 Later, building on an explicitly chemical matter theory, Diderot will describe nature as perpetually “in action and reaction; everything being destroyed in one form and recomposed in another; sublimations, dissolutions and combinations of all kinds”, in the “general movement or rather fermentation of the universe” (PPMM; DPV XVII: 17–18). This short piece of “philosophy of physics” includes a polemic aimed at all those who define matter as inert and homogeneous (latter-day Cartesians). Diderot wants to establish in contrast that motion is inherent in matter by joining together translation and nisus. Indeed, matter possesses properties including sensitivity.