Fabre's Writings 



highest manifestations of its life, in its in- 

 stincts and its habits, in its aptitudes and its 

 passions, in a word, in its psychic faculties; 

 to replace the dominant standpoint of mor- 

 phology and physiology by the standpoint 

 of biology and psychology; such is the es- 

 sential programme of the writer of the 

 Souvenirs. 



And he adheres to it all the more strictly 

 the more he sees it neglected by those about 

 him, judging it to be of still greater im- 

 portance for one who is seeking to know the 

 insect, more advantageous to practice and 

 speculation, more essential to the open-air 

 life and the most abstruse inquiries of the 

 human mind. By curiously interrogating the 

 life of the insects one may render inestimable 

 services to agriculture, as Pasteur did in his 

 investigation of serici-culture; one may also 

 "furnish general psychology with data of 

 inestimable value," and this in particular 

 was what he proposed to do. M. Fabre's 

 restless mind is for ever haunted by the most 

 abstruse problems, which, indicated here and 

 there, enable us to understand the motives 

 that urge him on. With reference to these 

 the insect is no longer an end: it becomes a 

 means. Above all, M. Fabre wishes to 

 define instinct; to establish the line of de- 



313 



