《fabre, poet of science》

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(O men of little sense; who seek; 

Scalpel in hand; to make Death tell

The virtue of the bee; the secret of her cell!) (8/23。)





CHAPTER 9。 EVOLUTION OR 〃TRANSFORMISM。〃



〃How did a miserable grub acquire its marvellous knowledge? Are its habits;

its aptitudes; and its industries the integration of the infinitely little;

acquired by successive experiences on the limitless path of time?〃



It is in these words that Fabre presents the problem of evolution。



Difficult though it may be to follow the sequence of forms which have

endlessly succeeded and replaced one another on the face of the earth;

since the beginning of the world; it is certain that all living creatures

are closely related; and the magnificent and fertile hypothesis of

evolution; which seeks to explain how extant forms are derived from

extinct; has the immense advantage of giving a plausible reason for the

majority of the facts which at least cease to be completely unintelligible。



Otherwise we can certainly never imagine how so many instincts; and these

so complex and perfect; could have issued suddenly 〃from the urn of

hazard。〃



But Fabre will suppose nothing; he will only record the facts。 Instead of

wandering in the region of probabilities; he prefers to confine himself to

the reality; and for the rest to reply simply that 〃we do not know。〃



This stern; positive; rigorous; independent; and observant mind; nourished

upon geometry and the exact sciences; which has never been able to content

itself with approximations and probabilities; could but distrust the

seductions of hypotheses。



His robust common sense; which was always his protection against

precipitate conclusions; too clearly comprehends the limits of science and

the necessity of accumulating facts 〃upon the thorny path of observation

and experiment〃 to indulge in generalization。 He feels that life has

secrets which our minds are powerless to probe; and that 〃human knowledge

will be erased from the archives of the world before we know the last word

concerning the smallest fly。〃



This is why he was regarded as 〃suspect〃 by the company of official

scientists; to whom he was a dissenter; almost a traitor; especially at a

moment when the theories of evolution; then in the first flush of their

novelty; were everywhere the cause of a general elation。



No one as yet was capable of divining the man of the future in this modest

thinker who would not accept the word of the masters interested; but in

opposing the theory of transformation; far from being reactionary; Fabre

revealed himself; at least in the domain of animal psychology; as an

innovator; a true precursor。



Moreover; his observations; always so direct and personal; often revealed

the contrary of what was asserted or foreseen by the magic formulae

suggested by the mind。



To the ingenious mechanism invented by the transformists he preferred to

oppose; not contrary argument; but the naked undeniable fact; the obvious

testimony; the certain and irrefragable example。 〃Is it;〃 he would ask

them; 〃to repulse their enemies that certain caterpillars smear themselves

with a corrosive product? But the larva of the Calosoma sycophanta; which

feeds on the Processional caterpillar of the oak…tree; pays no heed to it;

neither does the Dermestes; which feeds on the entrails of the Processional

caterpillar of the pine…tree。〃



And consider mimicry。 According to the theory of evolution; certain insects

would utilize their resemblance to certain others in order to conceal

themselves; and to introduce themselves into the dwellings of the latter as

parasites living at their expense。 Such would be the case with the

Volucella; a large fly whose costume; striped with brown and yellow bands;

gives it a rude resemblance to the wasp。 Obliged; if not for its own sake

at least for that of its family; to force itself into the wasp's dwelling

as a parasite; it deceitfully dresses itself; we are told; in the livery of

its victim; thus affording the most curious and striking example of

mimicry; and naturalists insufficiently informed would regard it as one of

the greatest triumphs of evolution。



Now what does the Volucella do? It is true that it lays its eggs without

being disturbed in the nest of the wasp。 But; as the rigorous observer will

tell you; it is a precious auxiliary and not an enemy of the community。 Its

grubs; far from disguising or concealing themselves; 〃come and go openly

upon the combs; although every stranger is immediately massacred and thrown

out。〃 Moreover; 〃they watch the hygiene of the city by clearing the nest of

its dead and ridding the larvae of the wasps of their excretory products。〃

Plunging successively into each chamber of the dormitory the forepart of

their bodies; 〃they provoke the emission of that fluid excrement of which

the larvae; owing to their cloistration; contain an extreme reserve。〃 In a

word; the grubs of the Volucella 〃are the nurses of the larvae;〃 performing

the most intimate duties。〃 (9/1。)



What an astonishing conclusion! What a disconcerting and unexpected reply

to the 〃theories in vogue〃!



