sort of "testament" or philosophical legacy to posterity. This work
may be called the bible of scientific materialism and dogmatic atheism.
Nothing before or since has ever approached it in its open and
unequivocal insistence on points of view commonly held, if at all,
with reluctance and reserve. It is impossible in a study of this
length to deal fully with the attacks and refutations that were
published immediately. We may mention first the condemnation of the
book by the _Parlement de Paris_, August 18, 1770, to be burned by
the public hangman along with Voltaire's _Dieu et les Hommes_, and
Holbach's _Discours sur les Miracles_, _La Contagion sacree_ and
_le Christianisme devoile_, which had already been condemned on
September 24, 1769. [55:2]

The _Requisitoire_ of Seguier, _avocat general_, on the occasion
of the condemnation of the _Systeme de la Nature_ was so weak
and ridiculous that the _Parlement de Paris_ refused to sanction
its publication, and it was printed by the express order of the King.
As Grimm observed, it seemed designed solely to acquaint the ignorant
with this dangerous work, without opposing any of its propositions.
One would look in vain for a better example of the conservatism of
the legal profession. [55:3]

Le poison des nouveautes profanes ne peut corrompre la sainte
gravite des moeurs qui caracterise les vrais Magistrats:
tout peut changer autour d'eux, _ils restent immuables avec la
loi_ (page 496).

N'est-ce pas ce fatal abus de la liberte de penser, qui a enfante
cette multitude de sectes, d'opinions, de partis, et cet esprit
d'independance dont d'autres nations ont eprouve les sinstres