Note 26 — Chapter XX · FABRE’S WRITINGS (CONTINUED)
Bernard Miall translation
Fabre denies “by the light of the facts” almost all the ideas which evolution invokes to explain the formation of species. (Revue des Deux Mondes, p. 891.) He says: “The facts as I see them lead me away from Darwin’s theories. Whenever I try to apply selection to the facts observed, it leaves me whirling in the void. It is majestic, but sterile: evolution asserts as regards the past; it asserts as regards the future; but it tells us as little as possible about the present. Of the three terms of duration one only escapes it, and that is the very one which is free from the fantastic imaginings of hypothesis.” ↑