The Life of Jean Henri Fabre 



if by chance I do open a book, I am careful to leave 

 a section of my mind wide open to doubt.^ 



Beginning with that arising out of Du- 

 four's memoir, repeated experiences taught 

 Fabre not to be too greatly influenced, in his 

 conceptions of natural objects, by faith in his 

 reading or even in the assertions of his mas- 

 ters. To go still further, Pasteur's example 

 made him appreciate the advantage of com- 

 ing fresh to the facts, of confronting them 

 in a state of ignorance, of receiving impres- 

 sions from them alone, and of having no 

 ideas but those that truly emanate from the 

 reality. 



Without going to extremes, Fabre bene- 

 fited by this twofold lesson. No one had a 

 greater respect for his masters; he quotes 

 them readily and is chary neither of praising 

 their works nor of expressing his gratitude 

 to them;^ but no one was ever more inde- 

 pendent in his researches and his conclusions, 

 which are often the very contrary of theirs. 

 If he revered his masters he revered the truth 

 still more, and he might well have made his 

 own the celebrated maxim: Amicus Plato, 

 magis arnica Veritas. 



1 Souvenirs, ix., pp. 330-331. 



^Souvenirs, i., p. 40, 73; u., pp. 78, 83, 181, 214, 234, 

 235, 283; v., pp. 76, 188, 229, etc. 

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