WHATEVER may have been the cause of that development of astronomical taste in England which would so greatly astonish our resuscitated forefathers, and is a puzzle to some plain-thinking people even at this day, the fact admits of no doubt; and a very cheering fact it is to those who value the intellectual and æsthetic progress of their fellow-countrymen. But it is perhaps not so generally known that a movement of the same nature has been in progress among our neighbours across the Channel. It originated later in point of time; for France had entered into no such competition when the Herschels Lassell, Dawes, Smyth, and other non-professional observers were attracting the notice of all Europe by their discoveries; and we recollect, less than twenty years ago, having heard from M. Léon Foucault a candid admission of the inferiority of his own country in amateur observation. But the Gallic mind is more rapid in its movements than our own; and though later in the field we are not sure that they are not shooting ahead of us in these matters in a way that we in general are perhaps hardly prepared to expect. At least, the fact mentioned in the volume before us, that during two years previous to last October, 300 telescopes had been sold to French purchasers, may be accepted as rather a startling proof: and not less so is the extraordinary circulation of the works of M. Flammarion, whom we may justly call the leader of the movement. As many as 50,000 copies in two years have been printed of his “Astronomie Populaire,” of which “Les Étoiles” is considered the supplement; his “Merveilles Célestes” have reached 38,000; and his “Pluralité des Mondes” has come out in a 30th edition; to say nothing of other works of remarkable acceptation. Nor is it probable that the success of this publication will fall below that of its predecessors, treating as it does of a most interesting subject in an especially agreeable and familiar way. It is certainly not a volume which an English publisher would like to risk—an octavo of the largest size, of nearly 800 pages, and thick and heavy in proportion; anything in short but a handbook; but this, which would discourage an English buyer, is evidently no objection in the eyes of a Parisian firm. And it must be owned that in many respects it may well command a wide circulation. The idea is that of exhausting all the wonders of the sidereal heavens that the naked eye can reach, and describing their telescopic aspect; and it is excellently carried out for popular purposes: and we may add in certain respects for scientific ones also. The great value of the work consists in the especial pains taken with the probable changes of brightness in a multitude of naked-eye stars, not included in the ordinary enumeration of variables; but it is interesting in many other respects; and the close is enriched with a number of catalogues of telescopes, double and coloured and variable stars, their spectra, proper motions, parallaxes, and other data; together with many descriptions of planets, comets, &c. In short, it is a mine of information for those who do not care to dig deep; and those who would desire more authenticated and weighted details (observers will understand the word) may yet meet with much of interesting and valuable suggestion. The book has, however, some drawbacks which ought to be noticed.