萬物簡史 第78期:敲石頭的人們(10)

Not quite as remarkable in character but moreinfluential than all the others combined was CharlesLyell. Lyell was born in the year that Hutton died andonly seventy miles away, in the village of Kinnordy.Though Scottish by birth, he grew up in the farsouth of England, in the New Forest of Hampshire,because his mother was convinced that Scots werefeckless drunks.

有個人在性格上不如帕金森那樣引人注目，但影響比當時所有地質界的人的影響加起來還要大，這個人就是查爾斯·萊爾。萊爾生于赫頓去世的那一年，離赫頓家只有113公里的金諾迪村。他的父母是蘇格蘭人，但他在遙遠的南方--英格蘭漢普郡的新森林長大，因為他的母親認為蘇格蘭人又懶又愛喝酒。

As was generally the pattern with nineteenth-century gentlemen scientists, Lyell came from abackground of comfortable wealth and intellectual vigor. His father, also named Charles, hadthe unusual distinction of being a leading authority on the poet Dante and on mosses. (Orthotricium lyelli, which most visitors to the English countryside will at some time have saton, is named for him.) From his father Lyell gained an interest in natural history, but it was atOxford, where he fell under the spell of the Reverend William Buckland—he of the flowinggowns—that the young Lyell began his lifelong devotion to geology.

總的來說，他和19世紀紳士科學家一模一樣，也來自生活優(yōu)裕、思想活躍的家庭。他的父親也叫查爾斯，是個大名鼎鼎的人，是研究詩人但丁和蘚沼(即萊爾蘚，大多數(shù)去過英國鄉(xiāng)村的人都在上面坐過，就是以他的姓氏命名的)方面的主要權威。萊爾受他父親的感染，對自然史產生了興趣，然而，是在牛津大學，在威廉·巴克蘭--身穿飄逸長袍的巴克蘭--的影響之下，萊爾才開始把畢生的精力獻給了地質學。

Buckland was a bit of a charming oddity. He had some real achievements, but he isremembered at least as much for his eccentricities. He was particularly noted for a menagerie ofwild animals, some large and dangerous, that were allowed to roam through his house andgarden, and for his desire to eat his way through every animal in creation. Depending on whimand availability, guests to Buckland's house might be served baked guinea pig, mice in batter,roasted hedgehog, or boiled Southeast Asian sea slug. Buckland was able to find merit in themall, except the common garden mole, which he declared disgusting. Almost inevitably, hebecame the leading authority on coprolites—fossilized feces—and had a table made entirely outof his collection of specimens.

巴克蘭多少是個有魅力的怪人。他作出過一些真正的成就，但人們至少也是因為他的怪僻性格才記得他。他尤其以養(yǎng)了一群野獸出名，其中有的很大，有的很危險。他還以吃遍開天辟地以來有過的每一種動物聞名。他會以烘豚鼠、面糊耗子、烤刺猬或煮東南亞海參來招待家里的客人，這取決于他的一時沖動和是否有貨。巴克蘭覺得它們的味道都不錯，但菜園里的普通鼴鼠除外，他宣稱這種動物的味道是令人惡心的。他幾乎勢必成為糞便化石的權威，家里有一張桌子幾乎完全用收集來的這類標本制成。