Vartanian (1922-97) offered this set of three essays to the series editors just before he died and had no opportunity to write a general introduction explaining the direction they take. However, they were deemed to be a major contribution to the study of the French Enlightenment and are presented as received. He explores the inter- relations between scientific speculation and humanism in the work of Fontenelle (1657-1757), La Mettrie (1719-51), and Diderot (1713-84). Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR