 He studied medicine at the University of Bonn, where he was an assistant to Max Schultze.In 1868 he earned his doctorate, and following a study trip to Berlin, returned to Bonn in 1870 as an assistant to physiologist Eduard Pflüger.The following year he became a lecturer at the University of Bonn, and in 1872 was an honorary professor of physiology at the "Landwirtschaftlichen Akademie" at Poppelsdorf.