The Collaborators 



ions relating to evolution, for Favier is an 

 evolutionist, and a highly original one. 



For him the bat is a rat that has grown wings ; 

 the cuckoo is a sparrow-hawk that has retired from 

 business; the slug, a snail which, through advanc- 

 ing age, has lost its shell; the night-jar, the etraou- 

 cho-grepaou, as he calls it, is an old toad which, 

 having developed a passion for milk, has grown 

 feathers in order to enter the folds and milk the 

 goats. It would be impossible to get these fantastic 

 ideas out of his head. Favier is, as will be seen, 

 an evolutionist after his fashion, and a daring evo- 

 lutionist. Nothing gives him pause in tracing the 

 descent of animals. He has a reply for every- 

 thing: this comes from that. If you ask why, he 

 replies: "See how like they are!" 



Shall we reproach him for these insanities when 

 we hear scientists acclaiming the pithecanthropos 

 as the precursor of man, led astray as they are by 

 the formation of the monkey? Shall we reject the 

 metamorphoses of the chavucho-grapaou when there 

 are men who will seriously tell us that in the pres- 

 ent condition of science it is absolutely proved that 

 man is descended from some vaguely sketched mon- 

 key? Of the two transformations Favier's seems 

 to me the more admissible. A painter, a friend of 

 mine, the brother of the great musician, Felicien 

 David, imparted to me one day his reflections con- 

 cerning the human structure. " Ve, moun bd 

 ami," he said, " ve: Thome a lou dintre d'un por et 

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