TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 



Of the increasing success and widening popu- 

 larity of the elementary science series written chiefly 

 in the seclusion of Serignan by the gifted French 

 naturalist who was destined to give that obscure 

 hamlet a distinction hardly inferior to the renown 

 enjoyed by Maillane since the days of Mistral, it is 

 unnecessary at this late date to say more than a word 

 in passing. The extraordinary vividness and ani- 

 mation of his style amply justified his early belief in 

 the possibility of making the truths of science more 

 fascinating to young readers, and to all readers, than 

 the fabrications of fiction. As Dr. Legros has said 

 in his biography 1 of Fabre, "He was indeed con- 

 vinced that even in early childhood it was possible 

 for both boys and girls to learn and to love many 

 subjects which had hitherto never been proposed; 

 and in particular that Natural History which to him 

 was a book in which all the world might read, but 

 that university methods had reduced to a tedious and 

 useless study in which the letter * killed the life.' " 



The young in heart and the pure in heart of what- 

 r age will find themselves drawn to this incom- 

 parable story-teller, this reverent revealer of the 

 awe-inspiring secrets of nature, this "Homer of the 

 insects." The identity of the "Uncle Paul," who in 



nbre, Foot of Science." By Dr. C. V. Legroe. New York: 

 The Century Co. 



