A BOOK OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2109, 28 March 1914, Page 9

A BOOK OF THE DAY.

- ,f / " '" >. ; ' . y"' EtEN'IM.FABRE'S LIFE OF THE FLY. 'From Messrs. Hodder aiid Stoughtoii (f>er S. and W. Mackay, Wellington) comes the second volume of the English edition of Henri Fabre's' now famous entomological studies. _ Tho translation is tho work of Mr. Teixera de Mattos, ' who contributes an-interesting introduc- • tory noto in which lie explains that to make the dimensions of the volume uniform with those of the first volume) of •fho series he has added to the essays on. Flies, or Diptera, from Fabre's " Souvenirs Entomologiques" several purely autobiographical essays. These autobiographical chapters are, I .may say, replete with a peculiar.charm; exhibiting as. they do the kindly, truly humane phjlosopliy of' the how famous French , : naturalist. They include studies of his school days, of his experiences aB a schoolmaster, of his meetings with vari- . ons celebrities, including Victor Duruy, the.histOrian, with whom Fabre first became acquainted when'the future MinisMr of Public Instruction. was a school inspector. Although Fabre's experiences of-tlie pedagogic life were scarcely •more agreeable than were.those of,-an-' \ other famous "Son. of. the Midi," Al- ' ' phonse Daudet, he rarely-repines over the lack of that recognition, and encouragement of •■•his, youthful genius for scientific research, winch, had it been apcordefl-hiili,' ; might .have, so > greatly ; ejsei his passage,'tlirough., life. Occasioually there may. be a slyj:lialf-aatirical • Hig at but 011 the whole the l, ■ sturdy old- scientist looks back on his . ; ' ' youth from an attitude of kindly pbilo- ' 1 S9phy, The.natural history .studies " .. which form the greater part of, tlio volume are written in the same delightfully simple-style, which . characterised •those in-"The Life of the Spider." Tech-, tiical terms must at times be used, but, :/ •' eicept in, rare instances,Fabre's _ re-' searches'regarding tlie. life, arid workings of [tHe..';tiny- creatures' whose habits he ; studies -wiwi'such'painstaWng and loving • care arei laudably'free from a terminology which only the expert entomologist could understand. lln the. first . ' .ohapter; of' his .work the _ riaturalistphilosopher.' says'.:— 1 "If I write for. men of learning, for philosophers . . .;. I write above . all things for the young. I' want-to make them lov« the natural . history, which you make: them hate; and that Ms'.'why, 'while-keeping. strictly to the domain of truth, -1 avoid your siceutjfio prose, which, too. often,, alas, seems.'borrowed' from .some, Iroquois ■ idiom.''' • . I'".;;.'. '

. !Of the', several,purely scientific studies, tiose dealihjj.'with" the 1 caddis-worm, tho greenbottle, .the bumble-bee. f1y,... the bluebottle, and thfe parasites ;Vof -,the maggot' art the mps^iht'ereSting^' Those who 'havo ■ not . yeV.'^mrfde-a'c- : qUamtaiibe -','witli "the; ' waitings'';- .of, this 'wpriderfiil "old ; Frenchman—his is -.now- , earnestrand'industrious. student of .Nature's 'marvels that he -was at, twenty! '—are advised.to turn to his chapttrs.'on the) bluebottle. They provide a marvellous'revelation of th&.icoraplieaied sorgbnisni,' iabits, and works of. one of the most seemingly' insignificant' * of /orea-, tti'res, which,- uiHJer. the, glasses of ,this 'gifted "old scientist,'become 7 ,' l invest- ; ed with a. positively weird fascination. The marvellous powers of instinct with which the Almighty . Creator, of the Universe caii -endow the 'humblest of . his creations 1-here receive lan exposition which is'.positively startling .in its'grip, of .hithefto- unsuspected facts. Here and thei-e the philosopher-observe!' varies the.;wonder's of entomology by a.liint of common-place -utility; • Here, for instance, is' a passage /dealing with the problem of'protecting meat from the attack of .-'the bluebottle -who is^ -casting a- desperate'., anxiety of .'which'-Fabre gives a most fascinating description—for some spot to place her eggs. '-V-; : v - 'V; -" i "The, usual meat ; safe is a sort of large cage with a top and bottom of _ wood and four wire gauze sides. Hooks 'fixed into "the top are used whereby to 'hang pieces of!meat /which we wish to protect from tho flies. Often, so as to j employ the space to the best advantage, these picces are simply laid on the floor of the cage. With'these arrangements are-we sure of warding off tho fly a,nd her vermin? .Not at all. We may-pro-tect ourselves against the bluebottle, who is not much inclined to lay her eggs at a distance from the meat; but there is -still the flesh fly, who is more ■venturesome,and goes more; briskly to work, and who will slip, the grubs through a hole' in the ntesh.es and drop them inside the. 6afe.- Agile as they are, and well able to crawl, tliQ-worms will reach easily anything on the floor; tho only things . secure from their attacks will be the pieces of, meat hanging from the ceiling. • It is . not in the. nature of maggots to explore the heights, especially if this implies climbing down a. string in addition; People also use wire gauze dish "covers.. The' trellised dome protects. the. contents even less than does the'meat The flesh'fly takes no heed. of it. She can drop her worms through -the Wslies on to the covered joint." ■

