ate constitutes an important landmark in his career, since it m

h perseverance to the writing of those admirable works of introduction and initiation, in which he applied himself to rendering science

d he the vocation, the feeling, and the genius of the teacher--Fabre applied hi

tories above all, stuffed with dry statements, with raw knowledge, which brought n

, so luminous, so simple, which for the first time spoke to the heart and th

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 bette

hings, ingeniously seeking familiar examples, finding comparisons, and employing picturesque and striking images, which throw a dazzling light upon the obscurest question or the most difficu

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

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

lesh, 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 C

dy, and I know of no more captivating reading than "The Plant" a

rything, 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

t 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 neve

s, until public education had definitely received a fresh impulse; and fo

l on the philosopher; all the more filled with gratitude for his generosity in that the loan, although of the comparatively large

action, 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 h

illed him; for this unexpected death seemed to have been only the ultim

expedition. He was struck by his weakness and his rapid decline. Mill could hardly drag himself along, and

lted, 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 s

ve expenditure of time, and gave him a great deal of trouble; it is impossible to imagine what scrupulou

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

rrect enough image of the earth, which retains unmoved its original impulse, and travels along a great circle, at the same time turning

one expelling the foremost by the elasticity of the compressed air. Thus we get a

side, into which two straws are fitted, one dipping into a cup of water and the other duly capped, "expelli

anced scheme of education might extract from

apparatus of his own devising and of the simplest kind, he could perform a host of elementary experiments, the apparatus as a rule co

and smell, and always "the hand assisted the word," always "the example accompanied the precept," for

er their mistakes, to set their ideas in order; he accustomed them to rectify their

g her to suggest every aspect of the matter that occurred to her; for instance, in respect of the chemistry of the household, "where exact

res of school life, he was always almost wholly with

nely, abandoned, struggling against misfortune; and

rking in the dark, suddenly dismissed him without explanation. To Fabre this dismissal was infinitely bitter; "a sweeper-boy would have been treated with as much ceremony." (5/10.) What afflicted him most was not the undeserved slight of the dismissal, but his unspeakable regret at quitting those beloved vegetable

leisure and security of a fixed appointment. It is indeed probable that in so vast a field he would have demonstrated many valuable truths, fruitful in practical results; he was certainly meant for such a task, and he would have performed it with genuine personal satisfaction. He had alr

dder, multiplying his researches, and applying himself not only to extracting the colourin

his little world, he suggested valuable remedies, means of preservation; which were all the more logical in that the destruction of inse

d whose depredations have often been valued at millions of francs! How meticulously he has recorded the conditions which favour or check the develop

d he not suffer a thousand annoyances from pretentious nobodies?" for as things

to take shape. At the end of the year 1878 he was able to assemble a sufficient number of studies to form material for what was to be th

ice which we shall watch unfolding and increasing, but to which the future was in reality to add nothing essential. The cardinal ideas as to instinct and evolution, the necessity of experimenting in the psychology of animals, and the harmonic laws of

ompanion of his father's studies had scarcely passed his fifteenth year when death removed him. A terrible void was left in his heart, which was never filled. Thirty years later the least allusion to this child, however tactful, which recalled this dear memory to his mind, would still wring his heart, and his whole body would be shaken by his sobs. As always, work was his refuge and c

ture from Orange was scarcely more solid. His new landlord concluded one day, either from cupidity or stupidity, to lop most ferociously the two magnificent rows of plane-trees which formed a shady avenue before his house, in which the birds piped and warbled in the

the cities for ever; retiring to Sérignan, to the peaceful obscurity of a tiny hamle