The Professor: Avignon 



the awakening of his genius. We are speak- 

 ing of Pasteur, whom we shall presently see 

 in his dealings with Fabre. " It was through 

 reading a note by the Russian chemist, 

 Mitscherlich, on the comparison of the spe- 

 cific characters of certain crystals that Pas- 

 teur became interested in those investigations 

 of the subject of molecular dissymmetry 

 which were the starting-point of so many won- 

 derful discoveries." x 



Does it not seem that there must be a spe- 

 cial Providence for the elect of science? 



In Dufour's memoir, which gave Fabre so 

 decisive an impulsion toward entomology, a 

 singular fact is mentioned: the naturalist of 

 the Landes found in the nest of a species of 

 Wasp known as the Cerceris some small bee- 

 tles of the Buprestis family, which, although 

 apparently dead, remained as fresh as though 

 alive during the period occupied by the rear- 

 ing of the larvae for whose nourishment they 

 are destined to serve. 



Dufour supposed that these Buprestes 

 were simply dead, and, " in order to explain 

 this marvellous preservation of their flesh, 

 which makes an insect that for several weeks 

 has been motionless as a corpse a kind of 

 game that does not become high but remain 



1 Fabre, Poet of Science, p. 58. 



155 



