t hurt him; but if the molecule meant
him for a ne'er-do-well like his father, then all the pains that I
might have taken to make a decent man of him would only be very
hurtful to him, Education incessantly crossing the inclination of
the molecule, he would be drawn as it were by two contrary forces,
and would walk in zigzags along the path of life, as I see an
infinity of other people doing, equally awkward in good and evil.
These are what we call _especes_, of all epithets the most to be
dreaded, because it marks mediocrity and the very lowest degree of
contempt. A great scoundrel is a great scoundrel, but he is not an
_espece_. Before the paternal molecule had got the upper hand, and
had brought him to the perfect abjection at which I have arrived,
it would take endless time, and he would lose his best years. I do
not meddle at present; I let him come on. I examine him; he is
already greedy, cunning, idle, lying, and a cheat; I'm much afraid
that he is a chip of the old block.

_I._--And you will make him a musician, so that the likeness may be
exact?

_He._--A musician! Sometimes I look at him and grind my teeth,
saying: If thou wert ever to know a note of music, I believe I
would wring thy neck.

_I._--And why so, if you please?

_He._--Music leads to nothing.

_I._--It leads to everything.

_He._--Yes, when people are first-rate. But who can promise himself
that his child shall be first-rate. The odds are ten thousand to
one that he will never be anything but a wretched scraper of
catgut. Are you aware that it would perhaps be easier to find a
child fit to govern a realm, fit to be a great king, than one fit
for a great violin player.

_I._--It seems to me that agreeable talents, even if they are
mediocre, among a people who are without morals, and are lost in
debauchery and luxury, get a man rapidly on in the path of fortune.

_He._--No doubt, gold and gold; gold is everything, and all the
rest without gold is nothing. So instead of cramming his head with
fine maxims which he would have to forget, on pain of remaining a
beggar all the days of his life, what I do is this: when I have a
louis, which does not happen to me often, I plant myself in front
of him, I pull the louis out of my pocket, I show it to him with