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THE
STORY-BOOK OF SCIENCE
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THE
STORY-BOOK OF SCIENCE
BY
JEAN-HENRI FABRE
“Author of SOCIAL LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD,” etc,
TRANSLATED FROM THE NINETEENTH
FRENCH EDITION BY
FLORENCE CONSTABLE BICKNELL
[Illustration: Publisher’s Logo]
NEW YORK
THE CENTURY CO.
1917
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Copyright, 1917, by
THE CENTURY CO.
––––––––
Published, August, 1917
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I THE SIX 3
II THE FAIRY TALE AND THE TRUE STORY 7
III THE BUILDING OF THE CITY 11
IV THE COWS 16
V THE SHEEPFOLD 20
VI THE WILY DERVISH 25
VII THE NUMEROUS FAMILY 30
VIII THE OLD PEAR-TREE 37
IX THE AGE OF TREES 40
X THE LENGTH OF ANIMAL LIFE 45
XI THE KETTLE 49
XII THE METALS 52
XIII METAL PLATING 55
XIV GOLD AND IRON 59
XV THE FLEECE 64
XVI FLAX AND HEMP 67
XVII COTTON 71
XVIII PAPER 77
XIX THE BOOK 80
XX PRINTING 84
XXI BUTTERFLIES 88
XXII THE BIG EATERS 93
XXIII SILK 99
XXIV THE METAMORPHOSIS 104
XXV SPIDERS 108
XXVI THE EPEIRA’S BRIDGE 112
XXVII THE SPIDER’S WEB 116
XXVIII THE CHASE 120
XXIX VENOMOUS INSECTS 126
XXX VENOM 132
XXXI THE VIPER AND THE SCORPION 136
XXXII THE NETTLE 140
XXXIII PROCESSIONARY CATERPILLARS 144
XXXIV THE STORM 150
XXXV ELECTRICITY 155
XXXVI THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CAT 160
XXXVII THE EXPERIMENT WITH PAPER 163
XXXVIII FRANKLIN AND DE ROMAS 165
XXXIX THUNDER AND THE LIGHTNING-ROD 172
XL EFFECTS OF THE THUNDERBOLT 179
XLI CLOUDS 181
XLII THE VELOCITY OF SOUND 187
XLIII THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE BOTTLE OF COLD WATER 192
XLIV RAIN 197
XLV VOLCANOES 201
XLVI CATANIA 205
XLVII THE STORY OF PLINY 210
XLVIII THE BOILING POT 216
XLIX THE LOCOMOTIVE 221
L EMILE’S OBSERVATION 227
LI A JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE WORLD 232
LII THE EARTH 238
LIII THE ATMOSPHERE 244
LIV THE SUN 250
LV DAY AND NIGHT 257
LVI THE YEAR AND ITS SEASONS 264
LVII BELLADONNA BERRIES 271
LVIII POISONOUS PLANTS 275
LIX THE BLOSSOM 284
LX FRUIT 290
LXI POLLEN 295
LXII THE BUMBLE-BEE 301
LXIII MUSHROOMS 307
LXIV IN THE WOODS 313
LXV THE ORANGE-AGARIC 317
LXVI EARTHQUAKES 322
LXVII SHALL WE KILL THEM BOTH? 329
LXVIII THE THERMOMETER 334
LXIX THE SUBTERRANEAN FURNACE 337
LXX SHELLS 344
LXXI THE SPIRAL SNAIL 349
LXXII MOTHER-OF-PEARL AND PEARLS 353
LXXIII THE SEA 358
LXXIV WAVES SALT SEAWEEDS 363
LXXV RUNNING WATER 369
LXXVI THE SWARM 373
LXXVII WAX 378
LXXVIII THE CELLS 382
LXXIX HONEY 389
LXXX THE QUEEN BEE 395
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TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE
Of the increasing success and widening popularity of the elementary
science series written chiefly in the seclusion of Sérignan by the
gifted French naturalist who was destined to give that obscure hamlet a
distinction hardly inferior to the renown enjoyed by Maillane since the
days of Mistral, it is unnecessary at this late date to say more than a
word in passing. The extraordinary vividness and animation of his style
amply justified his early belief in the possibility of making the truths
of science more fascinating to young readers, and to all readers, than
the fabrications of fiction. As Dr. Legros has said in his biography[1]
of Fabre, “He was indeed convinced that even in early childhood it was
possible for both boys and girls to learn and to love many subjects
which had hitherto never been proposed; and in particular that Natural
History which to him was a book in which all the world might read, but
that university methods had reduced to a tedious and useless study in
which the letter ‘killed the life.’”
Footnote 1:
“Fabre, Poet of Science.” By Dr. C. V. Legros. New York: The Century
Co.
The young in heart and the pure in heart of whatever age will find
themselves drawn to this incomparable story-teller, this reverent
revealer of the awe-inspiring secrets of nature, this “Homer of the
insects.” The identity of the “Uncle Paul,” who in this book and others
of the series plays the story-teller’s part, is not hard to guess; and
the young people who gather about him to listen to his true stories from
wood and field, from brook and hilltop, from distant ocean and adjacent
millpond, are, without doubt, the author’s own children, in whose
companionship he delighted and whose education he conducted with wise
solicitude.
