The Life of Jean Henri Fabre 



those lucky circumstances which he who seeks them 

 eagerly is always able to find, I myself published 

 an entomological article, a supplement to Leon 

 Dufour's. This first work of mine won honourable 

 mention from the Institute of France, and was 

 awarded a prize for experimental physiology. But 

 soon I received a far more welcome recompense, 

 in the shape of a most eulogistic and encouraging 

 letter from the very man who had inspired me. 

 From his home in the Landes the revered master 

 sent me a warm expression of his enthusiasm and 

 urged me to go on with my studies. Even now, 

 at that sacred recollection, my old eyes fill with 

 happy tears. O fair days of illusion, of faith in 

 the future, where are you now ? 1 



Moquin-Tandon converted Fabre to the 

 study of animals and plants. Dufour con- 

 verted him to the study of insects, and taught 

 him to publish the results of his entomological 

 studies. 



Dufour's little work was a revelation; a 

 flash of light revealing his vocation. It was 

 like the electric impulse that bursts the seed 

 about to open, that sends the genius ready 

 to unfold its wings soaring into the heavens. 



It was to the chance perusal of a certain 

 passage that another prince of science owed 



1 Souvenirs, I., pp. 39-41. The Hunting Wasps, chap, 

 i., " The Buprestis-hunting Cerceris." 



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