He was born in Lyon on 4 February 1806. He graduated from the Polytechnic School in Lyon in 1827 and joined the School of Mines. In May 1829 he began a four month study tour of Germany including the Harz Mountains, Black Forest, Saxony, Hanover, Oldenbourg and Westphalia. He then spent a further two months studying mines in Belgium and the Netherlands. He graduated from the mining school in 1830.[1]
He was briefly imprisoned in the uprising of 1830. In 1854 he invented a new religious philosophy regarding the transmigration of souls which he saw as compatible both with traditional Christian views and modern ideas regarding reincarnation.[2]