In his unselfish eagerness to see the truths of natural science brought
within the comprehension and the enjoyment of all, Fabre would have been
the first to wish for a wide circulation for his own books in many
countries and many languages; and thus, though it is now too late to
obtain his authorization of these translations, one cannot regard it as
a wrong to his memory to do what may lie in one’s power to spread the
knowledge he has so wisely and wittily, with such insight and ingenuity,
imparted to those of his own country and tongue.
It remains to add that in the following pages the somewhat stiff
dialogue form of the original has given place to the more attractive and
flexible narrative style, with as little violence as possible to the
author’s text.
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THE
STORY-BOOK OF SCIENCE
Sursum corda
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THE
STORY-BOOK OF SCIENCE
Sursum corda
CHAPTER I
THE SIX
ONE evening, at twilight, they were assembled in a group, all six of
them. Uncle Paul was reading in a large book. He always reads to rest
himself from his labors, finding that after work nothing refreshes so
much as communion with a book that teaches us the best that others have
done, said, and thought. He has in his room, well arranged on pine
shelves, books of all kinds. There are large and small ones, with and
without pictures, bound and unbound, and even gilt-edged ones. When he
shuts himself up in his room it takes something very serious to divert
him from his reading. And so they say that Uncle Paul knows any number
of stories. He investigates, he observes for himself. When he walks in
his garden he is seen now and then to stop before the hive, around which
the bees are humming, or under the elder bush, from which the little
flowers fall softly, like flakes of snow; sometimes he stoops to the
ground for a better view of a little crawling insect, or a blade of
grass just pushing into view. What does he see? What does he observe?
Who knows? They say, however, that there comes to his beaming face a
holy joy, as if he had just found himself face to face with some secret
of the wonders of God. It makes us feel better when we hear stories that
he tells at these moments; we feel better, and furthermore we learn a
number of things that some day may be very useful to us.
Uncle Paul is an excellent, God-fearing man, obliging to every one, and
“as good as bread.” The village has the greatest esteem for him, so much
so that they call him Maître Paul, on account of his learning, which is
at the service of all.
To help him in his field work—for I must tell you that Uncle Paul knows
how to handle a plow as well as a book, and cultivates his little estate
with success—he has Jacques, the old husband of old Ambroisine. Mother
Ambroisine has the care of the house, Jacques looks after the animals
and fields. They are better than two servants; they are two friends in
whom Uncle Paul has every confidence. They saw Paul born and have been
in the house a long, long time. How often has Jacques made whistles from
the bark of a willow to console little Paul when he was unhappy! How
many times Ambroisine, to encourage him to go to school without crying,
has put a hard-boiled new-laid egg in his lunch basket! So Paul has a
great veneration for his father’s two old servants. His house is their
house. You should see, too, how Jacques and Mother Ambroisine love their
master! For him, if it were necessary, they would let themselves be
quartered.
Uncle Paul has no family, he is alone; yet he is never happier than when
with children, children who chatter, who ask this, that, and the other,
with the adorable ingenuousness of an awakening mind. He has prevailed
upon his brother to let his children spend a part of the year with their
uncle. There are three: Emile, Jules, and Claire.
Claire is the oldest. When the first cherries come she will be twelve
years old. Little Claire is industrious, obedient, gentle, a little
timid, but not in the least vain. She knits stockings, hems
handkerchiefs, studies her lessons, without thinking of what dress she
shall wear Sunday. When her uncle, or Mother Ambroisine, who is almost a
mother to her, tells her to do a certain thing, she does it at once,
even with pleasure, happy in being able to render some little service.
It is a very good quality.
Jules is two years younger. He is a rather thin little body, lively, all
fire and flame. When he is preoccupied about something, he does not
sleep. He has an insatiable appetite for knowledge. Everything interests
and takes possession of him. An ant drawing a straw, a sparrow chirping
on the roof, are sufficient to engross his attention. He then turns to
his uncle with his interminable questions: Why is this? Why is that? His
uncle has great faith in this curiosity, which, properly guided, may
lead to good results. But there is one thing about Jules that his uncle
does not like. As we must be honest, we will own that Jules has a little
fault which would become a grave one if not guarded against: he has a
temper. If he is opposed he cries, gets angry, makes big eyes, and
spitefully throws away his cap. But it is like the boiling over of milk
soup: a trifle will calm him. Uncle Paul hopes to be able to bring him
round by gentle reprimands, for Jules has a good heart.
Emile, the youngest of the three, is a complete madcap; his age permits
it. If any one gets a face smeared with berries, a bump on the forehead,
or a thorn in the finger, it is sure to be he. As much as Jules and
Claire enjoy a new book, he enjoys a visit to his box of playthings. And
what has he not in the way of playthings? Now it is a spinning-top that
makes a loud hum, then blue and red lead soldiers, a Noah’s Ark with all
sorts of animals, a trumpet which his uncle has forbidden him to blow
because it makes too much noise, then—But he is the only one that knows
what there is in that famous box. Let us say at once, before we forget
it, Emile is already asking questions of his uncle. His attention is
awakening. He begins to understand that in this world a good top is not
everything. If one of these days he should forget his box of playthings
for a story, no one would be surprised.
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