he was an accomplished chinese scholar, and during his long residence at pekin he studied the manners and customs of the inhabitants, and the semi-annual reports that he forwarded to the chinese maritime customs service contain a large amount of valuable information regarding the climatic condition, physical features and drainage, and general habits of the people bearing upon health. he was the author of an "historical sketch of the ecclesiastical, political, and commercial relation of russia with china", of a chinese work 脱影奇观 "on the principles and practice of photography", the first of its kind, and of an article in the "pekin magazine" (in chinese) on the virtues of quinine, in which he pointed out the dangers of the imported spurious article. to the "chinese medical journal" he contributed papers on "a modern chinese anatomist", and "a chapter on chinese surgery". he also made several contributions to other medical journals, especially on subjects connected with the medical practice and "materia medica" of china. various editions of his kung fu books are still available to purchase : "kung fu or taoist medical gymnastics: the art of shaolin kung fu, traditional chinese medicine and qigong beginning practice" and "chinese healing arts: internal kung-fu" co authored with william berk. over a period of 10 years he translated both gray's anatomy and holden's osteology into an 18 volume chinese edition.