The history of animals and of men proves how the mind and the body of children are dominated by their inheritance from their fathers. [J.M.]

[It is not clear to me whether La Mettrie means here by ``fathers,'' ``male parents'' or ``ancestors.'' The original runs as follows: L'histoire des animaux et des hommes prouve l'empire de la semence des pères sur l'esprit et le corps des enfants, and elsewhere the translator renders la semence des pères as simply ``inheritance.'' CRS]