fabre, poet of science-第16部分
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or less prolonged。 The insect 〃feigns death;〃 not because it simulates
death; but in reality because this MAGNETIC condition resembles that of
death。 (7/9。) Now the Odynerus; the Anthidium; the Eucera; the Ammophila;
and all the hymenoptera which Fabre has observed sleeping at the fall of
night; 〃suspended in space solely by the strength of their mandibles; their
bodies tense; their limbs retracted; without exhaustion or collapse〃; and
the larva of the Empusa; 〃which for some ten months hangs to a twig by its
limbs; head downwards〃: do not these present a surprising analogy with
those hypnotized persons who possess the faculty of remaining fixed in the
most painful poses; and of supporting the most unusual attitudes; for an
extremely long time; for instance; with one arm extended; or one foot
raised from the ground; without appearing to experience the least fatigue;
and with a persevering and unfaltering energy? (7/10。)
That the ex…schoolmaster was able to penetrate so far into this new world;
and that he has been able to interest us in so many fascinating problems;
was due to the fact that he had also 〃taken a wide bird's…eye view through
all the windows of creation。〃 His universal capabilities; his immense
culture and almost encyclopaedic science have enabled him to utilize;
thanks to his studies; all the knowledge allied to his subject。 He is not
one of those who understand only their speciality and who; knowing nothing
outside their own province and their particular labours; refuse to grasp at
anything beyond the narrow limits within which they stand installed。
All plants are to him so familiar that the flowers; for him; assume the
airs of living persons。 But without a profound knowledge of botany; who
would hope to grasp the profound; perpetual; and intimate relations of the
plant and the insect?
He has turned over strata and interrogated the schistous deposits; whose
archives preserve the forms of vanished organizations; but 〃keep silence as
to the origin of the instincts。〃 Bending over his reagents; he has sought
to discover; according to the phrase of a philosopher; those secret
retreats in which Nature is seated before her furnaces; in the depths of
her laboratory; following up the metamorphoses of matter even to the wings
of the Scarabaei; and observing how life; returning to her crucible the
debris and ashes of the organism; combines the elements anew; and from the
elements of the urine can derive; for example; by a simple displacement of
molecules; 〃all this dazzling magic of colours of innumerable shades: the
amethystine violet of Geotrupes; the emerald of the rose…beetle; the gilded
green of the Cantharides; the metallic lustre of the gardener…beetles; and
all the pomp of the Buprestes and the dung…beetles。〃 (7/11。)
His books are steeped in all the ideas of modern physics。 The highest
mathematical knowledge has been referred to with profit in his marvellous
description of the hunting…net of the Epe?ra。 Whose 〃terribly scientific〃
combinations realize 〃the spiral logarithm of the geometers; so curious in
its properties〃 (7/12。); a splendid observation; in which Fabre makes us
admire; in the humble web of a spider; a masterpiece as astonishing and
incomprehensible as and even more sublime than the honeycomb。
This explains why Fabre has always energetically denied that he is properly
speaking an entomologist; and indeed the term appears often wrongly to
describe him。 He loves; on the contrary; to call himself a naturalist; that
is; a biologist; biology being; by definition; the study of living
creatures considered as a whole and from every point of view。 And as
nothing in life is isolated; as all things hold together; and as each part;
in all its relations; presents itself to the gaze of the observer under
innumerable aspects; one cannot be a true naturalist without being at the
same time a philosopher。
But it is not enough to know and to observe。
To be admitted to the spectacle of these tiny creatures; to become familiar
with their habits; to grasp the mysterious threads which connect them one
with another and with the vast universe: for this the cold and deliberate
vision of the specialist would often be insufficient。 There is an art of
observation; and the gift of observation is a true function of that
constantly alert intelligence; continually dominated by the need of delving
untiringly down to the ultimate truth accessible; 〃allowing ourselves to
pass over nothing without seeking its reason; and habitually following up
every response with another question; until we come to the granite wall of
the Unknowable。〃 Above all we need an ardent and interested sympathy; for
〃we penetrate farther into the secret of things by the heart than by the
reason;〃 as Toussenel has said; and 〃it is only by intuition that we can
know what life truly is;〃 adds Bergson profoundly。 (7/13。) Now Fabre loves
