第 2 节
作者:精灵王      更新:2021-04-30 17:22      字数:9321
  What   a   change   from   the   temper   of   two   generations   since;   when   the
  naturalist     was   looked     on   as  a  harmless     enthusiast;     who    went    〃bug…
  hunting;〃 simply because he had not spirit to follow a fox!                     There     are
  those alive who can recollect an amiable man being literally                    bullied out
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  of   the   New    Forest;    because    he   dared   to  make     a   collection    (at  this
  moment; we believe; in some unknown abyss of                    that great Avernus; the
  British   Museum)   of   fossil   shells   from   those     very   Hordwell   Cliffs;   for
  exploring   which   there   is   now   established       a   society   of   subscribers   and
  correspondents。          They      can   remember;         too;    when;     on    the   first
  appearance   of   Bewick's   〃British   Birds;〃   the        excellent   sportsman   who
  brought it down to the Forest was asked;               Why on earth he had bought a
  book about 〃cock sparrows〃? and had to                justify himself again and again;
  simply by lending the book to his             brother sportsmen; to convince them
  that there were rather more          than a dozen sorts of birds (as they then held)
  indigenous to       Hampshire。       But the book; perhaps; which turned the tide
  in   favour    of   Natural   History;   among   the   higher   classes   at   least;   in   the
  south     of   England;   was   White's   〃History   of   Selborne。〃        A   Hampshire
  gentleman and sportsman; whom everybody knew; had taken the trouble
  to write a book about the birds and the weeds in his own parish;                    and the
  every…day   things   which   went   on   under   his   eyes;   and   everyone         else's。
  And   all gentlemen;  from  the Weald   of   Kent   to   the Vale   of         Blackmore;
  shrugged their shoulders mysteriously; and said; 〃Poor                  fellow!〃 till they
  opened the book itself; and discovered to their               surprise that it read like
  any novel。      And then came a burst of            confused; but honest admiration;
  from the young squire's 〃Bless me!              who would have thought that there
  were so many wonderful things to              be seen in one's own park!〃 to the old
  squire's more morally         valuable 〃Bless me! why; I have seen that and that
  a hundred times;        and never thought till now how wonderful they were!〃
  There were great excuses;   though; of   old; for the contempt   in   which
  the naturalist was held; great excuses for the pitying tone of                 banter with
  which   the   Spectator  talks   of   〃the   ingenious〃   Don      Saltero   (as   no   doubt
  the   Neapolitan   gentleman   talked   of   Ferrante        Imperato   the   apothecary;
  and    his   museum);      great   excuses     for   Voltaire;    when     he   classes   the
  collection of butterflies among the           other 〃bizarreries de l'esprit humain。〃
  For; in the last     generation; the needs of the world were different。               It had
  no time      for butterflies and fossils。       While Buonaparte was hovering on
  the    Boulogne  coast;  the pursuits   and   the  education   which   were   needed
  were   such   as   would   raise   up   men   to   fight   him;   so   the   coarse; fierce;
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  hard…handed training of our grandfathers came when it was                      wanted; and
  did the work which was required of it; else we had not                     been here now。
  Let us be thankful that we have had leisure for               science; and show now in
  war that our science has at least not           unmanned us。
  Moreover; Natural History; if not fifty years ago; certainly a                 hundred
  years ago; was hardly worthy of men of practical common                      sense。     After;
  indeed; Linne; by his invention of generic and                specific names; had made
  classification   possible;   and   by   his   own       enormous   labours   had   shown
  how   much   could   be   done   when   once   a         method      was   established;   the
  science has grown rapidly enough。              But     before him little or nothing had
  been   put   into   form   definite   enough      to   allure   those   who   (as   the   many
  always will) prefer to profit by            others' discoveries; than to discover for
  themselves;   and   Natural        History   was   attractive   only   to   a   few   earnest
  seekers; who found too           much trouble in disencumbering their own minds
  of   the   dreams   of    bygone   generations   (whether   facts;   like   cockatrices;
  basilisks;   and     krakens;   the   breeding   of   bees   out   of   a   dead   ox;   and   of
  geese     from     barnacles;     or   theories;    like  those    of  elements;     the   VIS
  PLASTRIX in           Nature; animal spirits; and the other musty heirlooms of
  Aristotleism       and   Neo…platonism);        to  try   to  make     a  science     popular;
  which      as   yet   was    not    even    a  science     at   all。   Honour       to   them;
  nevertheless。        Honour      to   Ray    and   his   illustrious    contemporaries       in
  Holland and   France。         Honour  to Seba  and Aldrovandus; to   Pomet;  with
  his   〃Historie   of   Drugges;〃   even   to   the   ingenious   Don   Saltero;   and      his
  tavern…museum in Cheyne Walk。                Where all was chaos; every man               was
  useful who could contribute a single spot of organized standing                       ground
  in   the   shape   of   a   fact   or   a   specimen。  But   it   is   a   question  whether
  Natural   History   would   have   ever   attained   its   present       honours;   had   not
  Geology  arisen; to   connect   every  other branch   of            Natural   History  with
  problems   as   vast   and   awful   as   they  are    captivating   to   the   imagination。
  Nay; the very opposition with            which Geology met was of as great benefit
  to the sister sciences as        to itself。    For; when questions belonging to the
  most     sacred    hereditary      beliefs   of  Christendom       were    supposed      to  be
  affected     by   the   verification     of   a   fossil   shell;   or   the   proving   that   the
  Maestricht 〃homo diluvii testis〃 was; after all; a monstrous eft;                  it became
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  necessary to work upon Conchology; Botany; and                 Comparative Anatomy;
  with a care and a reverence; a caution and a             severe induction; which had
  been never before applied to them; and              thus gradually; in the last half…
  century; the whole choir of         cosmical sciences have acquired a soundness;
  severity; and fulness;       which render them; as mere intellectual exercises;
  as valuable to a      manly mind as Mathematics and Metaphysics。
  But    how   very   lately   have   they   attained   that  firm   and   honourable
  standing     ground!     It   is  a  question    whether;    even    twenty    years   ago;
  Geology; as it then stood; was worth troubling one's head about; so                  little
  had   been    really   proved。    And   heavy   and   uphill   was   the   work;     even
  within the last fifteen years; of those who stedfastly set            themselves to the
  task of proving and of asserting at all risks;            that the Maker of the coal
  seam and the diluvial cave could not be              a 〃Deus quidam deceptor;〃 and
  that the facts which the rock and the           silt revealed were sacred; not to be
  warped or trifled with for the         sake of any cowardly and hasty notion that
  they contradicted His        other messages。       When a few more years are past;
  Buckland and        Sedgwick; Murchison and Lyell; Delab 坈 he and Phillips;
  Forbes and      Jamieson; and the group of brave men who accompanied and
  followed      them; will be looked back to as moral benefactors of their race;
  and     almost    as   martyrs;    also;   when     it  is  remembered        how    much
  misunderstanding; obloquy; and plausible folly they had to endure                    from
  well…meaning        fanatics   like   Fairholme     or   Granville     Penn;   and     the
  respectable mob at their heels who tried (as is the fashion in               such cases)
  to make   a hollow   compromise between   fact and   the Bible;              by  twisting
  facts just enough to make them fi