Henri Fabre 495 



Speaking of his own life, the aged scientist said : 

 "Because I have stirred a few grains of sand on the 

 shore, am I in a position to know the depths of the ocean ? 

 Life has unfathomable secrets. Human knowledge will 

 be erased from the archives of the world before we pos- 

 sess the last word that the gnat has to say to us. Scien- 

 tifically, Nature is a riddle without a definite solution to 

 satisfy man 's curiosity. Hypothesis follows hypothesis ; 

 the theoretical rubbish heap accumulates, and truth ever 

 eludes us. To know how not to know might well be the 

 last word of wisdom. ' ' 



Darwin, Mistral, Maeterlinck, all masters in their 

 sciences, were his friends.' Maeterlinck, in speaking of 

 Fabre, declares him to be "one of the most profound 

 scholars, the purest writer, and one of the finest poets of 

 the century just past." 



Although poverty and care had dogged Fabre 's life, 

 the last years of it were provided for by a pension from 

 the French Government. It was Frederic Mistral, the 

 great French poet, who urged this relief to the man "to 

 whom France owes every assistance from every point 

 of view." Before his death a monument had been 

 erected in his honour in Avignon. 



The following sketch of Fabre and his work is from 

 the pen of a British Naturalist, who heads his article, 

 "The Stupidity of Insects: Ingenuity Without Intelli- 

 gence ' ' : 



For over half a century Henri Fabre has been writ- 

 ing and publishing his epoch-making works. The ten 

 volumes of the "Souvenirs Entomologiques" have not 

 been written in vain, so far as English students are con- 

 cerned, though we are at the tail of the vast procession 

 which is wending its way to do homage to the sage of 

 Serignan. 



Years ago, in admiration of the then few papers pub- 

 lished by Henri Fabre, Darwin had called this man 

 "that inimitable observer." Henri Fabre has travelled 

 far since then, and altogether out of the line of vision 