' How then, can the housewife best protect .food'.from ' tho-.enemy's attack? l-'abro's recipe is simplicity itself. "We need only," ho says, "wrap our beef and mutton in separate . paper envelopes." • i-i . This defensivo armour alone, while "leaving ample room .for the air to circulate, makes any invasion by the worms impossible, even without a cover or a meat safe: not mat paper possesses any special preservative virtues, 'but , solely because it forms an impenetrable barrier.- The: bluebottlo carefully " refrains from laying her eggs upon it, and the,flesh fly from bringing-forth her offspring, . both of them Knowing- that their new-born young ai\> incapable of piercing t-ho obstacle." . Moths may bo kept'away from furs in the same simplo manner. Pack each axticle, says Fabrc, in a newspaper, joining tho edges .with* a double-fold, wellvpinned," and tho moth will never get inside. - - Camphor, lavender, and other strongly-scented remedies can all bo discarded if this simple paper, cure bo adopted. A_ curious discovery was. made ,by the painstaking observer with regard to maggots and sand. Ho put a pieco of meat in a jar under a layer of fine, dry sand, a finger's breadth thick, the jar being left open. The bluebottles paid many visits, entering the jar, going out and coming back again, "inquiring iuto the invisible tiling revealed by its fragrance." "A diligent watch enables me to see them fussing' about, exploring the-sandy expanse, tapping it with their feet, sounding it with their proboscis. I leave tho visitors undisturbed for a fortnight or three weeks. Not one has laid an egg." ' And why? Tho explanation is "simple enough to the watchful scientist. Tho grittiness of the sand would hurt the new-born weakljngs. Its dryness would absorb tho moisture indispensable to their ipo'veinents. Later, oh, as the maternal instinct' recognises, tho grub 3,. when their strength lias come to {.hem. will dig tho earth quite well and be able to descend. And so the mother fly, however'tempted by tho smell, abstains flora bieedinsr."

. Perhaps the most curious and wonderful evidence of tho intimacy;• of Fabre's knowledge-of insect life is contained in the/chapter entitled "A Parasite of the Maggot."" He 1 shows'how the maggots, engaged •in their, work of -destruction, aro attacked Ithemselves'by tho virus' of corruption.- • : Fortunately,. Nature provides a safeguard. ' ' ; Hew are the worms" protected in horrible work-yard | They do : _hot eat: they .drink their; full by means'of'.a pejisin which they dis- ■! gorge!: V; They .first';, turn'.their food\stujfs into,'soup;' they practise . a . strange and exceptional art of feed- ■ ,'ing wherein those dangerous carving implements, the scalpels,, with their dissecting-room perils, are superfluous. The maggot, it may here be noted, is styled by Fabre, "the sanitary inspector in the service of the public health." As one reads the pages of Fabre's book' one stands amazed at the splendid patience, the unremitting industry of the man, whoso .humility in face- of the mysteries of Nature, which he. so successfully solves, 'is almost pathetic. Well does he deserves the fame which has come _to_ him so late in life, and which, so it is clear from books, he so modestly deprecates. (New Zealand price, 7s. 6d.). ■

