only in making unto itself a barbarous jargon, leaving obscurity
more obscure than before. As for us, who hunger after lucidity,
let us relinquish abstruse theories to whoever delights in them and
confine our ambition to observable facts, without pretending to
explain the quackery of the plasma. Our method certainly will not
reveal to us the origin of instinct; but it will at least show us
where it would be waste of time to look for it.

In this sort of research, a subject known through and through, down
to its most intimate peculiarities, is indispensable. Where shall
we find that subject? There would be a host of them and
magnificent ones, if it were possible to read the sealed pages of
others' lives; but no one can sound an existence outside his own
and even then he can think himself lucky if a retentive memory and
the habit of reflection give his soundings the proper accuracy. As
none of us is able to project himself into another's skin, we must
needs, in considering this problem, remain inside our own.

To talk about one's self is hateful, I know. The reader must have
the kindness to excuse me for the sake of the study in hand. I
shall take the silent beetle's place in the witness box, cross-
examining myself in all simplicity of soul, as I do the animal, and
asking myself whence that one of my instincts which stands out
above the others is derived.


Since Darwin bestowed upon me the title of 'incomparable observer,'
the epithet has often come back to me, from this side and from
that, without my yet understanding what particular merit I have
shown. It seems to me so natural, so much within everybody's