METTRIE, JULIEN OFFRAY DE LA, a materialistic
writer, was the son of a wealthy merchant, and was born at
St Malo in 1709. After he had received his classical edu-
cation at Paris he began his medical studies at Rheims, and
finished them under the celebrated Boerhaave at Leyden.
In 1742, the Duc de Grammont, colonel of the French
guards, appointed him surgeon to his regiment. It was while
present in this capacity at the siege of Fribourg, that being
attacked with a dangerous sickness, and feeling that his
body and mind were enfeebled simultaneously, he drew the
inference that the soul must perish along with the organic
structure with which it is connected. On his recovery in
1745 he divulged this doctrine in his Histoire Naturelle
de l'Âme, a book full of the grossest materialism and im-
piety. The death of his patron at the battle of Fontenoy,
in the same year, left him exposed to the storm of indigna-
tion that his vagaries had raised. He was expelled from
his situation in the guards, and on daring to attack his pro-
fessional brethren in his Pénélope, ou le Machiavel en
Médecine, 12mo, 1748, he was driven from his native
country. Scarcely had he taken refuge in Leyden when the
publication of his revolting opinions in a book entitled
Homme Machine, 12mo, 1748, subjected him once more to
persecution. The work was publicly burnt, and its author
was glad to avail himself of an opportune invitation from
Frederick the Great to fix his residence at Berlin. The
society of wits and philosophers from all parts of Europe,
whom the Prussian monarch entertained at Potsdam, re-
ceived Mettrie with all the distinction and respect due
to a victim of intolerance. A pension, the title of reader
to the king, and a place in the academy, were conferred
upon him. He was admitted to the most intimate fami-
liarity with his master. When he was tired he lounged
upon the royal sofas, and when he was over-heated he un-
buttoned his vest and threw his peruke upon the floor. At
length, however, the brilliant yet no less galling slavery
under which the literary dependants of Frederick lived
became intolerable to Mettrie. He besought Voltaire,
with all the passionate weeping of a child, to obtain for him
from the French government leave to return to France;
but before that request had time to be granted he was
attacked by a severe fit of indigestion. The disorder was
aggravated by the absurd treatment he used, and he died
in November 1751, deriving no consolation from his own
philosophy, or from the maxims of his irreligious associates.
After his death his friend Voltaire gave no friendly estimate
either of his intellectual or moral character. "Mettrie,"
said he, "was a fool that never wrote except when intox-
cated." The collected works of Mettrie were published in 2 vols., Berlin, 1751.