CHAPTER XIV 



THE IRIS-WEEVIL 



pLANTS, with their fruits, have been 

 ^ and still are the main sustenance of man- 

 kind. The ancient Paradise of which the 

 eastern legends tell us had no other food- 

 resources. It was a delicious garden with 

 cool rivulets and fruits of every kind, includ- 

 ing the apple that was to be so fatal to us. 

 On the other hand, from a very early period, 

 our ills sought to obtain relief by the virtues 

 of simples, virtues that were sometimes real 

 and sometimes, indeed most frequently, ima- 

 ginary. Our knowledge of plants is thus as 

 old as our infirmities and our need of food. 

 Our knowledge of insects, on the contrary, 

 is quite recent. The ancients knew nothing 

 of the lesser animals, did not even deign to 

 glance at them. This disdain is by no means 

 extinct. We are vaguely familiar with the 

 work of the Bee and the Silk-worm; we have 

 heard people speak of the industry of the 

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