Because of his participation in the demonstration on "revolutionary day" 13 June 1849, he was forced to leave France, subsequently settling in Switzerland.
In 1849 he became a professor of physics and chemistry at Lausanne, and in 1852 a chemist to a Turkey red factory near Manchester.
In 1855 he was granted amnesty and returned to France.
In 1868 he was named a professor of technology at Turin (Regio Museo Industriale italiano), and finally, in 1871, a professor of technical chemistry at the Federal Polytechnic Institute Zurich, today the ETH Zurich.
He died in Zurich.
He conducted experiments with arsenic acid as a discharge agent and filed patents for the employment of arsenic and phosphoric acids in discharge printing of fabrics.