第 17 节
作者:精灵王      更新:2021-04-30 17:23      字数:9321
  Himself without witness;〃 in nature itself;               that He is the God of grace。
  Why speak of the God of nature and               the God of grace as two antithetical
  terms? The Bible never; in a            single instance; makes the distinction; and
  surely; if God be (as        He is) the Eternal and Unchangeable One; and if (as
  we all confess)       the universe bears the impress of His signet; we have no
  right;  in    the present   infantile state of   science; to put   arbitrary  limits   of
  our own to the revelation   which   He may  have thought good   to   make   of
  Himself   in   nature。     Nay;   rather;   let   us   believe   that;   if   our   eyes were
  opened; we should fulfil the requirement of Genius; to 〃see                    the universal
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  in   the   particular;〃    by  seeing    God's    whole     likeness;    His    whole     glory;
  reflected as in a mirror even in the meanest                flower; and that nothing but
  the dulness of our own souls prevents               them from seeing day and night in
  all things; however small or           trivial to human eclecticism; the Lord Jesus
  Christ Himself         fulfilling His own saying; 〃My Father worketh hitherto;
  and I     work。〃
  To me it seems (to sum up; in a few words; what I have tried to                       say)
  that    such    development       and    progress     as  have    as   yet   been     actually
  discovered       in  nature;    bear   every    trace   of  having    been     produced       by
  successive      acts   of  thought     and   will   in  some     personal     mind;     which;
  however   boundlessly   rich   and   powerful;   is   still   the        Archetype   of   the
  human mind;   and therefore   (for to this   I confess   I            have been   all   along
  tending)      probably      capable;     without     violence     to    its   properties;     of
  becoming; like the human mind; incarnate。
  But   to   descend   from   these   perhaps   too   daring   speculations;   there   is
  another;   and   more   human;   source   of   interest   about   the   animal   who   is
  writhing feebly in the glass jar of salt water; for he is one of                    the many
  curiosities which have been added to our fauna by that                    humble hero Mr。
  Charles Peach; the self…taught naturalist; of whom;                 as we walk on toward
  the rocks; something should be said; or rather                read; for Mr。 Chambers; in
  an often…quoted passage from his              Edinburgh Journal; which I must have
  the pleasure of quoting once            again; has told the story better than we can
  tell it:…
  〃But     who    is  that   little  intelligent…looking       man    in   a  faded    naval
  uniform;  who   is   so   invariably  to   be   seen   in   a particular   central     seat   in
  this section?      That; gentle reader; is perhaps one of the              most interesting
  men   who   attend   the   British   Association。        He   is    only   a   private   in   the
  mounted guard   (preventive service)   at an              obscure   part of   the   Cornwall
  coast;   with   four   shillings   a   day;   and  a   wife   and   nine   children;   most   of
  whose      education     he   has    himself    to   conduct。       He     never    tastes   the
  luxuries   which   are   so   common   in   the       middle   ranks   of   life;   and   even
  amongst a large portion of the             working classes。         He has to mend with
  his own hands every sort of             thing that can break or wear in his house。
  Yet Mr。 Peach is a         votary of Natural History; not a student of the science
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  in   books;    for   he   cannot   afford   books;   but   an   investigator   by   sea   and
  shore; a     collector of Zoophytes   and   Echinodermata …   strange   creatures;
  many      of   which   are   as   yet   hardly   known   to   man。     These   he   collects;
  preserves; and describes; and every year does he come up to the                       British
  Association       with    a   few    novelties     of  this   kind;    accompanied         by
  illustrative   papers   and   drawings:       thus;   under   circumstances   the        very
  opposite     of   those   of  such    men    as  Lord    Enniskillen;     adding;    in   like
  manner; to the general stock of knowledge。                On the present       occasion he
  is unusually elated; for he has made the discovery of a                   Holothuria with
  twenty tentacula; a species of the Echinodermata                which Professor Forbes;
  in his book on Star…Fishes; has said was             never yet observed in the British
  seas。    It may be of small moment              to you; who; mayhap; know nothing
  of   Holothurias:      but   it   is   a considerable   thing to the   Fauna of   Britain;
  and   a   vast   matter   to   a  poor   private   of   the   Cornwall   mounted   guard。
  And accordingly he          will go home in a few days; full of the glory of his
  exhibition;      and   strong   anew   by   the   kind   notice   taken   of   him   by   the
  masters   of     the   science;   to   similar   inquiries;   difficult   as   it   may   be   to
  prosecute   them;   under   such   a   complication   of   duties;   professional         and
  domestic。       Honest      Peach!     humble     as   is  thy   home;    and    simple    thy
  bearing;     thou    art  an  honour     even    to  this   assemblage      of   nobles    and
  doctors:     nay;  more; when we   consider everything; thou art   an                honour
  to   human   nature   itself;   for   where   is   the   heroism   like   that of   virtuous;
  intelligent;     independent      poverty?       And     such    heroism     is    thine!〃   …
  CHAMBERS' EDIN。 JOURN。; Nov。 23; 1844。
  Mr。 Peach has been since rewarded in part for his long labours in                    the
  cause   of   science;  by  having been   removed   to   a   more   lucrative         post   on
  the north coast of Scotland; the earnest; it is to be              hoped; of still further
  promotion。
  I   mentioned   just   now   Synapta;   or;   as   Montagu   called   it;   Chirodota:
  a much better name; and; I think; very uselessly changed; for                     Chirodota
  expresses the peculiarity of the beast; which consists in                … start not; reader
  …   twelve   hands;   like   human   hands;   while   Synapta       expresses   merely   its
  power   of   clinging   to   the   fingers;   which   it   possesses   in   common   with
  many other animals。          It is; at least; a     beast worth talking about; as for
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  finding one; I fear that we have          no chance of such good fortune。
  Colonel   Montagu   found   them   here   some   forty   years   ago;   and   after
  him; Mr。 Alder; in 1845。          I found hundreds of them; but only once;                in
  1854     after   a  heavy    south…eastern      gale;  washed     up   among      the  great
  Lutrariae in a cove near Goodrington; but all my dredging outside                    failed
  to procure a specimen … Mr。 Alder; however; and Mr。 Cocks                       (who find
  everything; and will at last certainly catch Midgard; the              great sea…serpent;
  as Thor did; by baiting for him with a bull's            head); have dredged them in
  great numbers; the former; at Helford             in Cornwall; the latter on the west
  coast    of   Scotland。     It   seems;     however;      to  be   a  southern     monster;
  probably  a   remnant;   like   the    great   cockle;  of   the   Mediterranean   fauna;
  for Mr。 MacAndrew finds             them plentifully in Vigo Bay; and J。 M 乴 ler
  in the Adriatic; off      Trieste。
  But    what    is  it  like?  Conceive      a  very    fat  short  earth…worm;      not
  ringed;    though;    like   the  earth…worm;      but  smooth     and   glossy;   dappled
  with darker spots; especially on one side; which may be the upper                      one。
  Put round its mouth twelve little arms; on each a hand with                   four ragged
  fingers; and on the back of the hand a stump of a                 thumb; and you have
  Synapta      Digitata   (Plates   IV。   and   V。;  from    my    drawings      of  the   live
  animal)。      These hands it puts down to its           mouth; generally in alternate
  pairs;   but   how    it  obtains  its  food   by   them   is    yet  a  mystery;    for  it