Born in Warsaw, he studied at the University of Warsaw and in 1863 fought in the January Uprising. After its defeat he went into exile in France, completing his medical studies in Paris and London between 1864 and 1855. In 1866 he invented a new method of embalming and conserving anatomical specimens, for which he received medals at the Expositions Universelles of 1867 and 1878 as well as another medal in Krakov in 1869.