To provide quantitative data upon which to base an evaluation of the French Enlightenment and of the climate of opinion in France between 1762 and 1787. The basis of the study is an exhaustive examination of two eighteenth century French periodicals. Variables Journal, year, number of pages of each entry, author, type of entry (book review, article, letter, poem, announcement, news, anecdote), subject matter, whether excerpted, whether translated, language, nature/work, word frequency (words appearing in the titles of books reviewed). Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.