J. Assézat, Introduction to "L'Homme Machine," Paris, 1865. F. A. Lange, "History of Materialism." Ph. Damiron, "Histoire de la philosophie du dix-huitième siècle," Paris, 1858. N. Quépat, "La philosophie matérialiste au XVIIIe siècle. Essai sur La Mettrie, sa vie, et ses oeuvres." Paris, 1873. NOTES ON MAN A MACHINE. 1. "Matter may well be endowed with the faculty of thought." Although La Mettrie attempts to "avoid this reef," by refraining from the use of these words, yet he asserts throughout his work that sensations, consciousness, and the soul itself are modifications of matter and motion. The possibility of matter being endowed with the faculty of thought, is denied by Elie Luzac, the publisher of "L'homme machine," in his work "L'homme plus que machine." In this work he tries to disprove the conclusions of "L'homme machine." He says: "We have therefore proved by the idea of the inert state of matter, by that of motion, by that of relations, by that of activity, by that of extension, that matter can not be possessed of the faculty of thinking".... "To be brief, I say, that if, by a material substance, we understand that matter which falls under the cognizance of our senses, and which is endowed with the qualities we have mentioned, the soul can not be material: so that it must be immaterial, and, for the same reason, God could not have given the faculty of thinking to matter, since He can not perform contradictions." [58] 2. "How can we define a being whose nature is absolutely unknown to us?" La Mettrie uses this as an argument against the belief in a soul, and yet he later admits that the "nature of motion is as unknown to us as the nature of matter." It is difficult then to see why there is more reason to doubt the existence of spirit, than to doubt the existence of matter. Locke makes this point very well. "It is for want of reflection that we are apt to think that our senses show us nothing but material things. Every act of sensation, when duly considered, gives us an equal view of both parts of nature, the corporeal and spiritual." [59]... "If this notion of immaterial spirit may have, perhaps, some difficulties in it not easy to be explained, we have therefore no more reason to deny or doubt the existence of such spirits, than we have to deny or doubt the existence of body because the notion of body is cumbered with some difficulties, very hard and perhaps impossible to be explained or understood by us." [60]