T. L. BANCROFT MEMORIAL LECTURE. 
77 
established. Further work on Bancroft's discoveries was carried out at 
the Wellcome Institute by Pyman and his co-workers who investigated 
Fagara brachyacantha ( Zanthoxylum brachyacanthum) in 1913 (1-a- 
canadine methochloride and y-homochelidonine) } and Daphnandra 
micrantha in 1914. The Erythrina species including the Australian 
species have recently been fully investigated in Merck’s American 
laboratories by Folkers and Unna in their search for curare-like 
alkaloids. But it is obvious that Bancroft’s original design, the compre- 
hensive pharmacological examination of the Queensland flora, has never 
been carried out and that his work has never received the attention that 
it deserves. There are. of course, reasons for this : in the first place his 
papers are not immediately impressive by present day standards. His 
work was carried out under great difficulty and often with no resources 
beyond those to be found in a country doctor’s dispensary. His notes 
were at times hastily written and the chemistry is often crude. It is 
difficult to see how it could be otherwise at the time, since no skilled 
assistance was available locally. Interest in vegetable drugs began to 
wane at the turn of the century. Pharmacopeias were rigidly pruned 
and the number of really useful drugs was found to be relatively small. 
At the same time the rise of vaccine and serum therapy, of endocrines 
and organotherapy, and the multiplication of synthetic medicaments 
further detracted from the interest in plant products. The young science 
of pharmacology was only just beginning to find its feet. 
But of recent years interest has again revived. There are several 
reasons for this revival. Among them we may mention : the usefulness 
of pharmacological methods not only as a basis for therapeutics but also 
to further the understanding of physiological mechanisms (the classical 
example being Langley’s work with nicotine) ; the growing studies on 
plant poisoning of livestock; and the general recognition that there is 
no sharp distinction between plant and animal products, with the grow- 
ing realisation of the dependence of animals on even the most obscure 
products of plant synthesis. It follows, therefore, that the more we 
know of plant products and of their actions, both acute and chronic, on 
animals, the better shall we be in a position to understand the metabolic 
activities of both. 
The therapeutic interest in plant products has received tremendous 
impetus from the discovery of penicillin and the subsequent discovery 
of antibiotic substances in flowering plants. It is evident that T. L. 
Bancroft’s plan for a thorough examination of the pharmacological 
properties of the Queensland flora is well worth pursuing. To that end, 
a number of workers, both in this State and in Melbourne, are carrying 
out systematic investigations under the aegis of the Commonwealth 
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and promising results 
have already been obtained. In other countries such work has received 
substantial help from pharmaceutical firms. Had a medical school been 
in existence in Queensland in Bancroft’s time, there is no doubt that he 
would have taken a keen interest in the teaching of pharmacology and 
materia medica. At present we have no chair or lectureship in this 
subject. Should one become established, I feel that it might fittingly be 
associated with the pioneer pharmacologist we remember this evening. 
During the discussion which followed, in which Mrs. Bancroft took 
part, it was mentioned that T. L. Bancroft was the first to discover the 
mode of transference of the larva of Wuchereria bancrofti ( Filaria 
