第 8 节
作者:精灵王      更新:2021-04-30 17:22      字数:9322
  in the most ungainly; estimating each              thing not carnally; as the vulgar do;
  by its size or its      pleasantness to the senses; but spiritually; by the amount
  of    Divine thought revealed to Man therein; holding every phenomenon
  worth   the   noting   down;   believing   that   every   pebble   holds   a         treasure;
  every   bud   a   revelation;   making   it   a   point   of   conscience       to   pass   over
  nothing   through   laziness   or   hastiness;   lest   the   vision      once   offered   and
  despised should be withdrawn; and looking at every                     object as if he were
  never to behold it again。
  Moreover;  he   must keep   himself   free   from  all   those   perturbations   of
  mind      which     not   only    weaken      energy;    but    darken    and    confuse     the
  inductive   faculty;   from   haste   and   laziness;   from   melancholy;           testiness;
  pride; and all the passions which make men see only what                        they wish to
  see。    Of solemn and scrupulous reverence for truth; of                  the habit of mind
  which regards each fact and discovery; not as our                  own possession; but as
  the possession of its Creator; independent               of us; our tastes; our needs; or
  our   vain…glory;   I   hardly   need   to    speak;   for   it   is   the   very   essence   of   a
  nature's     faculty    …  the   very     tenure     of   his   existence:      and    without
  truthfulness science would be             as impossible now as chivalry would have
  been of old。
  And last; but not least; the perfect naturalist should have in him                     the
  very     essence     of  true   chivalry;    namely;     self…devotion;      the    desire     to
  advance;   not   himself   and   his   own   fame   or   wealth;   but      knowledge   and
  mankind。        He    should     have   this   great   virtue;   and    in   spite    of  many
  shortcomings        (for   what    man    is  there   who     liveth   and    sinneth     not?);
  naturalists   as   a   class   have   it   to   a   degree   which makes   them   stand   out
  most     honourably       in   the   midst     of  a   self…seeking       and     mammonite
  generation;  inclined to   value  everything   by  its   money             price;  its   private
  utility。    The    spirit   which    gives    freely;   because     it   knows     that   it  has
  received freely; which communicates knowledge                     without hope of reward;
  without jealousy and rivalry; to fellow… students and to the world; which is
  content to delve and toil           comparatively unknown; that from its obscure
  and   seemingly       worthless   results   others   may   derive   pleasure;   and   even
  build up      great fortunes; and change the very face of cities and lands; by
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  the    practical   use   of  some    stray   talisman    which    the   poor   student    has
  invented in his laboratory; … this is the spirit which is abroad               among our
  scientific men; to a greater degree than it ever has been               among any body
  of men for many a century past; and might well be                  copied by those who
  profess deeper purposes and a more exalted                 calling; than the discovery
  of a new zoophyte; or the          classification of a moorland crag。
  And   it   is   these   qualities;   however   imperfectly   they   may   be   realized
  in any individual instance; which make our scientific men; as a                  class; the
  wholesomest   and   pleasantest   of   companions   abroad;   and   at           home   the
  most blameless; simple; and cheerful; in all domestic                 relations; men for
  the   most   part   of   manful   heads;   and   yet   of  childlike   hearts;   who   have
  turned to quiet study; in these late          piping times of peace; an intellectual
  health   and   courage   which       might   have   made   them;   in   more   fierce   and
  troublous      times;   capable     of   doing    good    service    with   very   different
  instruments than the        scalpel and the microscope。
  I   have    been    sketching      an   ideal:    but     one    which    I   seriously
  recommend         to  the   consideration      of   all   parents;    for;  though     it  be
  impossible   and   absurd   to   wish   that   every   young   man   should   grow   up   a
  naturalist by profession; yet this age offers no more wholesome                   training;
  both moral and intellectual; than that which is given by               instilling into the
  young an early taste for outdoor physical             science。     The education of our
  children is now more than ever a             puzzling problem; if by education we
  mean     the   development       of  the   whole     humanity;     not   merely    of  some
  arbitrarily    chosen     part   of   it。    How      to  feed    the   imagination     with
  wholesome food; and teach it to            despise French novels; and that sugared
  slough   of   sentimental      poetry;   in   comparison   with   which   the   old   fairy…
  tales    and   ballads    were     manful     and   rational;   how    to  counteract     the
  tendency   to     shallowed   and   conceited   sciolism;   engendered   by   hearing
  popular      lectures   on   all   manner   of   subjects;   which   can   only   be   really
  learnt     by    stern   methodic      study;   how    to   give   habits   of   enterprise;
  patience; accurate observation; which the counting…house or   the                    library
  will    never   bestow;     above    all;  how   to  develop     the  physical     powers;
  without engendering brutality and   coarseness … are                questions becoming
  daily more and more puzzling; while they need                  daily more and more to
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  be solved; in an age of enterprise; travel;          and emigration; like the present。
  For the truth must be told; that           the great majority of men who are now
  distinguished   by   commercial         success;   have   had   a   training   the   directly
  opposite to that which          they are giving to their sons。          They are for the
  most part men who          have migrated from the country to the town; and had
  in their youth      all the advantages of a sturdy and manful hill…side or sea…
  side    training; men whose bodies were developed; and their lungs fed on
  pure breezes; long before they brought to work in the city the                 bodily and
  mental strength which they had gained by loch and moor。                       But it is not
  so   with   their   sons。   Their   business   habits   are   learnt    in   the   counting…
  house; a good school; doubtless; as far as it goes:                  but one which will
  expand none but the lowest intellectual             faculties; which will make them
  accurate accountants; shrewd            computers and competitors; but never the
  originators     of  daring     schemes;      men    able  and   willing    to  go   forth  to
  replenish the earth       and subdue it。       And in the hours of relaxation; how
  much     of   their  time    is  thrown    away;    for  want    of  anything    better;   on
  frivolity;   not    to   say   on   secret   profligacy;   parents   know   too   well;   and
  often shut     their eyes in very despair to evils which they know not how to
  cure。    A frightful majority of our middle…class young men are                   growing
  up   effeminate;   empty   of   all   knowledge   but   what   tends      directly   to   the
  making of a fortune; or rather; to speak correctly;               to the keeping up the
  fortunes which their fathers have made for               them; while of the minority;
  who are indeed thinkers and readers;              how many women as well as men
  have     we    seen    wearying     their   souls     with    study    undirected;     often
  misdirected;   craving   to   learn;   yet   not    knowing   how   or   what   to   learn;
  cultivating;   with   unwholesome   energy;          the   head   at   the   expense   of   the
  body  and   the heart;   catching up   with        the   most   capricious   self…will   one
  mania after another; and tossing            it away again for some new phantom;
  gorging the memory with facts            which no one has taught them to arrange;
  and the  reason   with      problems   which they  have   no   method   for  solving;
  till they fret    themselves in a chronic fever of the brain; which too often
  urge     them   on   to   plunge;   as   it   wer