第 3 节
作者:精灵王      更新:2021-04-30 17:22      字数:9317
  facts just enough to make them fit the fancied meaning                of the Bible; and
  the   Bible   just   enough   to   make   it   fit   the   fancied meaning   of   the   facts。
  But there were a few who would have no                compromise; who laboured on
  with a noble recklessness; determined            to speak the thing which they had
  seen; and neither more nor less;          sure that God could take better care than
  they of His own        everlasting truth。     And now they have conquered:             the
  facts which      were twenty years ago denounced as contrary to Revelation;
  are at    last accepted not merely as consonant with; but as corroborative
  thereof;     and   sound    practical    geologists    …  like   Hugh     Miller;   in  his
  〃Footprints   of   the   Creator;〃   and   Professor   Sedgwick;   in   the   invaluable
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  notes to his 〃Discourse on the Studies of Cambridge〃 …                   have wielded in
  defence      of  Christianity    the   very   science    which    was     faithlessly    and
  cowardly expected to subvert it。
  But if you seek; reader; rather for pleasure than for wisdom; you                  can
  find it in such studies; pure and undefiled。
  Happy;     truly;   is  the  naturalist。    He     has   no  time    for  melancholy
  dreams。      The     earth   becomes     to  him    transparent;    everywhere      he  sees
  significancies;      harmonies;     laws;   chains   of   cause   and   effect   endlessly
  interlinked; which draw him out of the narrow sphere of                  self…interest and
  self…pleasing;     into   a  pure   and   wholesome       region    of   solemn     joy  and
  wonder。      He goes up some Snowdon valley; to him                  it is a solemn spot
  (though unnoticed by his companions); where the                   stag's…horn clubmoss
  ceases to straggle across the turf; and the           tufted alpine clubmoss takes its
  place:     for   he   is  now    in  a  new    world;     a  region    whose     climate   is
  eternally   influenced   by   some   fresh      law   (after   which   he   vainly   guesses
  with a sigh at his own         ignorance); which renders life impossible to one
  species;  possible      to   another。    And   it   is   a   still   more   solemn   thought   to
  him; that it     was not always so; that aeons and ages back; that rock which
  he    passed a thousand feet below was fringed; not as now with fern and
  blue bugle; and white bramble…flowers; but perhaps with the alp… rose and
  the 〃gemsen…kraut〃 of Mont Blanc; at least with Alpine                 Saxifrages which
  have now retreated a thousand feet up the mountain                    side; and with the
  blue    Snow…Gentian;        and   the   Canadian     Sedum;     which      have     all  but
  vanished out   of   the   British   Isles。   And   what  is   it   which   tells him  that
  strange     story?    Yon    smooth     and   rounded     surface    of   rock;   polished;
  remark;   across   the   strata   and   against   the   grain; and   furrowed   here   and
  there;    as  if  by  iron  talons;   with   long    parallel    scratches。    It  was    the
  crawling   of   a   glacier   which     polished   that   rock…face;   the   stones   fallen
  from     Snowdon      peak    into    the   half…liquid    lake   of   ice  above;    which
  ploughed those   furrows。           AEons   and   aeons ago;  before the   time   when
  Adam first
  〃Embraced his Eve in happy hour; And every bird in Eden burst In
  carol; every bud in flower;〃
  those marks were there; the records of the 〃Age of ice;〃 slight;               truly;
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  to   be   effaced    by   the   next   farmer    who    needs    to  build    a  wall;    but
  unmistakeable;        boundless     in   significance;     like  Crusoe's     one    savage
  footprint   on   the   sea…shore;   and   the   naturalist   acknowledges       the   finger…
  mark of God; and wonders; and worships。
  Happy; especially; is the sportsman who is also a naturalist:                  for    as
  he   roves   in   pursuit   of   his   game;   over   hills   or   up   the   beds   of streams
  where no one but a sportsman ever thinks of going; he will                    be certain to
  see    things   noteworthy;      which    the   mere    naturalist    would     never    find;
  simply because he could never guess that they                   were there to be found。
  I do not speak merely of the rare birds              which may be shot; the curious
  facts   as   to   the   habits   of   fish   which may   be   observed;   great   as   these
  pleasures     are。    I  speak    of   the   scenery;     the   weather;    the   geological
  formation      of  the   country;   its   vegetation;     and   the   living   habits   of  its
  denizens。      A  sportsman;        out   in   all   weathers;   and   often   dependent   for
  success     on    his   knowledge        of  〃what    the   sky   is  going    to   do;〃   has
  opportunities   for      becoming   a   meteorologist   which   no   one   beside   but   a
  sailor    possesses; and one has often longed for a scientific gamekeeper or
  huntsman; who; by discovering a law for the mysterious and                       seemingly
  capricious      phenomena       of   〃scent;〃    might    perhaps     throw     light   on    a
  hundred   dark   passages   of   hygrometry。         The   fisherman;      too;   …   what   an
  inexhaustible treasury of wonder lies at his feet;             in the subaqueous world
  of the commonest mountain burn!                All the     laws which mould a world
  are there busy; if he but knew it;          fattening his trout for him; and making
  them rise to the fly; by       strange electric influences; at one hour rather than
  at another。       Many a good geognostic lesson; too; both as to the nature of
  a    country's rocks; and as to the laws by which strata are deposited;                  may
  an observing man learn as he wades up the bed of a trout… stream; not to
  mention      the  strange    forms    and   habits   of   the  tribes   of    water…insects。
  Moreover;   no   good   fisherman   but   knows;   to   his       sorrow;   that   there   are
  plenty of minutes; ay; hours; in each day's              fishing in which he would be
  right glad of any employment better             than trying to
  〃Call spirits from the vasty deep;〃
  who will not
  〃Come when you do call for them。〃
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  What   to   do; then?      You   are   sitting; perhaps;   in   your   coracle;   upon
  some mountain tarn; waiting for a wind; and waiting in vain。
  〃Keine luft an keine seite; Todes…stille f 乺 chterlich;〃
  as G 攖 he has it …
  〃Und der schiffer sieht bek 乵 mert Glatte fl 刢 he rings umher。〃
  You paddle to the shore on the side whence the wind ought to come;
  if   it   had   any  spirit   in   it; tie the   coracle   to   a   stone; light   your cigar;   lie
  down on your back upon the grass; grumble; and finally                        fall asleep。     In
  the   meanwhile;   probably;   the   breeze   has   come   on;          and   there   has   been
  half…an…hour's lively  fishing   curl;   and   you   wake           just   in   time   to   see   the
  last ripple of it sneaking off at the other              side of the lake; leaving all as
  dead…calm as before。
  Now      how    much     better;   instead    of   falling   asleep;    to  have    walked
  quietly round the lake side; and asked of your own brains and of                         Nature
  the question; 〃How did this lake come here?                  What does it        mean?〃
  It is a hole in the earth。         True; but how was the hole made?                  There
  must   have   been   huge   forces   at   work   to   form   such   a   chasm。        Probably
  the   mountain   was   actually   opened   from   within   by   an   earthquake;   and
  when the strata fell together again; the portion at either end of                   the chasm;
  being perhaps crushed together with greater force;                    remained higher than
  the    centre;   and    so  the   water    lodged    between       them。     Perhaps      it  was
  formed thus。        You will at least agree that          its formation must have been a
  grand sight   enough; and   one during              which a spectator   would have had
  some difficulty in keeping his            footing。
  And   when   you   learn