Jean Henri Fabre Is Known as Dis
coverer of New WorldBooks Arouse
Interest Among Famous MenFor
8ake of.Science He Endured Many
MiseriesWill Have a Monument.
Paris.Jean Henri Fabre has been
called the Homer of the insect world.
For fifty years he has studied insects
and their ways more closely and con
tinuously perhaps than any other man.
Add to. this the fact that he is a poet
'as well as a man of science, that he
writes With peculiar charm, and it will
be understood why his books about in
sects have aroused the enthusiasm of
Buch men as Maurice Maeterlinck and
Frederic Mistral.
They refer to him as the discoverer
of a new world. He has been com
pared to La Fontaine, whose fables
give evidence of his love for beasts.
Their writings show the same fresh
ness, simplicity and charm. Darwin
was struck by the patience and inge
nuity exhibited by M. Fabre in pene
trating the secrets of insects, and in
the "Origin of Species" he refers to
him as an inimitable observer.
An English translation of M. Fabre's
book "The Life of a Spider" bas lately
been published. He was born in the
south of France, was' the son of poor
parents, and his whole life has been
one of uninterrupted labor.
As a lad he taught himself to read at
night by the light of a blazing pine
knot In school he paid his tuition
fees by serving as a choir boy. He
won a scholarship at the normal school
at Avignon and became a teacher,
finally rising to the grade of professor.
