FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



it possesses only in a very small degree. It is very little 

 better off than Condillac's statue. The imaginary being 

 created by the philosopher had one sense only, that of 

 smell, equal in delicacy to our own; the real being, the 

 oak-eater has two, which are inferior even when put to- 

 gether to the one sense of the statue. The latter plainly 

 perceived the scent of a rose, and clearly distinguished 

 it from any other. 



A vain wish has often come to me in my dreams : to 

 be able to think, for a few minutes, with the brain of 

 my Dog, or to see the world with the eyes of a Gnat. 

 How things would change in appearance! But they 

 would change much more if understood only with the 

 intellect of the grub. What has that incomplete crea- 

 ture learnt through its senses of touch and taste? Very 

 little; almost nothing. It knows that the best bits of 

 wood have a special kind of flavour, and that the sides 

 of a passage, when not carefully smoothed, are painful 

 to the skin. This is the limit of its wisdom. In com- 

 parison with this, the statue with the sensitive nostrils 

 was a marvel of knowledge. It remembered, compared, 

 judged, and reasoned. Can the Capricorn-grub remem- 

 ber? Can it reason? I described it a little time ago 

 as a bit of intestine that crawls about. This descrip- 

 tion gives an answer to these questions. The grub has 

 the sensations of a bit of intestine, no more and no less. 



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