insondable, ils se detournent et poursuivent fierement leur chemin. Comme
cet Epicurien dont parle Ciceron au commencement du _De natura deorum_,
ils ont toujours l'air de sortir de l'assemblee des dieux et de descendre
des intermondes d'Epicure."

Such was Holbach. His philosophy is based on the child-like assumption
that things are as they seem, provided they are observed with sufficient
care by a sufficient number of people. This brings us at once to the
very heart of Holbach's method which was experimental and inductive to
the last degree. Holbach was nourished on what might be called
scientific rather than philosophical traditions. As M. Tourneux has
pointed out, he had been a serious student of the natural sciences,
especially those connected with the constitution of the earth. These
studies led him to see the disparity between certain accepted and
traditional cosmologies and a scientific interpretation of the
terrestrial globe and the forms of life which flourish upon it.
Finding the supposed sacred and infallible records untrustworthy in
one regard, he began to question their veracity at other points.
Being of a critical frame of mind, he took the records rather more
literally than a sympathetic, allegorical apologist would have done,
although it cannot be said that he used much historical insight.
After having studied the sacred texts for purposes of writing or having
translated other men's studies on Moses, David, the Prophets, Jesus,
Paul, the Christian theologians and saints, miracles, etc., he concluded
that these accounts were untrustworthy and mendacious. He knew ancient
and modern philosophy and found in the greater part of it an unwarranted
romantic or theological trend which his scientific training had caused
him to suspect. It must be admitted that however false or illogical
Holbach's conclusions may be considered, he was by no means ignorant of
the subjects he chose to treat, as some of his detractors would have one