La Mettrie attempted among other things to prove the materialism of the soul. Because of his blatant and aggressive atheism, all of La Mettrie’s writings were placed on the Index and systematically burned. Owing to its heretical nature, this anonymous work was also ordered to be burnt by the magistrates of Leiden. An English translation appeared in 1749. See Vartanian, L’homme machine, a study in the origins of an idea, Princeton, 1960.