He first visited the Canary Islands in 1820, where he taught at a school in Tenerife and managed the botanical gardens at Orotava for the Marquis of Villanueva del Prato.

They travelled to Geneva, and produced the first volume of L'Histoire Naturelle des Îles Canaries in 1835.

In 1846 he returned to Tenerife, and in 1848 was nominated the French consular agent for the island, being promoted to full Consul in 1867.

He retired in August 1874, and was given the freedom of the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Berthelot's other publications on the islands included Les Guanches (1841 and 1845), La Conquète des canaries (1879) and Antiquités Canariennes (1879).