《fabre, poet of science》

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spouse at the very moment of surrendering her flanks to him。〃 (11/4。)



Whence these strange discords; these frightful appetites?



Fabre refers us to the remotest ages; to the depths of the geological

night; and does not hesitate to regard these cruelties as 〃remnants of

atavism;〃 the lingering furies of an ancient strain; and he ventures a

profound and plausible explanation。



The Locusts; the Crickets; and the Scolopendrae are the last

representatives of a very ancient world; of an extinct fauna; of an early

creation; whose perverse and unbridled instincts were given free vent; when

creation was as yet but dimly outlined; 〃still making the earliest essays

of its organizing forces〃; when the primitive Orthoptera; 〃the obscure

forebears of those of to…day; were 〃sowing the wild oats of a frantic rut;

〃in the colossal forests of the secondary period; by the borders of the

vast lakes; full of crocodiles; and antediluvian marshes; which in Provence

were shaded by palms; and strange ferns; and giant Lycopodia; never as yet

enlivened by the song of a bird。



These monstrosities; in which life was making its essays; were subject to

singular physical necessities。 The female reigned alone; the male did not

as yet exist; or was tolerated only for the sake of his indispensable

assistance。 But he served also another and less obvious end; his substance;

or at least some portion of his substance; was an almost necessary

ingredient in the act of generation; something in the nature of a necessary

excitant of the ovaries; 〃a horrible titbit;〃 which completed and

consummated the great task of fecundation。 Such; in Fabre's eyes; was the

imperious physiological reason of these rude laws。 This is why the love of

the males is almost equivalent to their suicide; the Gardener…beetle;

attacked by the female; attempts to flee; but does not defend himself; 〃it

is as though an invincible repugnance prevents him from repulsing or from

eating the eater。〃 In the same way the male scorpion 〃allows himself to be

devoured by his companion without ever attempting to employ his sting;〃 and

the lover of the Mantis 〃allows himself to be nibbled to pieces without any

revolt on his part。〃



A strange morality; but not more strange than the organic peculiarities

which are its foundation; a strange world; but perhaps some distant sun may

light others like it。



These terrible creatures are a source of dismay to Fabre。 If all things

proceed from an underlying Reason; if the divine harmony of things

testifies everywhere to a sovereign Logic; how shall the proofs of its

excellence and its sovereign wisdom be found in such things as these?



Far from attributing to the order of the universe a supposed perfection;

far from considering nature as the most immediate expression of the Good

and the Beautiful; in the words of Tolstoy (11/5。); he sees in it only a

rough sketch which a hidden God; hidden; but close at hand; and living

eternally present in the heart of His creatures; is seeking to test and to

shape。



Living always with his eyes upon some secret of the marvels of God; whom he

sees in every bush; in every tree; 〃although He is veiled from our

imperfect senses〃 (11/6。); the vilest insect reveals to him; in the least

of its actions; a fragment of this universal Intelligence。



What marvels indeed when seen from above! But consider the Reversewhat

antinomies; what flagrant contradictions! What poor and sordid means! And

Fabre is astonished; in spite of all his candid faith; that the fatality of

the belly should have entered into the Divine plan; and the necessity of

all those atrocious acts in which the Unconscious delights。 Could not God

ensure the preservation of life by less violent means? Why these

subterranean dramas; these slow assassinations? Why has Evil; THE POISON OF

THE GOOD (11/7。); crept in everywhere; even to the origin of life; like an

eternal Parasite?



Within this fatal circle; in which the devourer and the devoured; the

exploiter and the exploited; lead an eternal dance; can we not perceive a

ray of light?



For what is it that we see?



The victims are not merely the predestined victims of their persecutors。

They seek neither to struggle nor to escape nor to evade the inevitable;

one might say that by a kind of renunciation they offer themselves up whole

as a sacrifice!



What irresistible destiny impels the bee to meet half…way the Philanthus;

its terrible enemy! The Tarantula; which could so easily withstand the

Pompilus; when the latter rashly carries war into its lair; does not

disturb itself; and never dreams of using its poisoned fangs。 Not less

absolute is the submission of the grasshopper before the Mantis; which

itself has its tyrant; the Tachytes。



Similarly those which have reason to fear for their offspring; if not for

themselves; do nothing to evade the enemy which watches for them; the

Megachile; although it could easily destroy it; is indifferent to the

presence of a miserable midge; 〃the bandit who is always there; meditating

its crime〃; the Bembex; confronted with the Tachinarius; cannot control its

terror; but nevertheless resigns itself; while squeaking with fright。



If each creature is what it is only because it is a necessary part of the

plan of the supreme Artisan who has constructed the universe; why have some

the right of life and death and others the terrible duty of immolation?



