The way he seems to have taken to amass these materials was to engage with a partner in some grand speculations for the accumulation of wealth,—­and speculations too, it is said, not of the most honorable or even the most honest character.  His plans succeeded for a time, and he became very rich, as did many others in those troublous times; but he finally met with reverses, and lost all but the wrecks of his fortune.  He then for a number of years plunged into all manner of vice, and indulged to excess in every species of dissipation; not, we are told, from love of vice, any inordinate desire, or any impure affection, but for the holy purpose of preparing himself by his experience for the great work of redeeming man and securing for him a Paradise on earth.  Having gained all that experience could give him in the department of vice, he then proceeded to consult the learned professors of L’Ecole Polytechnique for seven or ten years, to make himself master of science, literature, and the fine arts in all their departments, and to place himself at the level of the last attainments of the race.  Thus qualified to be the founder of a new social organization, he wrote several books, in which he deposited the germs of his ideas, or rather the germs of the future; most of which have hitherto remained unpublished.

But now that he was so well qualified for his work he found himself a beggar, and had as yet made only a single disciple.  He was reduced to despair and attempted to take his own life; but failed, the ball only grazing his sacred forehead.  His faithful disciple was near him, saved him, and aroused him into life and hope.  When he recovered he found that he had fallen into a gross error.  He had been a materialist, an atheist, and had discarded all religious ideas as long since outgrown by the human race.  He had proposed to organize the human race with materials furnished by the senses alone, and by the aid of positive science.  He owns his fault, and conceives and brings forth a new Christianity, consigned to a small pamphlet entitled ‘Nouveau Christianisme,’ which was immediately published.  This done, his mission was ended, and he died May 19th, 1825, and I suppose was buried.

Saint-Simon, the preacher of a new Christianity, very soon attracted disciples, chiefly from the pupils of the Polytechnic School; ardent and lively young men, full of enthusiasm, brought up without faith in the gospel and yet unable to live without religion of some sort.  Among the active members of the sect were at one time Pierre Leroux, Jules and Michel Chevalier, Lerminier, [and] my personal friend Dr. Poyen, who initiated me and so many others in New England into the mysteries of animal magnetism.  Dr. Poyen was, I believe, a native of the island of Guadeloupe:  a man of more ability than he usually had credit for, of solid learning, genuine science, and honest intentions.  I knew him well and esteemed him highly.  When I knew him his attachment to