he worked for a period in chemnitz, germany, after his schooling, where his uncle henry felkin lived, and became fluent in the language. in about 1876 he began studying medicine at the university of edinburgh. in 1878, as yet unlicensed, he joined a mission led by the church missionary society to central africa. he travelled up the nile to khartoum, where he met general gordon, and then on through what was then wild and unmapped country to the african great lakes. eventually he spent two years in africa, and became personal physician to king m'tesa, who had previously tried to kill him. in zanzibar, he actively campaigned against the slave trade. he published several articles on tropical medicine and childbirth in medical journals, and also wrote "uganda and the egyptian soudan" (1882, with rev.c.t. wilson), "egypt present and to come" (1885), "uganda" (1886), and other african works.