these little peoples and knows how to make us love them。 How tenderly he
speaks of them; with what solicitude he observes them; with what love he
follows the progress of their nurslings; the young grubs wriggling in his
test…tubes; with doddering heads; are happy; and he himself is happy to see
them 〃well…fed and shining with health。〃 He pities the bee stabbed by the
Philanthus 〃in the holy joys of labour。〃 He sympathizes with the sufferings
of these little creatures and their hard labours。 If; in his search for
ideas; he has to overturn their dwellings; 〃he repents of subjecting
maternal love to such tribulations;〃 and if he is constrained to put them
to the question; to torment them in order to extract their secrets; he is
grieved to have provoked 〃such miseries!〃 (7/14。) Having provided for their
needs; and satisfied with the secrets which they have revealed to him; it
is not without regret and difficulty that he parts from them and restores
them 〃to the delights of liberty。〃
He is thoroughly convinced; moreover; that all the creatures that share the
face of the earth with us are accomplishing an august and appointed task。
He welcomes the swallows to his dwelling; even surrendering his workroom to
them; at the risk of jeopardizing his notes and books。 He pleads for the
frog; and applies himself to setting forth his unknown qualities; he
rehabilitates the bat; the hedgehog; and the screech…owl; persecuted;
defamed; crushed; stoned; and crucified! (7/15。)
So intimate is the life which he leads among them all that he makes himself
truly their companion; and relates his own history in narrating theirs;
pleased to discover in their joys and sorrows his own trials and delights;
mingling in their annals his memories and his impressions; delightful
fragments of a childlike autobiography; encrusted in his learned work;
moving and delightful pages in which all the ingenuity of this noble mind
reveals itself with a touching sincerity; in which all the freshness of
this charming and so profoundly unworldly nature is seen as through a pure
crystal。
There is no real communion with nature without sentiment; without an
illuminating passion: often the sole and effectual grace which enables its
true meaning to appear。 Neither taste; nor intelligence; nor logic; nor all
the science of the schools can suffice alone。 To see further there is
needed something like a gift of correspondence; surpassing the limits of
observation and experience; which enables us to foresee and to divine the
profound secrets of life which lie beneath appearances。 Those who are so
gifted have often only to open their eyes in order to grasp matters in
their true light。
A great observer is in reality a poet who imagines and creates。 The
microscope; the magnifying glass; the scalpel; are as it were the strings
of a lyre。 〃The felicitous and fruitful hypothesis which constitutes
scientific invention is a gift of sentiment〃 in the words of Claude
Bernard; and of this king of physiology; who commenced by proving himself
in works of pure imagination; and whose genius finally took for its theme
the manifold variations of living flesh; of him too may we not say that he
has explored the labyrinths of life with 〃the torch of poetry in his hand〃?
Similarly; do not the harmonious sequences which run through all the
admirable discoveries of Pasteur give us the sensation of a veritable and
gigantic poem?
In Fabre also it seems that the passion which he brings to all his patient
observations is in itself truly creative: 〃his heart beats with emotion;
the sweat drips from his brow to the soil; making mortar of the dust〃; he
forgets food and drink; and 〃thus passes hours of oblivion in the happiness
of learning。〃 I have seen him in his laboratory studying the spawning of
the bluebottle; when I; at his side; could scarcely support the horrible
stench which rose from the putrefying adders and lumps of meat; he;
however; was oblivious of the frightful odour; and his face was inundated
with smiles of delight。
Intelligence; then; must here be the servant of feeling and intuition; a
kind of primitive faculty; mysterious and instinctive; which alone makes a
great naturalist like Fabre; a great historian like Michelet; a great
physician like Boherhaave or Bretonneau。
These last are not always the most scholarly nor the most learned nor the
most patient; but they are those who possess in a high degree that special
vision; that gift; properly speaking poetic; which is known as the clinical
eye; which at the first glance perceives and confirms the diagnosis in all
its detail。
Fabre has a mind propitious to such processes; and if; by chance;
circumstances had directed his attention to medicine; that science which is
based upon an abundant provision of facts; but in which good sense and a
kind of divination play a still wider part; there is no doubt that he would
have been capable of becoming a shining light in this new arena。
He was f