Lines, Edward Wolrych Low (Ted)

Summary

Ted Lines was a field officer with the CSIR Division of Animal Nutrition who contributed significantly to the discovery that cobalt deficiency was the cause of coast disease in sheep. This was a wasting disease that had a deleterious effect on the quality of the wool. From the late 1920s Lines had, with some success, been giving sheep on Kangaroo Island dietary supplements. Taking up the theory of Dick Thomas, that the deficiency of trace elements in the soils on which the sheep were grazing was the cause of coast disease, Lines conducted a series of controlled experiments at the Division's facility at Robe, South Australia. These experiments identified a lack of cobalt as the culprit. Both Lines and Thomas were removed from further involvement in this research.

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Published resources

See also

• Morison, Patricia, The Martin spirit: Charles Martin and the foundation of biological science in Australia (Canberra: Halstead Press, 2019), 296 pp. Details
• Ward, Colin, 'Cobalt deficiency and the cure for coast disease', in CSIROpedia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, 2011. https://csiropedia.csiro.au/Cobalt-deficiency-and-the-cure-for-coast-disease/. Details