Fabre's Writings 



tal. " To observe the crude fact, to record 

 it, then to ask what conclusion may be based 

 upon this solid foundation, such is M. 

 Fabre's only rule; and if we oppose him with 

 arguments he demands observations." x 



"See first; you can argue afterwards." 

 "The precise facts are alone worthy of 

 science. They cast premature theories into 

 oblivion." 



He always makes direct for the facts as 

 Nature presents them. The books fail him 

 or are not to his liking. Most of them dis- 

 sect the insect; he wants it alive and acting. 

 The best contain but the shadow of life; he 

 prefers life itself. If he happens to quote 

 them, it is usually to deplore their deficien- 

 cies or to correct their errors, or perhaps 

 to do homage to a precursor or a rival, but 

 not to borrow from them the history of an 

 insect. 



This history he wishes to take from life, 

 and he refuses to write except according to 

 Nature and the data provided by the living 

 subject. His narratives are always the re- 

 sult of strictly conscientious and objective 

 inquiries: he records nothing that he has not 

 seen, and if he has sometimes heightened 

 his pictures by somewhat vivid hues, he has 



1 F. Marguet, op. cit. 



315 



