Josef Remegius Scheuber qualified in veterinary medicine at the University of Zurich in 1918. He obtained his Dr Med Vet degree in Zurich in 1920, with a thesis on the development of the hair and glands on the snout of the pig. He was interviewed with other young Swiss graduates by Sir Arnold Theiler* and proceeded to South Africa where he joined Dr E.M. Robinson* at the Allerton Laboratory in Natal in 1921. In 1923 he proceeded with Robinson to the Onderstepoort Veterinary Research Institute, near Pretoria, where they worked together in the Department of Bacteriology until his retirement in 1952. He also lectured for many years to the veterinary students of the University of Pretoria in bacteriology. His special interest was the clostridial anaerobes, mainly Clostridium chauvoei and Clostridium welchii type B, while he was also responsible for the preparation of the Onderstepoort vaccines against blackquarter and lamb dysentery. In 1926 P.R. Viljoen* and he reported the results of their work on blackquarter immunisation, which extended over several years. Five years later Scheuber described the development of a combined vaccine which was effective against both blackquarter and malignant oedema.

He was no mean linguist, being able to speak and write English, Afrikaans, German, French, Italian, Portuguese and Latin, and also excelled in chess and bridge. He was married in Johannesburg on 12 June 1926 to Marie Wilhelmine Hufnagel.

List of sources:

Author and Subject Index to the Government Veterinary Reports of the Transvaal and Union of South Africa (1903-1932). Pretoria: Department of Agriculture, June 1937.

Author and Subject Index to the Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Science and Animal Industry (1933-1950) and the Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research (1951-1968). Pretoria: Department of Agriculture, June 1969.

Curson, H.H. The veterinary profession in South Africa. 6: Theses for the doctorate. Journal of the South African Veterinary Medical Association, 1933, Vol. 4, pp. 186-188.

FamilySearch: Josef Remegius Scheuber. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:69CL-MG3Z?lang=en AND https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP7N-VKC7?lang=en

In Memoriam: J.M. Scheuber. Journal of the South African Veterinary Association, 1976, Vol. 47(2), pp. 149-150.

Pospischil, A. Arnold Theiler and colleagues: a successful cooperation between Switzerland and South Africa (2020). https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/74444

Posthumus, P.J. Past Veterinarians in South Africa, (10th edition), Vol. 2, [1992].

Robinson, E.M. The development of veterinary bacteriology in South Africa. South African Journal of Science, 1932, Vol. 29, pp. 41-53.

Compiled by: D.W. Verwoerd

Last updated: 2025-11-08 12:10:45