The vessel sailed from London on 25 July 1824 for the Columbia River, touching at Madeira, Rio de Janeiro and the Galapagos.
Scouler's journal of the voyage reports the instruction he received from early workers on Vancouver's expedition, such as Archibald Menzies, familiarising himself with the botany of the region and the preparation of specimens.
[2] Soon after his return to England, Scouler shipped as surgeon on the Clyde, a merchant vessel that went to Calcutta, touching by the way at Cape Horn and Madras.
In 1834, he was appointed professor of mineralogy, and subsequently of geology, zoology, and botany, to the Royal Dublin Society, a post he held until his retirement on a pension in 1854, when he returned to Glasgow.
He contributed notes and an appendix to the fourth edition of Dr. King's Principles of Geology explained (8vo, Edinburgh, 1853).
Scouler made large collections of specimens in the western regions of North America and the Galapagos.