in the shadow of a leaf。
Those who labour; on the contrary; do not attract the eye; and the most
obscure are often the most interesting。 Necessitous poverty has educated
and formed them; has excited in them 〃feats of invention;〃 unsuspected
talents; original industries; a thousand curious and unexpected callings;
and no subject of poetry equals in interest the detailed history of one of
these tiny creatures; by which we pass without observing them; amid the
stones; the brambles; and the dead leaves。 It is these above all that add
an original and epic note to the vast symphony of the world。
But death also has its poetry。 Its shadowy domains hold lessons no less
magnificent; and the most putrid carrion is to Fabre a 〃tabernacle〃 in
which a divine comedy is enacted。
The ant; that 〃ardent filibuster; comes first; and commences to dissect it
piecemeal。〃
The Necrophori 〃exhaling the odour of musk; and bearing red pompons at the
end of their antennae;〃 are 〃transcendent alchemists。〃
The Sarcophagi; or grey flesh flies; 〃with red bloodshot eyes; and the
stony gaze of a knacker〃; the Saprinidae; 〃with bodies of polished ebony
like pearls of jet〃; the Silpha aplata; with large and sombre wing…cases in
mourning; the shiny slow…trotting Horn…beetle; the Dermestes; 〃powdered
with snow beneath the stomach〃; the slender Staphylinus; the whole fauna of
the corpse; the whole horde of artisans of death; 〃intoxicating themselves
with purulence; probing; excavating; mangling; dissecting; transmuting; and
stamping out infection。〃
Fabre gives a curious exposition of 〃that strange art〃 by which the grub of
the grey bot…fly; the vulgar maggot; by means of a subtle pepsine;
disintegrates and liquefies solid matter; and it is because this singular
solvent has no effect upon the epidermis that the fly; in its wisdom;
chooses by preference the mucous membranes; the corner of the eye; the
entrance of the nostrils; the borders of the lips; the live flesh of
wounds; there to deposit its eggs。
With what penetration this original mind has analysed 〃the operation of the
crucible in which all things are fused that they may recommence〃 and has
expounded the marvellous lesson which is revealed by decomposition and
putridity!
CHAPTER 14。 PARALLEL LIVES。
We have now seen what entomology becomes in the hands of the admirable
Fabre。 The vast poem of creation has never had a more familiar and luminous
interpreter; and you will nowhere find other work like his。
How far he outstrips Buffon and his descriptions of animalsso general; so
vague; so impersonalhis records unreliable and his entire erudition of a
second…hand quality!
It is with Réaumur that we are first of all tempted to compare him; and
some have chosen to see in him only one who has continued Réaumur's work。
In reality he has eagerly read Réaumur; although at heart he does not
really enjoy his writings; he has drunk from this fruitful source; but he
owes him no part of his own rich harvest。
But there are many affinities between them; they have many traits in
common; despite the points of difference between them。
The illustrious son of Rochelle was born; like Fabre; with a love of all
natural things; and before attacking the myriad problems of physics and
natural history; wherein he was to shine by so many curious discoveries; he
also had prepared himself by a profound study of mathematics。
Luckier than Fabre; however; Réaumur enjoyed not only the advantages of
birth; but all the material conditions necessary to his ardent intellectual
activity。 Fortune overwhelmed her favourite with gifts; and played no small
part in his glory by enabling him; from an early age; to profit by his
leisure and to give a free rein to his ruling passions。 He was no less
modest than the sage of Sérignan; self…effacing before others; says one of
his biographers; so that they were never made to feel his superiority。
(14/1。)
In the midst of the beautiful and spacious gardens at the end of the
Faubourg Saint…Antoine; where he finally made his home; he also contrived
to create for himself a Harmas after his own heart。
It was there that in the as yet virgin domain of entomology he unravelled
the riddle of the marvellous republic of the bees; and was able to expound
and interpret a large number of those tiny lives which every one had
hitherto despised; and which indeed they continued to despise until the
days of Fabre; or at least regarded as absolutely unimportant。 He was the
first to venture to suspect their connection with much 〃that most nearly
concerns us;〃 or to point out 〃all the singular conclusions〃 which may be
drawn therefrom。 (14/2。)
How many details he has enshrined in his interesting 〃Memoirs;〃 and how
many facts we may glean from this great master! He; like Fabre; had the
gift of charming a great number of his contemporaries。 Tremblay; Bonnet;
and de Geer owed their vocations to Réaumur; not to speak of Huber; whose
