He completed theological studies at Kurseong and then at St Beunos College in North Wales.
His work on medicinal plants and animal toxins led to his being appointed as a pharmacologist to the Haffkine Institute in Bombay in 1924.
They found that salivary gland extracts of some snakes considered non-venomous had toxic effects.
[7][8] He was also involved in a BNHS study of the attraction of mammals to salt licks and the composition of the soils.
This included a major series on the poisonous plants of India which he wrote right until the time of his death.