Do not both obey; not the gloomy law of carnage; but a kind of sovereign

and exquisite sacrifice; some sort of unconscious idea of submission to a

superior and collective interest?



This hypothesis; which was one day suggested to Fabre by a friend of great

intellectual culture (11/8。); charmed and interested him keenly。 I noticed

that he was more than usually attentive; and he seemed to me to be suddenly

reassured and appeased。 For him it was as though a faint ray of light had

suddenly fallen among these impenetrable and distressing problems。



It seemed to him that by setting before our eyes the spectacle of so many

woes; universally distributed; and doubtless necessary; woes which do not

spare even the humblest of creatures; the Sovereign Intelligence intends to

exhort us to examine ourselves truly and to dispose us to greater love and

pity and resignation。



All his work is highly and essentially religious; and while he has given us

a taste for nature; he has not also endeavoured to give us; according to

the expression of Bossuet 〃the taste for God;〃 or at least a sense of the

divine? In opposing the doctrine of evolution; which reduces the animal

world to the mere virtualities of the cell; in revealing to us all these

marvels which seem destined always to escape human comprehension; finally;

by referring us more necessarily than ever to the unfathomable problem of

our origins; Fabre has reopened the door of mystery; the door of the divine

Unknown; in which the religion of men must always renew itself。 We should

belittle his thought; we should dwarf the man himself; were we to seek to

confine to any particular thesis his spiritualistic conception of the

universe。



Fabre recognizes and adores in nature only the great eternal Power; whose

imprint is everywhere revealed by the phenomena of matter。



For this reason he has all his life remained free from all superstition and

has been completely indifferent to dogmas and miracles; which to his mind

imply not only a profound ignorance of science; but also a gross and

complete miscomprehension of the divine Intelligence。 He kneels upon the

ground or among the grasses only the more closely to adore that force; the

source of all order; the intuitive knowledge of which; innate in all

creatures; even in the tiny immovable minds of animals; is merely a

magnificent and gratuitous gift。 The office in which he eagerly

communicates is that glorious and formidable Mass in which the ragged

sower; 〃noble in his tatters; a pontiff in shabby small…clothes; solemn as

a God; blesses the soil; more majestic than the bishop in his glory at

Easter…tide。〃 (11/9。) It is there that he finds his 〃Ideal;〃 in the incense

of the perfumes 〃which are softly exhaled from the shapely flowers; from

their censers of gold;〃 in the heart of all creatures; 〃chaffinch and

siskin; skylark and goldfinch; tiny choristers〃 piping and trilling;

〃elaborating their motets〃 to the glory of Him who gave them voice and

wings on the fifth day of Genesis。 He fraternizes with all; with his dogs

and his cats; his tame tortoise; and even the 〃slimy and swollen frog〃; the

〃Philosopher〃 of the Harmas; whose murky eyes he loves to interrogate as he

paces his garden 〃by the light of the stars〃; persuaded that all are

accomplishing a useful work; and that all creatures; from the humblest

insect which has only nibbled a leaf; or displaced a few grains of sand; to

man himself; are anointed with the same chrism of immortality。



And as he has always set the pleasures of study before all others; he can

imagine no greater recompense after death than to obtain from heaven

permission still to continue in their midst; during eternity; his life of

labour and effort。





CHAPTER 12。 THE INTERPRETATION OF NATURE。



We have noted the essential features of his precise and unfailing vision

and the value of the documents which record the work of Fabre; but the

writer merits no less attention than the observer and the philosopher。



In the domain of things positive; it is not always sufficient to gather the

facts; to record them; and to codify in bare formulae the results of

inquiry。 Doubtless every essential discovery is able to stand by itself; in

what would an inventor profit; for example; by raising himself to the level

of the artist? 〃For the theorem lucidity suffices; truth issues naked from

the bottom of a well。〃



But the manner of speaking; describing; and depicting is none the less an

int
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