Fabre applied himself thenceforth with all his heart; and for nine years
never lifted his hand。
How insipid; how forbidding were the usual classbooks; the second…rate
natural histories above all; stuffed with dry statements; with raw
knowledge; which brought nothing but the memory into play! How many
youthful faces had grown pale above them!
What a contrast and a deliverance in these little books of Fabre's; so
clear; so luminous; so simple; which for the first time spoke to the heart
and the understanding; for 〃work which one does not understand disgusts
one。〃 (5/1。)
To initiate others into science or art; it is not enough to have understood
them oneself; it is not enough even that one should be an artist or a
scientist。 Scientists of the highest flight are sometimes very unskilful
teachers; and very indifferent hands at explaining the alphabet。 It is not
given to the first comer to educate the young; to understand how to
identify his understanding with theirs; to measure their powers。 It is a
matter of instinct and good sense rather than of memory or erudition; and
Fabre; who had never in his life been the pupil of any one; could better
than any remember the phases through which his mind had passed; could
recollect by what detours of the mind; by what secret labours of thought;
by what intuitive methods he had succeeded in conquering; one by one; all
the difficulties in his path; and in gradually attaining to knowledge。
It is wonderful to watch the mastery with which he conducts his
demonstrations; the simplest as well as the most involved; singling out the
essential; little by little evoking the sense of things; ingeniously
seeking familiar examples; finding comparisons; and employing picturesque
and striking images; which throw a dazzling light upon the obscurest
question or the most difficult problem。 How in such matters can one
dispense with figurative speech; when one is reduced; as a rule; to an
inability to show the things themselves; but only their images and their
symbols?
Follow him; for example; in the 〃The Sky〃 (5/2。); which seems to thrill
with the ardent and comprehensive genius of a Humboldt; and admire the ease
with which he surmounts all the difficulties and smooths the way for the
vast voyage on which he conducts you; past the infinity of the suns and the
stars in their millions; scintillating in the cold air of night; to descend
once more to our humble 〃Earth〃 (5/3。); first an ocean of fire; rolling its
heavy waves of molten porphyry and granite; then 〃slowly hardening into
strange floes and bergs; hotter than the red iron in the fire of the
forge;〃 rounding its back; all covered with gaping pustules; eruptive
mountains and craters; and the first folds of its calcined crust; until the
day when the vast mist of densest vapours; heaped up on every hand and of
immeasurable depth; begins gradually to show rifts; giving rise at last to
an infinite storm; a stupendous deluge; and forming the strange universal
sea; 〃a mineral sludge; veiled by a chaos of smoke;〃 whence at length the
primitive soil emerges; 〃and at last the green grass。〃
And although 〃a little animal proteid; capable of pleasure and pain;
surpasses in interest the whole immense creation of dead matter;〃 he does
not forget to show us the spectacle of life flowing through matter itself;
and he animates even the simple elementary bodies; celebrating the
marvellous activities of the air; the violence of Chlorine; the
metamorphoses of Carbon; the miraculous bridals of Phosphorus; and 〃the
splendours which accompany the birth of a drop of water。〃 (5/4。)
A man must indeed love knowledge deeply before he can make others love it;
or render it easy and attractive; revealing only the smiling highways; and
Fabre; above all things the impassioned professor; was the very man to lead
his disciples 〃between the hedges of hawthorn and sloe;〃 whether to show
them the sap; 〃that fruitful current; that flowing flesh; that vegetable
blood;〃 or how the plant; by a mysterious transubstantiation; makes its
wood; 〃and the delicate bundle of swaddling…bands of its buds;〃 or how
〃from a putrid ordure it extracts the flavour and the fragrance of its
fruits〃; or whether he seeks to evoke the murderous plants that live as
parasites at the cost of others; the white Clandestinus; 〃which strangles
the roots of the alders beside the rivers;〃 the Cuscuta; 〃which knows
nothing of labour;〃 the wicked Orobanche; plump; powerful and brazen; the
skin covered with ugly scales; 〃with sombre flowers that wear the livery of
death; which leaps at the throat of the clover; stifling it; devouring it;
sucking its blood。〃 (5/5。)
Botany; by this genial treatment; becomes a most interesting study; and I
know of no more captivating reading than 〃The Plant〃 and 〃The Story of the
Log;〃 the jewels of this incomparable series。
Employ Fabre's method if you wish to learn by yourself; or to evoke in your
