by Jean Meslier
Here are some natural examples of this. Water, for example, according to the disposition and the natural modification of its parts, is determined by itself to always run down the slope where it finds itself. If there is no greater slope on one side than the other, it stays as if immobile in its own place, although all its parts are always in a continual state of mutual agitation, unless it’s frozen. But if there is an incline to the right or the left, i.e., one way or another, it immediately flows or extends toward the slope, without the need for any intelligence. And if it’s the water of a fountain, a river, or stream flowing normally, it also never fails to flow downwards, and since it constantly flows in the same places, it makes or forms, naturally and blindly, from its origin to its end, a kind of path and channel, which it always follows mechanically and constantly, from its origin to its end, unless by chance it meets some hindrance, such as a heap of wood, stones, or earth, which might fall by some extraordinary devastation or otherwise, and seal up the usual path, which would then force it to find another way, by the most convenient and easy path, where it won’t fail to make or form a new path or a new channel, which it will follow again mechanically and constantly, as long as such obstructions don’t appear, and all that will take place without any need, as I’ve said, for any intelligence to show it the way.
Similarly, it is naturally and blindly that all heavy bodies fall straight down, and that fire and smoke rise straight up, as long as they find no impediment in this movement which is natural to them; and they have no need for intelligence or reason to guide and direct this movement of theirs. Similarly, again, it is naturally and blindly that the vapors and fumes come out of the ground, when heated by the sun. Naturally and blindly they form mists, which rise into the air to a certain height, where they form clouds of all sorts of strange shapes. Naturally and blindly these clouds always and equally follow the winds, and then fall back to earth as rain, as hail, as snow, etc. It is manifest and evident that all these sorts of things have no need for intelligence or reason to follow in a regular way, as they do, their natural motions. It is clear and evident, for what little attention we pay, that it’s the same with the motion of all the parts of matter, which make up all the finest and most perfect works of nature; for, since all those parts, as I’ve said, necessarily open certain paths, and, being necessarily modified in some way in all the works they produce, they then follow naturally, regularly, and blindly, the paths or the tracks they open in each work, and they consequently modify, regularly and blindly, the paths they opened in each work, and they’re also regularly and blindly also consequently modified in the way they should be modified, according to the present determination where they are found in each subject or each composite that they form, unless some impediment keeps them from taking other paths, or certain modifications; for, then they wouldn’t regularly produce their usual effects, but would produce them differently and might even, on certain occasions, produce them in a completely different nature.
This is clearly seen daily, in everything nature creates, especially in the way it produces plants, in the way it produces animals, and even in the way it naturally produces the human body, which is considered the most perfect of nature’s productions. For it is certain that all the plants of all kinds, and that all animals of every kind, and that even humans only produce after their own kind for the reason I just pointed out, i.e., because certain parts of matter, having, as I’ve said, opened certain paths in certain places and circumstances, or by the disposition of time, place, and other circumstances, they have been determined to assemble and to be modified in a particular way, whenever similar parts of matter are found in the same situations, in equal circumstances of time and place, they are equally determined to always follow the same course and to be modified in the same way, and consequently, to produce the same effects, at least, as I said, when no obstacle prevents the parts of matter from following their usual course, and obliges them to be determined in a different manner, the way a ball, for example, would keep moving in a straight line, following its original determination, if it met with no obstacle, but which changes direction, to the right or the left, when it encounters an obstacle that gives it this new determination. This depends on a few details that don’t need to be spelled out here.
But some portions of matter, having accidentally taken certain routes, and having then opened certain paths in the first generation of each species of animal, and having, in the circumstances they found themselves in, been determined to assemble, join, and be modified in particular ways, it follows that whenever the parts of matter are found in similar places and circumstances, they are equally determined to follow the same paths, just like water in a stream following its canal; and by following the same paths, they find themselves determined in this way to assemble, connect, and modify always in the same way, and consequently also to equally produce the same effects, whether in the plants or in the animals, of whatever species they may be. And this is precisely what causes all sorts of herbs and plants, and all sorts of animals, and even men to beget and produce, ordinarily and regularly, others of the same species, except incidentally, when certain obstacles in the bodies of the parts of matter keep them from being duly modified, and as they would have done according to their original determination, or if their number or movements are too feeble, and insufficient to achieve a complete and perfect modification, or finally, when they’re too numerous, or their movements are too fast or disordered, for then their productions would remain imperfect and defective, or they would be monstrous and misshapen.
