Sydney Josland
Sydney Walter Josland (30 January 1904 – 28 June 1991) was a New Zealand bacteriologist who specialised in research into Leptospirosis, Salmonella and the control of diseases in animals.
[1] An uncle, Robert Kerr,[2] had made a fortune in South Africa after the Boer War and had retired to Geneva in Switzerland where he invested money into Dr Henri Spahlinger's work on a vaccine for Tuberculosis.
He did not finish the degree, due to financial constraints, but gained a Certificate of Proficiency in Bacteriology and Clinical Pathology from the University in 1926.
[8] Accompanied by his family, Josland arrived in Upper Hutt near Wellington in 1929, at the invitation of Dr Cyril Hopkirk, to set up a biochemistry laboratory at the Wallaceville Animal Research Centre.
[12] Josland undertook post-graduate training under the direction of Hedley Marston at the Animal Nutrition Laboratory of the Commonwealth Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in Adelaide, Australia in 1935.
[14] Investigations carried out by workers both in Australia and New Zealand over a three-year period leading up to 1938 had demonstrated the profound importance to the health of livestock of a minute quantity of cobalt in the diet.
[16] Working under Dr Filmer, Josland, together with six veterinary officers, two chemists and two staff from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, investigated the facial eczema epidemic affecting stock in the Waikato District in 1938.
[18] The work on animal tissues, such as the chemical changes in blood, bile and liver, or the presence of unusual metabolic substances, was undertaken by Josland in collaboration with Dr Filmer, and they had the resources of the chemistry section of the Department of Agriculture at their disposal.
[18] Josland began his military career in the Cadet Service with the West Christchurch District High School and the Canterbury and Southland Regiments between 1917 and 1921.
The use of precise serological methods of antigenic analysis had made possible the identification of organisms of the Salmonella group which had been isolated from material of animal origin at Wallaceville.
[32] He discovered an injection of formalised alum-precipitated Salmonella Typhi Murium vaccine resulted in low and inconsistent antibody response.
[33] Further investigations carried out by Josland lead to the isolation, in New Zealand, of the Salmonella organism from all species of farm animals, from watering holes, and from pastures contaminated by infected faeces of such animals, and he showed, in a series of comprehensive field studies, that the organism when deposited in dung, water or pasture, could remain viable for periods ranging up to twenty-eight weeks.
The Institute carried out research and teaching, and provided specialised epidemiological and laboratory services in general bacteriology, bacteriophage typing, chemistry and virology.
Josland made considerable contributions to the knowledge of Leptospirosis and Salmonella and the control of diseases in animals in the fields of bacteriology, biochemistry and haematology.
