第 14 节
作者:嘟嘟      更新:2021-02-20 05:57      字数:9322
  burst before it could get out。         And what are the black lines across; marked
  E   E   E?    They   are   the   streams   of   lava   which   have   burrowed   out;   some
  covered   up   again   in   cinders;   some   lying   bare   in   the   open   air;   some   still
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  inside the cone; bracing it together; holding it up。    Something like this is
  the inside of a volcano。
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  MADAM HOW AND LADY WHY
  CHAPTER IV
  THE TRANSFORMATIONS OF A GRAIN OF SOIL
  Why;   you   ask;   are   there   such   terrible   things   as   volcanos? Of   what
  use can they be?
  They are of use enough; my child; and of many more uses; doubt not;
  than we know as yet; or ever shall know。            But of one of their uses I can
  tell you。
  They  make; or help to make; divers and sundry curious things; from
  gunpowder to your body and mine。
  What?      I   can   understand   their   helping   to   make   gunpowder;   because
  the sulphur in it is often found round volcanos; and I know the story of the
  brave   Spaniard   who;   when   his   fellows   wanted   materials   for   gunpowder;
  had   himself   lowered   in   a   basket   down   the   crater   of   a   South   American
  volcano; and gathered sulphur   for them off   the burning cliffs:            but   how
  can volcanos help to make me?           Am I made of lava?         Or is there lava in
  me?
  My child; I did not say that volcanos helped to make you。               I said that
  they helped to make your body; which is a very different matter; as I beg
  you to remember; now and always。             Your body is no more you yourself
  than the hoop which you trundle; or the pony which you ride。                 It is; like
  them;   your   servant;   your   tool;   your   instrument;   your   organ;   with   which
  you work:      and a very useful; trusty; cunningly…contrived organ it is; and
  therefore I advise you to make good use of it; for you are responsible for it。
  But   you   yourself   are   not   your   body;   or   your   brain;   but   something   else;
  which we call your soul; your spirit; your life。           And that 〃you yourself〃
  would remain just the same if it were taken out of your body; and put into
  the body of a bee; or of a lion; or any other body; or into no body at all。
  At least so I believe; and so; I am happy to say; nine hundred and ninety…
  nine thousand   nine   hundred   and ninety…nine people   out of   every  million
  have always   believed; because they have   used their   human instincts   and
  their common sense; and have obeyed (without knowing it) the warning of
  a great and good philosopher called Herder; that 〃The organ is in no case
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  the power which works by it;〃 which is as much as to say; that the engine
  is not the engine…driver; nor the spade the gardener。
  There have always been; and always will be; a few people who cannot
  see   that。   They   think   that   a   man's   soul   is   part   of   his   body;   and   that   he
  himself is not one thing; but a great number of things。                 They think that
  his mind and character are only made up of all the thoughts; and feelings;
  and   recollections   which   have   passed   through   his   brain;   and   that   as   his
  brain changes; he himself must change; and become another person; and
  then another person again; continually。            But do you not agree with them:
  but keep in mind wise Herder's warning that you are not to 〃confound the
  organ with the power;〃 or the   engine with the driver; or   your body  with
  yourself:     and then we will go on and consider how a volcano; and   the
  lava which flows from it; helps to make your body。
  Now   I   know   that   the   Scotch   have   a   saying;   〃That   you   cannot   make
  broth out of whinstones〃 (which is their name for lava)。              But; though they
  are very clever people; they are wrong there。               I never saw any broth in
  Scotland; as far as I know; but what whinstones had gone to the making of
  it; nor a Scotch boy who had not eaten many a bit of whinstone; and been
  all the better for it。
  Of  course;  if  you   simply  put   the  whinstones into   a  kettle   and  boiled
  them; you would not get much out of them by such rough cookery as that。
  But Madam How is the best and most delicate of all cooks; and she knows
  how to pound; and soak; and stew whinstones so delicately; that she can
  make     them    sauce   and   seasoning     for  meat;    vegetables;    puddings;    and
  almost everything that you eat; and can put into your veins things which
  were spouted up red…hot by volcanos; ages and ages since; perhaps at the
  bottom of ancient seas which are now firm dry land。
  This is very strangeas all Madam How's doings are。               And you would
  think it stranger still if you had ever seen the flowing of a lava stream。
  Out of a cave of slag and cinders in the black hillside rushes a golden
  river; flowing like honey; and yet so tough that you cannot thrust a stick
  into it; and so heavy that great stones (if you throw them on it) float on the
  top; and are carried down like corks on water。             It is so hot that you cannot
  stand near it more than a few seconds; hotter; perhaps; than any fire you
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  ever saw: but as it flows; the outside of it cools in the cool air; and gets
  covered with slag   and cinders;  something   like   those which   you   may  see
  thrown      out   of  the   furnaces     in  the   Black    Country     of   Staffordshire。
  Sometimes these cling together above the lava stream; and make a tunnel;
  through   the   cracks   in   which   you   may   see   the   fiery   river   rushing   and
  roaring down below。          But mostly they are kept broken and apart; and roll
  and slide over each other on the top of the lava; crashing and clanging as
  they  grind   together   with   a   horrid   noise。   Of   course   that   stream;   like   all
  streams; runs towards the lower grounds。               It slides down glens; and fills
  them up; down the beds of streams; driving off the water in hissing steam;
  and sometimes (as it did in Iceland a few years ago) falls over some cliff;
  turning what had been a water…fall into a fire…fall; and filling up the pool
  below with blocks of lava suddenly cooled; with a clang and roar like that
  of chains shaken or brazen vessels beaten; which is heard miles and miles
  away。     Of course; woe to the crops and gardens which stand in its way。
  It crawls over them all and eats them up。              It shoves down houses; it sets
  woods on fire; and sends the steam and gas out of the tree…trunks hissing
  into the air。     And (curiously enough) it does this often without touching
  the trees themselves。        It flows round the trunks (it did so in a wood in the
  Sandwich Islands a few years ago); and of course sets them on fire by its
  heat;   till   nothing   is   left   of   them  but   blackened   posts。 But   the   moisture
  which comes out of the poor tree in steam blows so hard against the lava
  round that it can never touch the tree; and a round hole is left in the middle
  of   the   lava   where   the   tree   was。 Sometimes;   too;   the   lava   will   spit   out
  liquid fire among the branches of the trees; which hangs down afterwards
  from them in tassels of slag; and yet; by the very same means; the steam in
  the    branches    will   prevent    the  liquid   fire  burning     them   off;  or   doing
  anything but just scorch the bark。
  But   I   can   tell   you   a   more   curious story  still。 The   lava   stream;   you
  must know; is continually sending out little jets of gas and steam:                   some
  of it it may have brought up from the very inside of the earth; most of it; I
  suspect; comes from the damp herbage and damp soil over which it runs。
  Be that as it may; a lava stream out of Mount Etna; in Sicily; came once
  down   straight   upon   the   town   of   Catania。      Everybody   thought   that   the
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  town   would   be swallowed   up;   and   the   poor   people   there   (who   knew  no
  better)   began   to   pray   to   St。 Agathaa   famous   saint;   who;   they   say;   was
  martyred   there   ages   agoand   who;   they   fancy;   has   power   in   heave