After graduation he was able travel to Europe to study surgical practice at Hamburg, Berlin and Vienna. This visit to European centres was to prove important because he maintained links particularly with German, Austrian and Swiss surgeons, keeping up to date with their literature.Power, D and Le Fanu, W R. Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England 1930–1951. London: Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1953, pp. 649–651 He had training in ophthalmology at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London before becoming house surgeon under Professor Thomas Annandale (1838–1907) in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, and then house surgeon under Sir William Macewen (1848–1924) in Glasgow Royal Infirmary. In 1892, he became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (FRCSEng) and was appointed Surgeon to Glasgow Royal Infirmary in 1896. He became a Fellow of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in 1899.
