Fabre's Writings 



and inducing the insect to speak. The 

 smallest incident, insignificant to a mind less 

 alert than his, suggests further questions or 

 gives rise to sudden intuitions and precon- 

 ceived ideas which are immediately sub- 

 jected to the test of experiment. But it is 

 not enough to question the insect; one must 

 understand its replies; it is not enough to 

 collect or even to provoke data. One must 

 know how to interpret them. 



And here truly we come to the prodigy; for his 

 sympathy for animals gives M. Fabre a sort of 

 special sense, which enables him to grasp the mean- 

 ing of its actions, as though there were between 

 it and himself some actual means of communica- 

 tion, something in the nature of a language. 1 



But there is something even more remark- 

 able than this penetration and certainty of 

 analysis; it is the prudence with which he 

 goes forward step by step, without leaving 

 anything vague or doubtful; the reserve with 

 which he pronounces upon all that goes 

 beyond the obvious meaning of the facts; the 

 frankness and modesty with which he ad- 

 mits that he hesitates or does not know. It 

 often happens that this scrupulous spirit leads 



1 F. Marguet, op. cit. 



319 



