been directed towards the dramatic and lighter literature of the Chinese, and in rapid succession he now brought out translations of the _Hoei-lan-ki_ (_L'Histoire du cercle de craie_), a drama in which occurs a scene curiously analogous to the judgment of Solomon; the _Pih shay tsing ki_; and the _Tchao-chi kou eul_, upon which Voltaire had founded his _Orphelin de la Chine_ (1755). With the versatility which belonged to his genius, he next turned, apparently without difficulty, to the very different style common to Taoist writings, and translated in 1835 _Le Livre des récompenses et des peines_ of Lao-tsze. About this time the cultivation of silkworms was beginning to attract attention in France, and by order of the minister of agriculture Julien compiled, in 1837, a _Résumé des principaux traités chinois sur la culture des mûriers, et l'éducation des vers-à-soie_, which was speedily translated into English, German, Italian and Russian. Nothing was more characteristic of his method of studying Chinese than his habit of collecting every peculiarity of idiom and expression which he met with in his reading; and, in order that others might reap the benefit of his experiences, he published in 1841 _Discussions grammaticales sur certaines règles de position qui, en chinois, jouent le même rôle que les inflexions dans les autres langues_, which he followed in 1842 by _Exercices pratiques d'analyse, de syntaxe, et de lexigraphie chinoise_. Meanwhile in 1839, he had been appointed joint keeper of the Bibliothèque royale, with the especial superintendence of the Chinese books, and shortly afterwards he was made administrator of the collège de France.