Voltaire ignored the problems of the meaning of natural laws: of the functions of life and of the human mind: and the possible scope still left for free will: But doubtless he was expressing vividly the current French opinions about the philosophic and religious bearings of Newtonian science: Laplace told Napoleon that he had no need of the hypothesis of a Creator: though Lagrange made the comment that it was a good hypothesis: it explained many things.