1830 studies of natural sciences at the Senckenberg Institute; 1840 at Heidelberg in order to pursue a career in medicine; anatomical work with Friedrich Tiedemann; move to Berlin and studies of morphology with Johannes Müller; 1843 at Göttingen under Rudolph Wagner; 1844 medical degree; zoological research at the museum of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and studies with Magendie; research assistant to François Longet and Carlo Matteucci; 1845 medical practitioner in Frankfurt and physiological experiments in a small homemade laboratory; 1846 member of the ornithology section of the Senckenberg Museum; 1856 assistant professor of comparative anatomy and zoology at the University of Bern; 1862 professor of physiology at the Istituto di Studii Superiori of the University of Florence; 1876 chair of physiology at the University of Geneva; coeditor of the Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Heilkunde.
