Banting Research Foundation endowment. A large bequest in 1948 from the estate of Kate E Taylor of Toronto added to the endowment. From its inception, the intent was to create a fund for researchers with "good ideas but no money", as was the situation for Banting when he approached JJR Macleod in 1921 with a request for facilities and resources to pursue his ideas about insulin. The Foundation continues that tradition by making grant funds available only to investigators whose research funding is limited. The Foundation was the first and virtually the only organization funding medical research in Canada until 1938 when the
Frederick Banting helped Wilbur Franks with the invention of the G-suit to stop pilots from blacking out when they were subjected to g-forces while turning or diving. Another of Banting's projects during the Second World War involved using and treating mustard gas burns. Banting even tested the gas and antidotes on himself to see if they were effective. Banting developed an interest in painting beginning around 1921 while he was in London, Ontario. Some of his first pieces were done on the back of the cardboard in which his shirts were packed by the dry-cleaners. He became friends with The Group of