LAWES, Jots BEN ET (1814-1900). A cele brated English agricultural chemist, born at Rothamsted, Hertfordshire. He was educated at Eton, Oxford, and London, entered upon the management of the paternal estate of Rothamsted in 1834. and three years later commenced ex periments with plants grown in pots of soil. He early discovered a process for transforming bone into superphosphate by the use of sulphuric acid, took out a patent in 1842, and built up an extensive business which he managed for about thirty years. In 1867 he engaged in the manufacture of tartaric and citric acids, and continued in this business until his death. The experimental inquiries at Rothamsted were en larged in 1843 by the employment of Dr. (after wards Sir) J. H. Gilbert to superintend the laboratory work. For more than fifty years Lawes and Gilbert conducted elaborate agricul tural investigations. The field experiments were enlarged and systematized until they occupied nearly forty acres in 1856. Experiments with
animals were begun in 1847, and a variety of problems in animal nutrition have since been studied. In ISS9 Sir John transferred the labo ratories and experimental fields of Rothamsted to a board of trustees with an endowment of about {100.000. thus insuring the continuance of the investigations. At this time he made provision for a biennial course of lectures in the United States on the Rothamsted work. Accounts of the Nothamsted work may be found in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, Reports of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Journal of the Horticultural Society of London, and Memoranda of the Bothamsted Station.