CHAPTER XXI 



A GREAT PREPARATION 



^TpHE title which we have given this chap- 

 •*- ter Is that which M. Perrier, the emi- 

 nent Director of the Museum of Natural 

 History, lately inscribed at the head of a 

 remarkable article in the Revue hehdoma- 

 daire. In this the author showed how just 

 and how far inferior to his deserts are the 

 honours so tardily accorded to the man 

 whose life and labours we have sketched. 



We assuredly cannot say that Fabre's 

 name and his work have until lately remained 

 unknown or even undervalued. At an early 

 period he was honoured by the admiration 

 and friendship of such men as Dufour and 

 Duruy. On several occasions his works have 

 been crowned by the highest awards of the 

 Institute. Not content with belonging to the 

 Zoological Society and the Entomological 

 Society of France, and with being elected in 

 1887 corresponding member of the Academy 

 of Sciences, he has also been granted, as 

 though In emulation, the title of honorary 

 member by the most famous foreign acad- 

 emies, the Scientific Societies of Brussels, 



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