  In this declaration, Du Châtelet establishes how out of  step—though not necessarily entirely to her detriment—she was with her own milieu. Members of the Royal Society in Britain and Academie Royale in France in the 18th century tended to eschew the use of hypotheses, preferring what they took to be a scientific focus on empirical  facts.[17] Moreover, Newton was seen by many of his admiring contemporaries to have captured the value of the Societies’ approach in his scientific practice and in his famous  motto hypotheses non  fingo.[18] Among the most vocal spokespersons in eighteenth century France for this approach was none other than Du Châtelet’s housemate during her years spent drafting the Foundations, Voltaire who, in his Elements of Newton’s Philosophy, contrasts Descartes and Newton along exactly these  lines.[19] In siding with the use of hypotheses, in once again lauding Descartes for this aspect of his  method,[20] and in suggesting that Newton himself makes use of hypotheses, Du Châtelet establishes herself as no mere mimic of ‘greater’ men of her time. The fact that this highly innovative chapter survives her massive rewrites after her tutelage under Koenig also throws into question the doubt cast upon her originality by Koenig's charge of plagiarism. Indeed, close examination of the manuscript of what remains of Du Châtelet's earliest version of the Foundations in the Bibliothèque nationale de France discloses that her chapter on hypothesis is much more well-worked out than surrounding chapters, many of which have two significantly edited drafts. This indicates that she may have fairly clear ideas on this chapter, even while her thoughts on the rest of the first half of the book are in considerable  flux.[21]