The Life of the Fly 



parably inferior to the spoken word, which be- 

 gins again with fresh methods of attack and 

 is ready to vary the paths that lead to the 

 open, the book says what it says and nothing 

 more. Having finished its demonstration, 

 whether you understand or no, the oracle is 

 inexorably dumb. You reread the text and 

 ponder it obstinately; you pass and repass 

 your shuttle through the woof of figures. 

 Useless efforts all : the darkness continues. 

 What would be needed to supply the illumin- 

 ating ray? Often enough, a trifle, a mere 

 word ; and that word the book will not speak. 



Happy is he who is guided by a master's 

 teaching ! His progress does not know the 

 misery of those wearisome break-downs. 

 What was I to do before the disheartening 

 wall that every now and then rose up and 

 barred my road? I followed d'Alembert's^ 

 precept in his advice to young mathematical 

 students : 



'Have faith and go ahead,' said the great 

 geometrician. 



Faith I had; and I went on pluckily. And 

 it was well for me that I did, for I often 

 found behind the wall the enlightenment 



'Jean Baptiste le Rond d'AIembert (1717-1783), editor 

 of the Encyclopedie and perpetual secretary of the French 

 Academy. — Translator's Note. 

 314 



