The Life of Jean Henri Fabre 



eries it was for a long time a life of obscurity, M. 

 Fabre gave not a thought to the Academic Fran- 

 gaise, which is all the better pleased to show that it 

 was thinking of him. 



M. Fabre has, indeed, too clear a vision and too 

 sane a mind not to perceive the problems of a 

 philosophical order which arise from the wonder- 

 ful data of his discoveries. At every step, in the 

 mysterious domain of instinct, reason cannot fail 

 to divine, beyond the little kingdom explored by 

 observation, the unfathomable secrets of creation. 



To all, even to those who believe themselves 

 least interested in matters of natural history, I can- 

 not refrain from saying: ''Read these narratives; 

 you will appreciate their charm, their geniality, 

 their simplicity, their life; you will fall in love 

 with this delightful science, which is pursued day 

 after day in the beautiful summer weather, " to the 

 song of the Cicadae ; *' this science which is truly 

 Latin, Virgilian at times, which goes hand in hand 

 with poetry, which is so imbued with love that it 

 sometimes seems as though there arose, from these 

 humble entomological souvenirs, a strophe of the 

 canticle of created things.^ 



A mark of homage, which, indeed, adds 

 nothing to the fame of the celebrated laureate 

 of the Institute and so many other learned 

 Academies, but which deserves mention here 

 because it certainly touched a fibre of the old 

 scientist's heart which all the rest might have 



* Session of the 8th December 1910. 

 364 



