He was born in 1842 at
Lerwick, the capital of the Shetland Islands, where both his father and uncle were well-known medical practitioners. He was educated partly at
Aberdeen, where he took the degree of M.A., and at Edinburgh, where he was a student of the anesthesia pioneer
James Young Simpson. On the death of his father he took up his medical practice, and was held in high esteem, both for his professional and general character. He died suddenly of
peritonitis in 1874, in his thirty-third year. Cowie was an enthusiastic lover of his native islands, one proof of which was his selection of certain physical peculiarities of the Shetland people as the subject of his thesis when applying for the degree of M.D. At a later period he contributed to the International Congress at Paris an article on health and longevity, bringing out a prolongation of life beyond the average among the Shetlanders, which excited considerable notice. ==Works==