Named in memory of the controversial freethinker John Toland (1670–1722). In 1696 he published his celebrated Christianity not Mysterious, a classic exposition on deism. Later, in his Letters to Serena (1704), he severely attacked the deism of both Spinoza {see planet  (7142)} and Newton {see planet  (8000)} with the remark “That after admitting the Activity of Matter, there seems to be no need of presiding Intelligence”, thus anticipating Holbach’s {see planet  (6956)} Système de la Nature. (M 31028) _ _.