Guyton de Morveau headed a group of translators at Dijon Academy, the Bureau de traduction de Dijon, in response to a demand for timely full translations of foreign scientific texts, particularly in the fields of chemistry and mineralogy.
By 1774, at the urging of Guyton de Morveau, Picardet was translating John Hill's Spatogenesia: the Origin and Nature of Spar; Its Qualities and Uses (English, 1772) for publication in Jean-André Mongez's Journal de physique [REF].