第 21 节
作者:精灵王      更新:2021-04-30 17:23      字数:9322
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  Glaucus/or The Wonders of the Shore
  nevertheless;   owing   to   certain   anatomical         peculiarities;   he   needed   one
  aperture more than a limpet; so one;              if you will examine; has been given
  him at the top of his shell。         (15)     This is one instance among a thousand
  of the way in which a          scientific knowledge of objects must not obey; but
  run counter to;       the impressions of sense; and of a custom in nature which
  makes      this caution so necessary; namely; the repetition of the same form;
  slightly modified; in totally different animals; sometimes as if to                      avoid
  waste; (for why should not the same conception be used in two                        different
  cases; if it   will suit   in   both?)  and sometimes   (more          marvellous   by  far)
  when an organ; fully developed and useful in one                     species; appears in a
  cognate      species    but   feeble;    useless;   and;    as   it   were;    abortive;    and
  gradually;   in   species   still   farther   removed;      dies   out   altogether;   placed
  there; it would seem; at first sight;          merely to keep up the family likeness。
  I am half jesting; that        cannot be the only reason; perhaps not the reason
  at   all;   but   the fact   is   one   of   the   most   curious;   and   notorious   also;   in
  comparative        anatomy。
  Look;   again;   at   those   sea…slugs。     One;   some   three   inches   long;   of   a
  bright lemon…yellow; clouded with purple; another of a dingy grey;                        (16)
  another exquisite little creature of a pearly French White;                  (17) furred all
  over the back with what seem arms; but are really                   gills; of ringed white
  and grey and black。          Put that yellow one         into water; and from his head;
  above the eyes; arise two serrated             horns; while from the after…part of his
  back     springs    a  circular    Prince…of…Wales's…feather          of   gills;  …  they   are
  almost exactly like        those which we saw just now in the white Cucumaria。
  Yes;   here   is   another   instance   of   the   same   custom   of   repetition。        The
  Cucumaria        is   a   low   radiate   animal   …   the   sea…slug   a   far higher   mollusc;
  and     every organ within him is formed on a different type; as indeed are
  those seemingly identical gills; if you come to examine them under                          the
  microscope;   having   to   oxygenate   fluids   of   a   very   different   and         more
  complicated kind; and; moreover; the Cucumaria's gills were                        put round
  his   mouth;     the   Doris's   feathers    round    the   other    extremity;     that   grey
  Eolis's;   again;   are   simple   clubs;   scattered     over   his   whole   back;   and   in
  each   of   his   nudibranch   congeners   these        same   gills   take   some   new   and
  fantastic     form;    in  Melibaea      those    clubs    are   covered     with    warts;   in
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  Scyllaea;      with   tufted   bouquets;     in    the    beautiful    Antiopa     they   are
  transparent   bags;   and   in   many   other      English   species   they   take   every
  conceivable form of leaf; tree;          flower; and branch; bedecked with every
  colour of the  rainbow; as         you   may see  them depicted   in Messrs。 Alder
  and Hancock's unrivalled           Monograph on the Nudibranch Mollusca。
  And   now;   worshipper   of   final   causes   and   the   mere   useful   in   nature;
  answer      but   one   question;     …  Why     this  prodigal    variety?      All   these
  Nudibranchs       live   in  much    the   same    way:    why     would    not   the  same
  mould have done for them all?             And why; again; (for we must push              the
  argument a little further;) why have not all the butterflies;             at least all who
  feed    on   the   same    plant;  the   same    markings?      Of    all   unfathomable
  triumphs      of  design;   (we   can   only   express    ourselves     thus;    for  honest
  induction; as Paley so well teaches; allows us to              ascribe such results only
  to the   design   of some   personal   will   and      mind;)   what   surpasses   that   by
  which the scales on a butterfly's           wing are arranged to produce a certain
  pattern   of   artistic   beauty   beyond   all   painter's   skill?   What   a   waste   of
  power;   on   any     utilitarian   theory   of   nature!   And   once   more;   why   are
  those     strange    microscopic       atomies;     the  Diatomaceae        and   Infusoria;
  which fill     every stagnant pool; which fringe every branch of sea…weed;
  which      form  banks   hundreds   of   miles   long   on   the Arctic   sea…floor;   and
  the    strata   of   whole   moorlands;   which   pervade   in   millions   the   mass   of
  every iceberg; and float aloft in countless swarms amid the clouds                    of the
  volcanic dust; … why are their tiny shells of flint as              fantastically various
  in their quaint mathematical symmetry; as               they are countless beyond the
  wildest     dreams    of  the   Poet?    Mystery      inexplicable      on   the  conceited
  notion which; making man forsooth the                centre of the universe; dares to
  believe     that  this  variety   of   forms    has    existed    for  countless    ages   in
  abysmal       sea…depths     and    untrodden        forests;    only    that   some     few
  individuals      of  the  Western     races   might;    in   these   latter   days;   at  last
  discover and admire a corner here and               there of the boundless realms of
  beauty。     Inexplicable; truly; if      man be the centre and the object of their
  existence; explicable        enough to him who believes that God has created
  all things for      Himself; and rejoices in His own handiwork; and that the
  material      universe   is;   as   the   wise   man   says;   〃A  platform   whereon   His
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  Eternal     Spirit sports and makes melody。〃            Of all the blessings which the
  study   of    nature   brings   to  the   patient   observer;   let  none;   perhaps;     be
  classed     higher   than   this:   that   the  further   he   enters   into  those    fairy
  gardens of life and birth; which Spenser saw and described in                     his great
  poem; the more he learns the awful and yet most                  comfortable truth; that
  they  do   not belong   to   him;   but   to   One   greater;   wiser;  lovelier   than   he;
  and as he stands; silent with          awe; amid the pomp of Nature's ever…busy
  rest;   hears;   as   of   old; 〃The   Word   of   the   Lord   God   walking   among   the
  trees of the garden in       the cool of the day。〃
  One sight more; and we have done。              I had something to say; had time
  permitted;     on   the  ludicrous     element    which    appears    here   and    there  in
  nature。     There   are   animals;   like   monkeys   and   crabs;   which   seem   made
  to be laughed at; by those at least who possess that most                  indefinable of
  faculties;    the   sense    of  the   ridiculous。     As    long   as    man     possesses
  muscles especially formed to enable him to laugh; we                    have no right to
  suppose (with some) that laughter is an accident                of our fallen nature; or
  to find (with others) the primary cause of            the ridiculous in the perception
  of   unfitness    or  disharmony。       And     yet   we    shrink   (whether    rightly   or
  wrongly; we can hardly tell) from             attributing a sense of the ludicrous to
  the Creator of these forms。           It may be a weakness on my part; at least I
  will    hope    it  is  a   reverent     one:     but    till  we   can   find   something
  corresponding to what           we conceive of the Divine Mind in any class of
  phenomena; it is        perhaps better not to talk about them at all; but observe
  a stoic    〃epoche;〃 waiting for more light; and yet confessing that our own
  laughter is uncontrollable; and therefore we hope not unworthy of                     us; at
  many   a   strange   creature   and   strange   doing   which   we   meet;        from   the
  highest ape to the lowest polype。
  But; in the meanwhile; there are animals in which results so                  strange;
  fantastic; even seemingly horrible; are produced; that                fallen man may be
  pardoned; if he shrinks