children a love of science; and; according to the phrase of the gentle
Jean…Jacques; to help them 〃to buy at the best possible of prices。〃 Give
them as sole guides these exquisite manuals; which touch upon everything;
initiating them into everything; and bringing within the reach of all; for
their instruction or amusement; the heavens and the earth; the planets and
their moons; the mechanism of the great natural forces and the laws which
govern them; life and its materials; agriculture and its applications。 For
more than a quarter of a century these catechisms of science; models of
lucidity and good sense; effected the education of generations of
Frenchmen。 Abridgments of all knowledge; veritable codes of rural wisdom;
these perfect breviaries have never been surpassed。
It was after reading these little books; it is said; that Duruy conceived
the idea of confiding to this admirable teacher the education of the
Imperial heir; and it is very probable that this was; in reality; the
secret motive which would explain why he had so expressly summoned Fabre to
Paris。 What an ideal tutor he had thought of; and how proud might others
have been of such a choice! But the man was too zealous of his
independence; too difficult to tame; to bear with the environment of a
court; and God knows whether he was made for such refulgence! We need not
be surprised that Fabre never heard of it; it must have sufficed the
minister to speak with him for a few minutes to realize that the most
tempting offers and all the powers of seduction would never overcome his
insurmountable dislike of life in a capital; nor prevail against his
inborn; passionate; exclusive love of the open。
For these volumes Fabre was at first rather wretchedly paid; at all events;
until public education had definitely received a fresh impulse; and for a
long time his life at Orange was literally a hand…to…mouth existence。
As soon as he was able to realize a few advances; he had nothing so much at
heart as the repayment of Mill; and he hastened to call on the philosopher;
all the more filled with gratitude for his generosity in that the loan;
although of the comparatively large amount of three thousand francs; was
made without security; practically from hand to hand; with no other
warranty than his probity。
For this reason this episode was always engraven on his memory。 Thirty
years later he would relate the affair even to the most insignificant
details。 How many times has he not reminded me of the transaction;
insisting that I should make a note of it; so anxious was he that this
incident in his career should not be lost in oblivion! How often has he not
recalled the infinite delicacy of Mill; and his excessive scrupulousness;
which went so far that he wished to give a written acknowledgment of the
repayment of the debt; of which there was no record whatever save in the
conscience of the debtor!
Scarcely two years later Mill died suddenly at Avignon。 Grief finally
killed him; for this unexpected death seemed to have been only the ultimate
climax of the secret malady which had so long been undermining him。
It was in the outskirts of Orange that Fabre for the last time met him and
accompanied him upon a botanizing expedition。 He was struck by his weakness
and his rapid decline。 Mill could hardly drag himself along; and when he
stooped to gather a specimen he had the greatest difficulty in rising。 They
were never to meet again。
A few days lateron the 8th May; 1873Fabre was invited to lunch with the
philosopher。 Before going to the little house by the cemetery he halted; as
was his custom; at the Libraire Saint…Just。 It was there that he learned;
with amazement; of the tragic and sudden event which set a so unexpected
term to a friendship which was doubtless a little remote; but which was; on
both sides; a singularly lofty and beautiful attachment。
His class…books were now bringing in scarcely anything; their preparation;
moreover; involved an excessive expenditure of time; and gave him a great
deal of trouble; it is impossible to imagine what scrupulous care; what
zeal and self…respect Fabre brought to the execution of the programme which
he had to fulfil。
To begin with; he considered that he could not enjoy a more splendid
opportunity to give children a taste for science and to stimulate their
curiosity than by finding a means to interest them; from their earliest
infancy; in their simple playthings; even the crudest and most inexpensive;
so true is it that 〃in the smallest mechanical device or engine; even in
its simplest form; as conceived by the industry of a child; there is often
the germ of important truths; and; better than books; the school of the
playroom; if gently disciplined; will open for the child the windows of the
universe。〃
〃The humble teetotum; made of a crust of rye…bread transfixed by a twig;
silently spinning on the cover of a school…book; will give a correct e
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