genius he inspired。
A physicist before all; and accustomed to delicate and meticulous though
comparatively simple tasks; he had admirably foreseen the extraordinary
complication of these inquiries; so much so that; with the modesty of the
true scientist that he was; he regarded his own studies; even the most
substantial; as mere indications; intended to point the way to those that
followed him。
As methodical; in short; as the author of the 〃Souvenirs;〃 the scrupulous
Réaumur wrote nothing that he himself had not proved or verified with the
greatest care; and we may be sure that all that he records of his personal
and immediate observations he has really seen with his own eyes。
In the wilderness of error he had; like Fabre; an infallible compass in his
extraordinary common sense; and; equally skilled in extracting from the
false the little particle of truth which it often contains; he was no less
fond of listening at the gate of legends; of tracing the source of
traditions; rightly considering that before deriding them as old…wives'
tales we should first probe in all directions into their origin and
foundation。 (14/3。)
He was also tempted to experiment; and he well knew that in such problems
as those he attacked observation alone is often powerless to reveal
anything。 It is enough to recall here one of the most promising and
unexpected of the discoveries which resulted from his experiments。 Réaumur
was the first to conceive the ingenious idea of retarding the hatching of
insects' eggs by exposing them to cold; thus anticipating the application
of cold to animal life and the discoveries of Charles Tellier; whose more
illustrious forerunner he was; at the same time he discovered the secret of
prolonging; in a similar fashion; the larval existence of chrysalids during
a space of time infinitely superior to that of their normal cycle; and what
is more; he succeeded in making them live a lethargic life for years and
even for a long term of years; thus repeating at will the miracle of the
Seven Sleepers。 (14/4。)
Too much occupied; however; with the smaller aspect of things; he had not
the art of forcing Nature to speak; and in the province of psychical
aptitudes he was barely able to rise above the facts。
As he was powerless to enter into real communion with the tiny creatures
which he observed; although his observations were conducted with religious
admiration; as he saw always only the outside of things; like a physicist
rather than a poet or psychologist; he contented himself with noting the
functioning of their organs; their methods of work; their properties; and
the changes which they undergo; he did not interpret their actions。 The
mystery of the life which quivers within and around them eludes him。 This
is why his books are such dry reading。 He is like a bright garden full of
rare plants; but it is a monotonous garden; without life or art; without
distant vistas or wide perspectives。 His works are somewhat diffuse and
full of repetitions; entire monographs; almost whole volumes; are devoted
to describing the emerging of a butterfly; but they form part of the
library of the curious lover of nature; they are consulted with interest;
and will always be referred to; but it cannot be said that they are read。
After Réaumur; according to the dictum of the great Latreille; entomology
was confined to a wearisome and interminable nomenclature; and if we except
the Hubers; two unparalleled observers; although limited and circumscribed;
the only writer who filled the interregnum between Réaumur and Fabre was
Léon Dufour。
In the quiet little town whither he went to succeed his father; this
military surgeon; turned country doctor; lived a busy and useful life。
While occupied with his humble patients; whom he preferred to regard merely
as an interesting clinic; and while keeping the daily record of his medical
observations; he felt irresistibly drawn 〃to ferret in all the holes and
corners of the soil; to turn over every stone; large or small; to shrink
from no fatigue; no difficulty; to scale the highest peaks; the steepest
cliffs; to brave a thousand dangers; in order to discover an insect or a
plant。 (14/5。)
A disciple of Latreille; he shone above all as an impassioned descriptive
writer。
No one was more skilled in determining a species; in dissecting the head of
a fly or the entrails of a grub; and no spectacle in the world was for him
so fascinating as the triple life of the insect; those magical
metamorphoses; which he justly considered as one of the most astonishing
phenomena in creation。 (14/6。)
He saw further than Réaumur; and burned with the same fire as Fabre; for he
also had the makings of a great poet。 His curiosity had assembled enormous
collections; but he considered; as Fabre considered; that collecting is
〃only the barren contemplation of a vast ossuary whic
小提示:按 回车 [Enter] 键 返回书目,按 ← 键 返回上一页, 按 → 键 进入下一页。
赞一下
添加书签加入书架