The Life of Jean Henri Fabre 



predecessors, it is none the less prudent not 

 to accept, in blind confidence, the whole her- 

 itage of the past, but to subject to the con- 

 trol of facts the statements even of the mas- 

 ters when these appear at all extravagant. 

 Otherwise we run the risk, if not of perpe- 

 trating error by repeating it on our own re- 

 sponsibility, at all events of following a false 

 trail on which we may lose much time and 

 which may finally lead us to envy the lot of 

 those who are able to attack their subject, 

 from the very first, with minds empty of all 

 information and any preconceived ideas. 

 This was brought well home to Fabre by the 

 repeated experience of errors which had es- 

 caped the most learned authors and erroneous 

 methods suggested by the best books. And 

 the persuasive effect of the highly sympto- 

 matic example afforded by an absolutely un- 

 rivalled master was even more eloquent. 



Unexpectedly, one fine day [writes Fabre], Pas- 

 teur rang my door-bell: the Pasteur who was 

 presently to acquire so great a celebrity. His name 

 was known to me. I had read his beautiful essay 

 on the dissymmetry of tartaric acid ; I had followed 

 with the keenest interest his researches concerning 

 the generation of the Infusoria. 



Every period has its scientific craze; to-day it is 

 evolution; then it was spontaneous generation. By 

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