A BARREN PROMISE 95 



We must therefore believe that, if the possibilities of 

 the future should ever produce a Dung-beetle carrying a 

 horn upon his corselet, this upsetter of present customs 

 will not be the Onthophagus succeeding in maturing the 

 thoracic appendage of the nymph, but rather an insect 

 resulting from a new model. The creative power throws 

 aside the old moulds and replaces them by others, 

 fashioned with fresh care, after plans of an inexhaustible 

 variety. Its laboratory is not a peddling rag-fair, where 

 the living assume the cast clothes of the dead : it is a 

 medallist's studio, where each effigy receives the stamp 

 of a special die. Its treasure-house of forms, of unbounded 

 wealth, excludes any niggardly patching of the old to 

 make the new. It breaks up every mould once used ; it does 

 away with it, without resorting to shabby after- touches. 



Then what is the meaning of those horny preparations, 

 which are always blighted before they come to aught ? 

 Without feeling greatly abashed by my ignorance, I 

 confess that I am absolutely unable to say. In the 

 absence of an appearance of learning, my answer has at 

 least one merit, that of perfect sincerity. 



