萬物簡史 第87期:敲石頭的人們(19)

Although there was no reliable way of datingperiods, there was no shortage of people willing totry. The most well known early attempt was in 1650when Archbishop James Ussher of the Church ofIreland made a careful study of the Bible and otherhistorical sources and concluded, in a hefty tomecalled Annals of the Old Testament, that the Earthhad been created at midday on October 23, 4004B.C., an assertion that has amused historiansand textbook writers ever since.

雖然沒有可靠的方法來確定年代，卻不乏愿意試一試的人。1650年，愛爾蘭教會的詹姆斯·厄舍大主教進行了早年最著名的嘗試。他對《圣經(jīng)》和其他歷史資料進行了仔細的研究，最后在一部名叫《舊約編年史》的巨著中下結(jié)論說，地球創(chuàng)造于公元前4004年10月23日中午。后來，歷史學家和教科書作者一直把這個日期當做笑料。

Although virtually all books find a space for him, there is a striking variability in the detailsassociated with Ussher. Some books say he made his pronouncement in 1650, others in 1654,still others in 1664. Many cite the date of Earth's reputed beginning as October 26. Thematter is interestingly surveyed in Stephen Jay Gould's Eight Little Piggies.

盡管幾乎所有的書都對厄舍有記述，但是關(guān)于他的一些詳細事跡的記載尚有明顯差異。有部分書稱他上文的結(jié)論宣布于1650年，有的說是1654年，還有的是1664年。很多人認為普遍公認的地球初試日是10月26日。 這個說法來源于史蒂芬·杰伊·古爾德的《八頭小豬》一書中的一個有趣的調(diào)查。

There is a persistent myth, incidentally—and one propounded in many serious books—thatUssher's views dominated scientific beliefs well into the nineteenth century, and that it was Lyellwho put everyone straight. Stephen Jay Gould, in Time's Arrow, cites as a typical example thissentence from a popular book of the 1980s: "Until Lyell published his book, most thinkingpeople accepted the idea that the earth was young." In fact, no. As Martin J. S. Rudwick puts it, "No geologist of any nationality whose work was taken seriously by other geologists advocated atimescale confined within the limits of a literalistic exegesis of Genesis."

順便提一句，有個很久不滅的神話——它在許多嚴肅的書里都提到過——厄舍的觀點主宰了科學界，直到19世紀的很長時間里。是萊爾把這一切糾正了過來。作為一個典型例子，斯蒂芬·杰伊·古爾德在《時代之箭》中引用了20世紀80年代一本很熱門的書里的一句話："在萊爾出版他的書以前，大多數(shù)思想家都接受了這種看法，即地球還很年輕。"實際并非如此。正如馬丁·J.S.魯?shù)峡苏f的，“哪個國家的地質(zhì)學家也不會主張把時標限死在《創(chuàng)世記》拘泥于字面意義的詮注的范圍之內(nèi)，要是他的作品被別的地質(zhì)學家認真對待的話”。

Even the Reverend Buckland, as pious a soul as the nineteenth century produced, noted thatnowhere did the Bible suggest that God made Heaven and Earth on the first day, but merely"in the beginning." That beginning, he reasoned, may have lasted "millions upon millions ofyears." Everyone agreed that the Earth was ancient. The question was simply how ancient.

連巴克蘭牧師這樣一位19世紀很虔誠的人也認為，《圣經(jīng)》里哪個地方也沒有提到上帝是在第一天創(chuàng)造天地的，只是提到“起初”。他認為，那個開始也許持續(xù)了“幾百幾千萬年”。大家都認為地球已經(jīng)很古老。問題只在于：古老到什么程度?