Chapter I: Front Matter

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

NEW YORK
THE CENTURY CO.
1917

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Copyright, 1917, by
THE CENTURY CO.
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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

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THE
STORY-BOOK OF SCIENCE

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