From 1898 to 1910, he was a lecturer of grammar and philology at the Faculty of Arts in Lille.
On June 8, 1911 he received his doctorate of letters at the Sorbonne, subsequently serving as a professor of ancient history and papyrology in Lille (1911–1914 and 1918–1920).
From 1937 to 1949, he was a professor at Fouad I University in Cairo.During his earlier years spent in Egypt (1896–97, 1900), he translated numerous Greek papyri and participated at the excavatory site at Ghorân.
In 1901–02 at Fayoum, he discovered a small Hellenistic necropolis.
In 1904, at Lille, he founded the Institut de Papyrologie.