He returned to Magdeburg, where he earned his living as a language teacher, developing a method for learning French, which he self-published in 1874.

After publishing another book on the French language, he undertook his major philosophical work, in which contended that humans were descended from frogs.

Brisset supported his contention by comparing the French and frog languages (such as "logement" = dwelling, comes from "l'eau" = water).

In 1912, novelist Jules Romains, who had obtained copies of God's Mystery and The Human Origins, set up, with the help of fellow hoaxers, a rigged election for a "Prince of Thinkers".

[1] The Complete Works of Brisset were reprinted by Marc Décimo, Dijon, Les Presses du réel, 2001.

[citation needed] It also includes the major texts written about Brisset by Jules Romains, Marcel Duchamp, André Breton, Raymond Queneau, Michel Foucault.