 From 1851 to 1855 he worked as a psychiatrist under Christian Friedrich Wilhelm Roller (1802–1878) in the mental asylum at Illenau in Baden, then from 1855 to 1869, served as director of the mental institution ("Unterfränkische Landes-Irrenanstalt") in Werneck.In 1869 he was appointed director of the Burghölzli Hospital, as well as professor of psychiatry at the University of Zürich.In 1872 he was appointed "Obermedicinalrath" and director of the Upper Bavarian Kreis-Irrenanstalt (district mental asylum), located in Munich.