He was for a time actually engaged in business, but from spending his holidays in Arran he became interested in the study of the rocks of that island, and was thus led to acquire the rudiments of geology.

A geological model of Arran, made by him on the scale of two inches to the mile, was exhibited at the meeting of the British Association at Glasgow in 1840, and attracted the notice of Roderick Murchison, with the result that he received, from Sir Henry De la Beche, an appointment on the Geological Survey, on which he served for forty years, from 1841 to 1881.

In 1880 he acted as president of the British Association at Swansea, and in the following year retired from the public service, receiving at the same time the honour of knighthood.

[1] He was especially interested in tracing out the causes which have determined the physical configuration of a district, and he devoted much attention to the effects produced by ice, his name being identified with the hypothesis, which, however, has never commanded general assent, that in some cases lake basins have been scooped out by glaciers.

[1] He died at Beaumaris in Anglesey and is buried at St Sadwrn's church in Llansadwrn where his grave is marked by a glacial erratic boulder.