From a page on Arachnids from the Encyclopedie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts et des Metiers, published in Paris between 1762-1777. A masterpiece of the enlightment, it set out all the knowledge of the day, and was a first attempt to document the techniques of mechanical production for objects used in everyday life. Scholars from around the world, including Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson submitted chapters. Denis Diderot was a French philosopher, and man of letters, and the chief editor of the L'Encyclopédie, one of the principal achievements of the Age of Enlightenment. He was a a friend of the great minds of his age including Goethe, Rousseau, and Hume. A freethinker, Diderot challenged the authority of the Church and criticised the French system of government.