Author's Preface 



at Serignan on April 3, 1910. When all 

 Provence was agog to celebrate the great 

 man, when from all parts of France and from 

 beyond her frontiers evidences of sympathy 

 and admiration were pouring in, was it not 

 only fitting that a voice should be upraised 

 from the heart of Aveyron, and, above all, 

 from that corner of Aveyron in which he first 

 saw the light of day; if only to echo so many 

 other voices, and to restore to his native 

 countryside this unrivalled son of the Rou- 

 ergue who had perhaps too readily been natu- 

 ralised a Provencal? Moreover, in these 

 times of overweening atheism, when so many 

 pseudo-scientists are striving to persuade the 

 ignorant that science is learning to dispense 

 with God, would it not be a most timely thing 

 to reveal, to the eyes of all, a scientist of un- 

 doubted genius who finds in science fresh 

 arguments for belief, and manifold occasions 

 for affirming his faith in the God who has 

 created and rules the world? 



And that was the origin of this book, the 

 genesis of which will explain its character. 

 Written especially for local readers, and con- 

 sisting entirely of articles which appeared in 

 the Journal d' Aveyron, it is fitting that it 

 should piously gather up the most trivial lo- 

 cal reminiscences of J. H. Fabre, and that it 

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