80 JEAN-HENRI FABRE 



consistently to apply the experimental method to the investi- 

 gation of the animal mind. The " Souvenirs" abound in ac- 

 counts of experiments, performed for the purpose of elucidating 

 the nature of instinct, not the less illuminating and conclusive 

 because they were carried out with crude, home-made appa- 

 ratus. It is as instructive as it is humiliating to read his results 

 and to reflect on the mountains of complicated apparatus in 

 our modern laboratories and the ridiculous mice in the form 

 of results which only too frequently issue from the travail of 

 " research." 



Another valuable service of Fabre consisted in his calling 

 attention to the fact that the applications of zoology to human 

 welfare must be based on an accurate knowledge of animal 

 behavior. This has been tacitly assumed by economic ento- 

 mologists, but neither they nor the modern behaviorists have 

 sufficiently emphasized the fact that we cannot hope to control 

 animal depredations or to compel animals to contribute to our 

 well-being and wealth without an exhaustive knowledge of such 

 apparently remote phenomena as the animal sensations, reac- 

 tions and instincts. Fabre is quite explicit in this matter. 

 Though he lived as a recluse from the scientific world, he re- 

 mained in intimate contact with the life of the Provencal peas- 

 ant and had no doubts concerning the important bearing of 

 his own work on such a fundamental industry as agriculture. 



