第 6 节
作者:精灵王      更新:2021-04-30 17:22      字数:9322
  bestowed;   for   the   last   century;   upon   these    once   unnoticed   atomies   has
  well repaid itself; for from no branch            of physical science has more been
  learnt of the SCIENTIA            SCIENTIARUM; the priceless art of learning;
  no branch of science         has more utterly confounded a wisdom of the wise;
  shattered   to    pieces   systems   and   theories;   and   the   idolatry   of   arbitrary
  names;      and   taught   man   to   be   silent   while   his   Maker   speaks;   than   this
  apparent      pedantry    of   zoophytology;      in   which    our   old   distinctions    of
  〃animal;〃      〃vegetable;〃      and   〃mineral〃      are   trembling     in   the   balance;
  seemingly ready to vanish like their fellows … 〃the four elements〃                   of fire;
  earth;   air;   and   water。   No   branch   of   science   has   helped   so      much   to
  sweep   away   that   sensuous   idolatry  of   mere   size;   which       tempts   man   to
  admire and respect objects in proportion to the                number of feet or inches
  which they occupy in space。            No branch of        science; moreover; has been
  more   humbling   to   the   boasted   rapidity      and   omnipotence   of   the   human
  reason;   or   has   more   taught   those   who     have   eyes   to   see;   and   hearts   to
  understand; how weak and wayward;                  staggering and slow; are the steps
  of   our   fallen   race   (rapid   and  triumphant   enough   in   that   broad   road   of
  theories   which   leads   to    intellectual   destruction)   whensoever   they   tread
  the   narrow   path   of    true   science;   which   leads   (if   I   may   be   allowed   to
  16
  … Page 17…
  Glaucus/or The Wonders of the Shore
  transfer   our     Lord's   great   parable   from   moral   to   intellectual   matters)   to
  Life;     to the living and permanent knowledge of living things and of the
  laws of their existence。         Humbling; truly; to one who looks back to                 the
  summer   of   1754;   when   good   Mr。   Ellis;   the   wise   and   benevolent         West
  Indian   merchant;   read   before   the   Royal   Society   his   paper        proving   the
  animal nature of corals; and followed it up the year                  after by that 〃Essay
  toward      a  Natural     History    of  the   Corallines;      and    other   like   Marine
  Productions of the  British   Coasts;〃 which              forms   the  groundwork of   all
  our    knowledge       on   the   subject   to   this   day。     The    chapter    in   Dr。  G。
  Johnston's 〃British Zoophytes;〃 p。 407;               or the excellent little RESUME
  thereof   in    Dr。  Landsborough's   book          on   the   same    subject;   is   really   a
  saddening   one;   as   one   sees   how       loth   were;   not   merely   dreamers   like;
  Marsigli or Bonnet; but sound… headed men like Pallas and Linne; to give
  up   the   old   sense…bound       fancy;   that   these   corals   were   vegetables;   and
  their    polypes    some      sort   of  living    flowers。    Yet;    after  all;  there   are
  excuses   for     them。      Without   our   improved   microscopes;   and   while   the
  sciences   of     comparative   anatomy   and   chemistry   were   yet   infantile;   it
  was     difficult to believe what was the truth; and for this simple                  reason:
  that; as usual; the truth; when discovered; turned out far                   more startling
  and prodigious than the dreams which men had hastily                     substituted for it;
  more strange than Ovid's old story that the               coral was soft under the sea;
  and hardened by exposure to air; than                Marsigli's notion; that the coral…
  polypes   were   its   flowers;   than      Dr。   Parsons'   contemptuous   denial;   that
  these complicated forms           could be 〃the operations of little; poor; helpless;
  jelly…like     animals; and not the work of more sure vegetation;〃 than Baker
  the     microscopist's       detailed    theory    of   their   being    produced      by   the
  crystallization of the mineral salts in the sea…water; just as he                   had seen
  〃the particles of mercury and copper in aquafortis assume                   tree…like forms;
  or curious delineations of mosses and minute                 shrubs on slates and stones;
  owing to the shooting of salts            intermixed with mineral particles:〃 … one
  smiles at it now:        yet    these men were no less sensible than we; and if
  we   know   better;   it    is   only   because   other   men;   and   those   few   and   far
  between; have        laboured amid disbelief; ridicule; and error; needing again
  and     again   to   retrace   their   steps;   and   to   unlearn   more   than   they   learnt;
  17
  … Page 18…
  Glaucus/or The Wonders of the Shore
  seeming to go backwards when they were really progressing most:                          and
  now we have entered into their labours; and find them; as I                 have just said;
  more   wondrous   than   all   the   poetic   dreams   of   a     Bonnet   or   a   Darwin。
  For who; after all; to take a few broad              instances (not to enlarge on the
  great   root…wonder   of   a   number   of      distinct   individuals   connected   by   a
  common life;  and   forming   a         seeming plant invariable   in   each   species);
  would   have   dreamed   of        the   〃bizarreries〃   which   these   very   zoophytes
  present in their      classification?
  You   go   down   to   any   shore   after   a   gale   of   wind;   and   pick   up   a   few
  delicate   little   sea…ferns。    You   have   two   in   your   hand;   which    probably
  look to you; even under a good pocket magnifier; identical                    or nearly so。
  (1)    But you are told to your surprise; that however               like the dead horny
  polypidoms   which   you   hold   may   be;   the   two       species   of   animal   which
  have formed them are at least as far apart               in the scale of creation as a
  quadruped is from a fish。          You see in      some Musselburgh dredger's boat
  the   phosphorescent   sea…pen   (unknown           in   England);   a   living   feather;   of
  the look and consistency of a           cock's comb; or the still stranger sea…rush
  (VIRGULARIA   MIRABILIS);                  a   spine   a   foot   long;   with   hundreds   of
  rosy flowerets arranged in          half…rings round it from end to end; and you
  are told that these      are the congeners of the great stony Venus's fan which
  hangs in      seamen's cottages; brought home from the West Indies。                     And
  ere you      have done wondering; you hear   that all three are congeners of
  the    ugly;   shapeless;   white   〃dead   man's   hand;〃   which   you   may   pick   up
  after a storm on any shore。           You have a beautiful madrepore or               brain…
  stone on your mantel…piece; brought home from some Pacific                       coral…reef。
  You are to believe that its first cousins are the             soft; slimy sea…anemones
  which you see expanding their living              flowers in every rock…pool … bags
  of sea…water; without a trace of          bone or stone。       You must believe it; for
  in science; as in higher        matters; he who will walk surely; must 〃walk by
  faith and not by       sight。〃
  These     are   but  a   few   of   the  wonders     which     the   classification    of
  marine animals affords; and only drawn from one class of them;                       though
  almost   as   common   among   every   other   family   of   that   submarine         world
  whereof Spenser sang …
  18
  … Page 19…
  Glaucus/or The Wonders of the Shore
  〃Oh;    what    an   endless    work    have    I  in  hand;    To   count    the   sea's
  abundant progeny! Whose fruitful seed far passeth those in land; And also
  those which won in th' azure sky; For much more earth to tell the stars on
  high;   Albe   they   endless   seem   in   estimation;   Than   to   recount   the   sea's
  posterity;   So   fertile   be   the   flouds   in   generation;   So   huge   their   numbers;
  and so numberless their nation。〃
  But   these   few   examples   will   be   sufficient   to   account   both   for   the
  slow   pace   at   which   the   knowledge   of   sea…animals   has   progressed;   and
  for the allurement which men of the highest attainments have found;                        and
  still find; in it。    And when to this we add the marvels which                    meet us at