He was born at
Guingamp, and was educated at the Lycée de St Brieuc. He is known as the founder of scientific psychology in France, He passed his
agrégation in philosophy, this allowed him to teach in high school. He worked as a high school teacher in Vesoul (1866–1868), and then in Laval (1868–1872). Following the experimental and synthetic methods, he brought together a large number of instances of inherited peculiarities. He paid particular attention to the physical element of mental life, ignoring all spiritual or nonmaterial factors in man. In his work on ''La Psychologie anglaise contemporaine: l'école expérimentale'' (1870), he showed his sympathy with the sensationalist school, and again in his translation of
Herbert Spencer's
Principles of Psychology. ==Bibliography==