Abstract
IN this volume of popular lectures, the director of the Paris Observatory has given as simple and clear an account of modern astronomy as can be given in one hundred pages. The style is extremely lucid, as is to be expected in a French book, the facts are accurately given and up-to-date, the illustrations are numerous and the whole volume is very pleasantly readable. In addition to the definitely astronomical chapters, there are two which will be read with much sympathy and interest. The opening chapter gives an account of the importance of astronomy in the past in the development of thought and of civilisation; the final chapter, after dwelling upon the glories of French astronomy in the nineteenth century, emphasises the reasons why France has of late dropped out of a leading position in astronomical research. Modern developments require large instruments, and so far the money has not been forthcoming from Government or private sources to keep France abreast of most other countries. It is to be hoped that Prof. Esclangon's appeal in this volume may fall upon fruitful ground-and if fresh developments in France react favourably upon Great Britain, so much the better.
Dix leçons d'astronomie
Ernest
Esclangon
Par. Deuxième édition revue et corrigée. Pp. 116 + 20 plates. (Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1934.) 25 francs.
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Dix leçons d'astronomie. Nature 136, 128 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136128d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136128d0