Fabre; however; with his poetic temperament and ardent imagination; seemed

admirably prepared to grasp all that vast network of relations by which all

creatures are connected; but what proves the solidity of his imperishable

work is that all theories; all doctrines; and all systems may resort to it

in turn and profit by his proofs and arguments。



And he himself; although he boasts with so much reason of putting forward

no pretensions; no theories; no systems; has he not even so yielded

somewhat to the suggestions of the prevailing school of thought; and have

not his verdicts against evolution often been the more excessive in that he

has paid so notable a tribute to the evolutionary progress of creation?



In the first place; he is far from excluding the undeniable influence of

environing causes; the immense role of those myriad external circumstances

on which Lamarck so strongly insisted; but the work of these factors is; in

his eyes; only accessory and wholly secondary in the economy of nature; and

in any case it is far from explaining the definite direction and the

transcendent harmony which characterize evolution; both in its totality and

in its most infinitesimal details。



In one of his admirable little textbooks; intended to teach and to

popularize science; he complacently enumerates the happy modifications

effected by that 〃sublime magician;〃 selection as understood by Darwin。 He

evokes the metamorphoses of the potato; which; on the mountains of Chili;

is merely a wretched venomous tubercle; and those of the cabbage; which on

the rocky face of oceanic precipices is nothing but a weed; 〃with a tall

stem and scanty disordered leaves of a crude green; an acrid savour; and a

rank smell〃; he speaks of wheat; formerly a poor unknown grass; the

primitive pear…tree 〃an ugly intractable thorny bush; with detestable

bitter fruit〃; the wild celery; which grows beside ponds; 〃green all over;

hard; with a repulsive flavour; and which gradually becomes tenderer;

sweeter; whiter;〃 and 〃ceases to distil its poison。〃 (9/2。)



With profound exactitude this great biologist has also perceived the degree

to which size may be modified; may dwindle to dwarfness when a niggardly

soil refuses to furnish beast and plant alike with a sufficient

nourishment。



Without any communication with the other scientists who were occupied by

the same questions; knowing nothing of the results which these

experimenters had attained in the case of small mammiferous animals; and

which prove that dwarfness has often no other cause than physiological

poverty; he confirmed and expanded their ideas from an entomological point

of view。 (9/3。)



Scarcely ever; indeed; was he first inspired by the doings of others in

this or that direction; he read scarcely anything; and nature was his sole

teacher。 He considered that the knowledge to be obtained from books is but

so much vapour compared with the realities; he borrowed only from himself;

and resorted directly to the facts as nature presented them。 One has only

to see his scanty library of odd volumes to be convinced how little he owes

to others; whether writers or workers。



A true naturalist philosopher; this profound observer has also thrown a

light upon certain singular anomalies which; in the insect world; seem to

constitute an exception; at all events in our Europe; to the general rules。

It is not only to the curiosity and for the amusement of entomologists that

he proposes these curious anatomical problems; but also; and chiefly; to

the Darwinian wisdom of the evolutionists。



Why; for example; is the Scarabaeus sacer born and why does it remain

maimed all its life; that is to say; deprived of all the digits on the

anterior limbs?



〃If it is true that every change in the form of an appendage is only the

sign of a habit; a special instinct; or a modification in the conditions of

life; the theory of evolution should endeavour to account for this

mutilation; for these creatures are; like all others; constructed on the

same plan and provided with absolutely the same appendages。〃



The posterior limbs of the Geotrupes stercorarius; 〃perfectly developed in

the adult; are atrophied in the larvae; reduced to mere specks。〃



The general history of the species; of its migrations and its changes; will

doubtless one day throw light upon these strange infirmities; here

temporary and there permanent; which may perhaps be explained by unforeseen

encounters with undiscovered specimens; strayed perhaps into distant

countries。 (9/4。)



What invaluable documents for the entomologist and the historian of the

evolution of the species are those multiple and fabulous metamorphoses of

the Sitares and the Melo?dae which this indefatigable inquirer has revealed

in al
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