The Life of Jean Henri Fabre 



pliances in the open air, there are those inside 

 the house: some are installed in the study, 

 so that the experimenter " can see his insects 

 working on the very table upon which he is 

 writing their history " ; * others are arranged 

 in a separate room known as the " animal 

 laboratory." 



It is a great, silent, isolated room, brilliantly 

 lighted by two windows facing south, upon the 

 garden, one of which at least is always open that 

 the insects may come and go at liberty. . . . The 

 middle of the room is entirely occupied by a great 

 table of walnut-wood, on which are arranged bot- 

 tles, test-tubes, and old sardine boxes, which Fabre 

 employs in order to watch the evolution of a thou- 

 sand nameless or doubtful eggs, to observe the la- 

 bours of their larvae, the creation and hatching of 

 cocoons, and the little miracles of metamorphosis, 

 after a germination more wonderful than that of 

 the acorn which makes the oak. 



Covers of metallic gauze resting on earthenware 

 saucers full of sand, a few carboys and flower-pots 

 or sweetmeat jars closed with a square of glass; 

 these serve for observation or experimental cages in 

 which the progress and the actions of these tiny, 

 living machines can be investigated. 2 



Fabre reveals a consummate skill in this 

 difficult and delicate art of experimentation 



1 Souvenirs, iv., p. 222. 



2 Fabre, Poet of Science, G. V. Legros, pp. 147, 149. 



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