He used papier-mâché to model body parts on a real human skeleton[3] enabling the body to be taken apart as in a dissection, revealing the deeper elements, for example the passage of a nerve or a blood vessel between the muscles, or the proportions of the intestines in the abdomen.

The results were spectacular at first sight, but the representation of many of the elements proved inadequate.

[4] From 1816, he presented papers to the medical society of Caen before moving on to the Parisian learned circles, who from 1819 to 1821 all praised his work but found it rather expensive.

A report by the Royal Advisory Council for Public Education in December 1821 described his invention as follows: ‘He uses cardboard to make a solid pulp, light and flexible, and in no way brittle, capable of taking on any shape one wants to give it, and retaining it unchanged without shrinking.’[5] He waged a lifelong feud with his rival Louis Auzoux, who outdid him with a better idea in 1822, and published numerous articles accusing him of plagiarism.

The latter method was more suitable for large scale production and volume work, making it cheaper.