萬物簡史 第76期:敲石頭的人們(8)

Throughout the modern, thinking world, butespecially in Britain, men of learning ventured intothe countryside to do a little "stone-breaking," asthey called it. It was a pursuit taken seriously, andthey tended to dress with appropriate gravity, intop hats and dark suits, except for the ReverendWilliam Buckland of Oxford, whose habit it was to dohis fieldwork in an academic gown.

在整個近代思想界，尤其在英國，有學問的人都會下鄉(xiāng)去干一點他們所謂的"敲石頭"的活兒。這項工作干得還一本正經(jīng)。他們往往打扮得很有吸引力：頭戴高頂大禮帽，身穿黑色套裝。只有牛津大學的威廉·巴克蘭牧師是個例外，他習慣于穿博士服做野外工作。

The field attracted many extraordinary figures, not least the aforementioned Murchison, whospent the first thirty or so years of his life galloping after foxes, converting aeronauticallychallenged birds into puffs of drifting feathers with buckshot, and showing no mental agilitywhatever beyond that needed to read The Times or play a hand of cards. Then he discovered aninterest in rocks and became with rather astounding swiftness a titan of geological thinking.

野外吸引了許多杰出人士，尤其是上面提到的默奇森，他大約花了前半生近30年時間來騎著馬追趕狐貍，用獵槍把空中飛行的鳥兒變成一簇簇飄揚的羽毛。除了閱讀《泰晤士報》和打一手好牌以外，他沒有顯示出任何會動腦子的跡象。接著，他對巖石發(fā)生了興趣，以吃驚的速度一躍成為地質學思想界的巨人。