In 1869, he received his medical doctorate in Vienna, and subsequently worked as an assistant to pathological anatomist Josef Engel (1816–1899).

In 1885, he was appointed an associate professor of pathological histology and bacteriology, and from 1893 to 1916, he was director of the pathological-anatomical institute at the University of Vienna.

Some of his better known assistants were serologist Karl Landsteiner (1868–1943), bacteriologist Anton Ghon (1866–1936) and dermatologist Josef Kyrle (1880–1926).

He conducted important research involving tuberculosis, and is credited for founding the first Lungenheilstätte (pulmonary health institute) in Austria (Alland, Niederösterreich).

[2] Among his better known writings was Grundriss der pathologischen Histologie (1892), being later translated into English and published as "The Elements of Pathological Histology".