Note 12 — Chapter XIX · FABRE’S WRITINGS
Bernard Miall translation
“With the originality of genius he is from the first totally opposed to the point of view of those naturalists who are fascinated by morphology and anatomy.”12 He believes that the characteristics of life are to be found in life itself, and that if we wish truly to know the insect, nothing will help us so much as seeing it at work. “Mere common sense, the reader will say, yet it is by no means common”; and it usually happens that writers “forget to take performance into their reckoning when they are describing life.”13