French-American explorer, born in Cluses, Savoy, on the 24th of July 1786. He studied astronomy under Laplace, and became secretary and librarian of the observatory at Paris in 1817. In 1832 he came to the United States. Here he explored the Southern states and the Mississippi River and its western affluents. He collected at the same time many specimens of natural history. After this the United States War Department sent him on an exploring tour to the far West, with Lieutenant John C. Frémont as his assistant. He published an Explanation of a Map of the Hydrographical Basin of the Upper Mississippi River (1843). He died in Washington, DC, on the 11th of September 1843.
