 He was a native of Castell, Lower Franconia.He was a student at several universities, being influenced by Ignaz Dollinger (1770–1841) in Munich, Friedrich Arnold (1803–1890) in Freiburg, Jakob Henle (1809–1895) in Heidelberg and Carl von Rokitansky (1804–1878) in Vienna.In 1847 he received his habilitation at Würzburg, where from 1858 he served as a full professor of topographical and comparative anatomy.