments with Lepidoptera were now started and continued throughout his life. Many important and beautiful results wore obtained which are described in a series of papers in the Journal of Genetics. Ho worked further with S. W. Cole on the metabolism of bacteria. About 1917 ho became interested in protein chemistry, and made himself an expert dealer with amino acids. Onslow was particularly anxious to solve the elusive problem presented by the qualitative separation of tryptophane and was near to its solution at the time of his death. Work which is remarkable in itself, but exceptionally remarkable because of the untoward circumstances under which the skill requisite for its accomplishment was attained, is described in the paper “On a Periodic Structure in Many Insect Scales and the Cause of their Iridescent Colours,” which appeared in the Philosophical Transactions for 1921.