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