The Queensland Naturalist. 
April, 1934. 
26 
these early interests in the Queensland Museum and the 
Queensland Herbarium respectively were sustained for the 
rest of his life, and need not be here further detailed. 
His contributions illustrating the Lung Fish, Ceratodus 
forsteri, its habits and life history, received by the Museum 
from Eidsvoid, Upper Burnett River, must not, however, 
be overlooked in this connection. 
Shortly after his arrival in Brisbane from Edinburgh 
he assisted Ins father in developing the medicinal use of 
Alstonia scholaris , and gave early attention to the Queens- 
land flora in its relations to pharmacology. In 1885, whilst 
Medical Superintendent of the Johnstone River Hospital, 
he revealed the toxic principles residing in Daphnandra re- 
pandula > D. micrantha, and D. aromatica (Monimiaceae) ; 
Archidendron Vaillantii and Pongamia glabra (Legumin- 
osae) ; and Z anthoxylum veneficum, Z. torvum, and Z. bra- 
chyacanthum (Rutaceae). In all cases, as was usual with 
him, he established his conclusions by physiological experi- 
ments and an exact interpretation of their results (See: 
‘‘Preliminary Notes on Some New Poisonous Plants Dis- 
covered on the Johnstone River, North Queensland, ” Proc. 
R. Soc. N.S.W., 1887). 
There were published again in 1887 (Proc. R. Soc. 
Qld., Vol. IV.) four papers: (1) “On the Poisonous Pro- 
perty of Nicotiana suaveolens 1 ’ ; (2) “On the Discovery of 
Saponin in Acacia delibraia” ; (3) “On the Physiological 
Action of Cryptocarya australis”; (4) “On the Physio- 
logical Action of Daphnandra repandula.” 
In 1888 his investigations had sufficiently advanced to 
admit of his reading, before the Section of Pharmacology 
of the Intercolonial Medical Congress of Australasia, held 
in Melbourne in January. 1889, a paper entitled: “On the 
Materia Medica and Pharmacology of Queensland Plants” 
(Trans. I.M.C. of Australasia, Second Session, Melb., 
1889, pp. 927-931). This not only records conclusions 
already reached, but topics worthy of investigation, and 
some novel discoveries, of which may be mentioned one re- 
lating to the Queensland species of Strychnos ( S . psilo- 
sperma and S. Iwcida ) . 
\n 1887 he visited New Zealand, and following this a 
paper, “Preliminary Notes on the Pharmacology of Some 
New Poisonous Plants,” was read at the November, 1889, 
meeting of the Linnean Society of New South Wales (Pro- 
ceed. Vol. IV., Series 2, pp. 1061-4). This dealt with: (a) 
New Zealand plants that he had collected there in June, 
1887, in which he refers to the poisonous principle of 
Laurelia nova-zealandiae, Myoporum laetum , and Melicy - 
