NOTES ON THE EXTRACTS FROM "L'HISTOIRE NATURELLE DE L'AME." 87. Matter, according to La Mettrie, is endowed with extensity, the power of movement, and the faculty of sensation. As La Mettrie says, this conception was not held by Descartes, who thought that the essential attribute of matter is extension. "The nature of body consists not in weight, hardness, color, and the like but in extension alone--in its being a substance extended in length, breadth and height." [157] Hobbes's conception of matter is very similar to that of La Mettrie. He specifically attributes motion to matter: "Motion and magnitude are the most common accidents of all bodies." [158] He does not name sensation as an attribute of matter, but he reduces sensation to motion. "Sense is some internal motion in the sentient." [159] Since motion is one of the attributes of matter, and since matter is the only reality in the universe, sensation must be attributed to matter. 88. La Mettrie always insists that matter has the power of moving itself, and resents any attempt to show that the motion is due to an outside agent. In this opinion he is in agreement with Toland. Toland says that those who have regarded matter as inert have had to find some efficient cause for motion; and to do this, they have held that all nature is animated. This pretended animation, however, is utterly useless, since matter is itself endowed with motion. 89. "This absurd system ... that animals are pure machines." (See Note 86.) WORKS CONSULTED AND CITED IN THE NOTES. (An asterisk indicates the edition to which reference is made.) JULIEN OFFRAY DE LA METTRIE. 1745 "L'histoire naturelle de l'âme." The Hague. (This work appears as "Traité de l'âme" in La Mettrie's collected works.) 1748 "L'homme machine." Leyden. "L'homme machine par La Mettrie, avec une introduction et des notes." J. Assézat. Paris, 1865. 1751 "OEuvres philosophiques." London (Berlin). 1764 * "OEuvres philosophiques de Monsieur de la Mettrie," Amsterdam. Besides "L'homme machine" and "Traité de l'âme," the "OEuvres philosophiques" contain the following (dates of first publication added in parentheses): "Abrégé des systèmes." "L'homme plante" (1748). "Les animaux plus que machines" (1750). "L'Anti-Sénèque" (1748). "L'art de jouir" (1751). "Système d'Epicure." ELIE LUZAC.