He was born in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, where his father had a practice nearby in Livorno.

For his thesis, Contributions to the Chemistry and Physiology of Foetal Nutrition, he was awarded a gold medal.

[5] In 1867 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer being Sir Andrew Douglas Maclagan.

[5] He taught in the Edinburgh Extramural School of Medicine, giving lectures on physiology and histology at Surgeon's Hall.

[8][9] He was also the author of A Text-book of the Physiological Chemistry of the Animal Body: including an account of the chemical changes occurring in disease, published in 1880.