That this is the case, is clearly seen on one hand in all the defects and deformities which are found in natural things; for it’s undisputed that all these defects and deformities only come from the causes and reasons that I’ve discussed. And, on the other hand, this is also visible in matter, which is the same in the formation, in the production, and the nourishment of all plants and all animals, without excepting humans, who are made, produced, fed, and begotten from the same matter as anything else, which matter is only modified in various ways in all sorts of subjects.
Here are some examples that are clear, natural and undeniable. The same grass, for example, or the same hay, the same oats or the same grains, which provide food to the horses, the cows, the goats, etc., is changed and modified in all horses, which eat it, into the flesh and substance of a horse, and even a part of this whole foodstuff is changed and modified in such a manner in certain parts of their body that it can and does now serve as seed for the generation and production of many other similar horses; since everything they eat and which nourishes them is, by digestion, presently determined to change and be modified in this way into their flesh and substance, and not in any other way. In steers or cows, the same plants and nourishment is changed and modified into the flesh and substance of steers or cows; and even a part of the entire food is changed and modified in such a way into certain parts of bulls and cows, that it can also serve and now does serve as seed for the generation and production of many other similar beasts, because, as I said a moment ago, the process of digestion changes their food into their flesh and substance; and it’s exactly the same with goats and other animals. The matter of the food they eat turns and changes presently into their flesh and substance, and some of that food is even changed and is now changed into seed to engender and produce many other similar animals.
Similarly, the matter of the same bread and the same meat that men, monkeys, dogs, and rats and mice eat, naturally turns and changes, in the rats and mice and birds that eat them, into their own flesh and substance; in dogs, in cats, and in all other animals and insects without distinction, no matter what eats them, into the flesh and substance of their eater, because it then finds itself in each of them presently determined to change and be modified in this way into their flesh and substance, and not otherwise. This is obviously the same in humans; the bread, the meat, and all the fruits they consume, along with all the liquid they drink, changes and is modified by the digest
ion which happens in them, into their flesh and substance, and even, according to what I’ve already said, a part of their food is changed and is now changing and being modified naturally, in certain parts of their bodies, into a prolific seed, which can be used, and which presently does serve every day for the generation and production of many other similar men, and all that happens in them as in all other animals, because, as I’ve said, and all this made in them as in all other animals, because, as I said, the material is in for each of them determined to change and to change and in their flesh and substance, and even a seed, which is used to produce the like, as long as there are not obstacles keeping the matter from following its original determination, and forcing it to receive a different one; for then it would not produce the effect, that it would have otherwise produced; but it produces it in a different way, or it produces something completely different, according to whatever new determination it was obliged to receive.
We also clearly observe examples of this in the ordinary course of nature, especially in plants or trees, on the branches of which men place grafts of a different nature; for each graft of a different nature makes these trees change the original determination of the matter, making it assume a new determination and a new modification, and causes these trees to mechanically produce other fruits than what they would have produced if they hadn’t been grafted.
Everyone knows that the same milk of the earth, which engenders and produces all kinds of plants and trees of all kinds is the same milk, or the sap, that nourishes all of them and which, by changing and being modified differently in each of them, causes them to produce leaves, flowers, fruits mechanically, and within said fruits, seeds conformable to their nature, because the juice, entering by the fibers of the roots of all these herbs or plants, is determined by the disposition and modification of these fibers and roots to be modified in a manner suited to the nature of each herb and each plant, and consequently to push and produce buds, leaves, flowers, fruits on each of these, and in these fruits, germs or seeds compatible with their nature. And yet, if one grafts some of these plants, for example 5 or 6 of the main branches of a wild apple tree, or 5 or 6 main branches from a wild pear tree, or 5 or 6 of the main branches of a wild cherry tree; if one put on this pear tree 5 or 6 grafts from different kinds of pear trees, and one put on this apple tree 5 or 6 grafts from different kinds of apples; each kind of graft wouldn’t fail to produce its own leaves, its own flowers, and its own fruits, suitable for its kind, and not to the nature or species of the body of the tree, because the milk or sap, which rises into the body of the tree and which, in this place, is determined to produce only certain wild fruits, when passing to the branches that are grafted on, immediately changes its determination and necessarily takes on a completely new modification, to produce the leaves, flowers, and fruits, along with the germs or seeds compatible with the nature and species of each graft. So much so that one tree, a single apple tree, for example, a single pear tree, and a single cherry tree could, by this means, mechanically produce and bear as many different kinds of fruits as they have branches variously grafted on them. Everything I have said clearly shows that all these productions and all these changes which occur in nature, are caused only by the movement of matter and the various modifications and configurations of these parts, which are certainly all the necessary and fortuitous causes, mixed together, and all the blind and completely irrational causes. Thus, all the works and productions of nature are truly made only by necessary and fortuitous causes, and by blind and irrational causes, and thus these works and productions neither can nor do anything to demonstrate the existence of a supreme intelligence, or, consequently, the existence of a God who formed them as we see them.
85. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE WORKS OF NATURE AND WORKS OF ART, AS TO THEIR FORMATION.
Although this demonstration is clear and obvious, it might seem even more so by the response we’ll give to these above examples of a beautiful house, a beautiful painting, a beautiful clock, and the composition and printing of a fine and erudite book, which can’t have been made as they are without the assistance of skilled and clever artisans. I admit these examples can’t indeed have been made by themselves, or have been made by blind and irrational causes; I even admit that it would be ridiculous to say or even think it. But if the same is said to apply to the works of nature as to the human craft, and that the productions of nature can only have been made by the omnipotence and supreme intelligence of an infinitely perfect being, I absolutely deny this conclusion; and the clear and obvious reason for this is that there is a huge difference between the works of nature and works of art, and consequently, between the productions of nature and artistic production. The works of nature are made with materials which are formed and shaped by themselves by the movement that’s appropriate and natural to them; they are done with the materials which are assembled, arranged, connected, and united with each other, according to the various encounters and determinations in which they meet up, and consequently are able to make and form many works by their varied assemblages, unions, and modifications. But works of art are only made with materials which are immobile of themselves, and which, consequently, can’t make any regular and well-made work by themselves, such as a beautiful house, a beautiful picture, a beautiful clock, or the printing of beautiful book. This is why it would be ridiculous to say or think that the letters printed, and the ink and letters of papers, which have no self-made motion, are assembles, connected, and arranged so well together, that they might perform the composition and printing of a book. That, I say, would be ridiculous to say and to think.
Similarly, it would be ridiculous to say and think that the wood and stones, of which a house is made, are shaped, assembled, arranged and attached by themselves to build a house, since all those materials have no power to move themselves. It’s the same with a painting, a clock, and every work of art. It would be ridiculous to say and think that they were made and formed by themselves, since the materials they are made of have no motive force of their own. Since there is such a great difference, then, between works of art and the works of nature, it should come as no surprise if the former are made by themselves while the latter can’t do the same thing, since the materials of which the former are made are always set in motion and action by themselves, and since the materials that compose the others never are, unless they are set in motion or action. And we should be no more surprised at this, than to find that living bodies move, and that dead bodies don’t move; it would be surprising to suddenly find dead bodies starting to move, assembling themselves, and connecting up by themselves, here in one way and there in another, just as it would be surprising to see stones and pieces of wood which have no life or movement of their own, turning by themselves alongside each other, then placing and industriously arranging themselves with each other, that, I say, would come as a surprise, because such things are unable to move themselves. But nobody is surprised that living bodies move, or that, when moving, they approach or withdraw from each other; and when they approach, nobody is shocked when they assemble, join together, and remain for a certain time alongside each other, or that afterwards they might separate from each other. Nobody is surprised, I say, by this, because this is what bodies usually do when they’re in motion; and thus, the smallest parts of matter, which are the true material of which all the works of nature are composed, all inherently have the power to move in any direction, as I’ve shown already, it’s clear and evident that they can, by the diversity of their movements, combine, join, unite, and be modified in infinite sorts of ways, and it’s even impossible for them not to do so, in one way or another, given the infinite multitude of such parts of matter, which are in continual motion. So, there’s no reason for astonishment if, among those that do join, combine, and unite together, and that change in so many different ways, and consequently there’s no reason to be shocked if they compose and produce, by themselves, so many different works of nature, since the production of all these different w
orks is only a natural effect of all their movements. There’s also no reason to be surprised that all these works are placed and arranged by themselves in the order and position that they now hold, since the very laws of motion, blind as they are, compel everything to be arranged and placed where they’re most suited to, according to the disposition and constitution of their nature; and, far from it being ridiculous to say that the works of nature might be able to be made and arranged by themselves, as they are, by the force and by the natural laws of motion, it is, instead, ridiculous for our God-cultists to make a comparison here between the works of nature and works of artistry. It is ridiculous for them to try to argue here about the former and the latter, and it’s ridiculous for them to try to draw the same conclusion from the two things, in light of how great a difference and disparity there is between them.