The Processionaryj the Eggs 



top of the leaf, makes any other method of 

 progression inadmissible. 



Let us consider in the light of reflection 

 the elegant edifice now before our eyes. 

 Young or old, cultured or ignorant, we shall 

 all, on seeing the Bombyx' pretty little spike, 

 exclaim : 



"How handsome!" 



And what will strike us most will be not 

 the beautiful enamel pearls, but the way in 

 which they are put together with such geome- 

 trical regularity. Whence we can draw a great 

 moral, to wit, that an exquisite order governs 

 the work of a creature without consciousness, 

 one of the humblest of the humble. A paltry 

 Moth follows the harmonious laws of order. 



If Micromegas^ took it into his head to 

 leave Sirius once more and visit our planet, 

 would he find anything to admire among us? 

 Voltaire shows him to us using one of the 

 diamonds of his necklace as a magnifying- 

 glass in order to obtain some sort of view of 

 the three-master which has run aground on 

 his thumb-nail. He enters into conversation 



^The eponymous hero of Voltaire's story of "the little 

 great man," published in 1752 in imitation of Gulliver's 

 Travels. — Translator's Note. 



17 