. "THE WORLD OF.' LABOUR." •Any,' New Zealander who may. still cherish, the ' ancient tradition of Oxford's unalterably.conservatism will find in-the pages of "The World of. Lahour"—"A Discussion of the Present and Future Trades Unionism"—by G. D/'H..Cole (George, Bell and Sons; per Whitcombe and Tombs) a very effective disillusion. Mr. Cole is, I understand, an Oxford don. If there be many dons at Oxford who share , his opinions -on the labour, then assuredly has extreme .Radicalism gained a firm , hold in an unexpected quarter. Mr. Cole's work is one of'the most important, as it 1 is certainly one of : the most outspoken deliverances on the labour . question that has appeared/ for some time past. It is so essentially up-to-date, so redolent of the conviction, that in labour politics as in general politics,the. time has, arrived wh<;n a liberal, resort must be had to .the: scrap-heap. Many of the older trades unionists, who may read Mr. Cole's .pages, may feel, 'hurt by the. accusation of futility which is now brought agaiiist the old unionism. It remains to .be seen, however,; whether . the new generation. of :;trades. unionists will- derive,. from the'' Syndicalism,, or "Greater Unionism,'' which, with cer-tain-reservations, .is championed ; by this Oxford disciple and of-Tom Ma'nn,- th"e same-practical benefits-which, rightly, or! wrongljV so 'many-scores' of thousands- of.'British working -men.-un the ■ past. have ;• been:' wont ->to -.attribute to -the old unionism. Mr. -Cole lias this Tnuch .invcbmmon. with;- the Syndicalists ithat-rhe" : avo.wedly '.believes in -i'.'class [.war." -.'"No'-rolatiotf denies this (the existence .-p£ f dass;;\yarj can," he - says, - -'be' tliosft who are'trodden beneath the cloven'.hoof of Capital.,",., chapter he 'says: whate^br his weaknesses, is', at'the moment, the most striking "personality in the Trade! Union .world,-'.'- and-he admits that ."the. ideas that this' Book is an attempit;to advocate are* largely; those which, seem, likely to be permanently conserved out of the rather ill-assorted mass Mhnn : las ,put before the'- world .of labour."

: With Conciliation Boards and Compulsory] Arbitration the author will "have nothing to do. Arbitration has, he 'says,'"broken down in; New Zealand, and the' compulsory principle would ifroye utterly unworkable in England." Similarly. lie ;cahnot accept copartner; ship as a solution of the problem.'. To :the "General Social Strike" ' lie is equally opposed. So far as I can understand Mr. Cole's personal views, tvhich, as expressed in ■ one chapter, are moro than once to be found-very much modified in the next, the . author stands for what might- be called a sane Syndicalism. In, the ligty, of' certain recent events in this country many of . us might be excused the' doubt whether 'Syndicalism and sanity could possibly b; co-existent. The syndicalism Mr. Cole wishes to see is a new economic organisation, apparently to be controlled by the trades' unions under a State which they are first to capture. At-' what the State has done and is doing in Great Britain to help the worker, our Oxford economist openly scoffs. National Insurance, Old' Age Pensions, and other well-meant schemes to assist the worker in a practical, way he regards as mere palliatives, only another form of an improved system of outdoor relief. He is good enough to admit that even "reorganised ; and co-ordinated unions" cannot supplant the State, but "they may become the instruments of the State's reformation, and the controllers.of. the processes of industry, in the future." Apparently, Mr. Cole holds the belief that thei-e.is to .be a resolution, but it' is to be a revolution of' constructive idealism." The present Syndicalistic' hostility --to the State, he >4eclares)' to be a mistake : it is more tlian a mistake; it is wrong.. Such hostility can only .be "fundamental so long as the St-'nte is irretrievably. bourgeois." . What .is to be aimed- at is the democratisation of 'the State. Ho regards the strike (not. the General Strike) as a useful '''reformist" weapon. Tho trades unions, must fight in order that they may control. ' "if is in warring with Capitalism that they will learn to do without it" (the strike), "but it is the' State , that in the end will set them free." •

It would appear, therefore, that ivhat Mr. Cole desires to seo brought about it the. nationalisation of all industrial activities, which, after all, is no new doctrine to be expounded either by a university '■jt'heorisG or anyono .else. What I fail to find in Mr. Cole's book is any exposition of what is to be the' position of the consumer, and of thoso hapless people who are not considered (by the trades unions) to. be "workers" at all. What is to prevent a trades union- controlled State becoming just as selfish aiid tyrannical as the Syndicalists declare tho Capitalists (in plain English, the employers) to bo at present? I have referred to what may fairly be said to bo Mr. Cole's personal views as to the future. But the putting forward bj> the author of any new plan of industrial and political salvation of his own plays, after all, quite a subordinate part on his book. Mr. Cole not only examines trades unionism in tho past —as Mr. Webb did in even greater detail —but lie deals-with the actual labour movements of tile day, in all their varied forms and phases. Especially in its exposition and criticism of Syndicalism is the book olio of 110 small interest, and value to students of industrial and economic problems. It is quite notably tho most comprehensive and well-ordered survey of latter-day labour problems, and the various projects which have been, and are being, put forward for their solution, that has yet been published, and even those—and those will necessarily 'i,o many—who may disagree with many of tho author's own contentious and predictions, cannot fail to recognise the evidence of industry,' euro, and sincerity which arc displayed in his book. (New Zealand price, fo.).