THE CAPRICORN 147 



dillac's statue. The imaginary being created by the philo- 

 sopher 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 together 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 creature 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 comparison 

 with this, the statue with the sensitive nostrils was a marvel 

 of knowledge. It^remembered, compared, judged, and reasoned. 

 Can the Capricorn - grub remember ? Can it reason ? I 

 described it a little time ago as a bit of intestine that crawls 

 about. This description gives an answer to these questions. 

 The grub has the sensations of a bit of intestine, no more and 

 no less. 



Ill 



THE GRUB'S FORESIGHT 



And this half -alive object, this nothing- at- all, is capable of 

 marvellous foresight. It knows hardly anything of the present, 

 but it sees very clearly into the future. 



For three years on end the larva wanders about in the 

 heart of the trunk. It goes up, goes down, turns to this side 

 and that ; it leaves one vein for another of better flavour, but 

 without ever going too far from the inner depths, where the 

 temperature is milder than near the surface, and greater safety 

 reigns. But a day is at hand when the hermit must leave its 



