萬物簡史 第109期:勢不兩立的科學(xué)(17)

Owen was not an attractive person, in appearanceor in temperament. A photograph from his latemiddle years shows him as gaunt and sinister, likethe villain in a Victorian melodrama, with long,lank hair and bulging eyes—a face to frightenbabies. In manner he was cold and imperious, andhe was without scruple in the furtherance of hisambitions. He was the only person Charles Darwinwas ever known to hate. Even Owen's son (who soonafter killed himself) referred to his father's"lamentable coldness of heart."

歐文并不是個很有魅力的人，無論在外表上還是脾性上。在一張中年的照片上，他看上去又瘦削又陰險，長著又長又直的頭發(fā)，眼睛向外鼓出，活像維多利亞時代情節(jié)劇里的壞蛋——有一張可以用來嚇唬小孩子的臉。在舉止方面，他又冷漠又傲慢，無所顧忌地實(shí)現(xiàn)他的雄心壯志。據(jù)知，查爾斯·達(dá)爾文惟一討厭的人就是他。連歐文的兒子(他沒過多久就自殺了)也提到他父親的“可悲的冷酷之心”。

His undoubted gifts as an anatomist allowed him to get away with the most barefaceddishonesties. In 1857, the naturalist T. H. Huxley was leafing through a new edition ofChurchill's Medical Directory when he noticed that Owen was listed as Professor of ComparativeAnatomy and Physiology at the Government School of Mines, which rather surprised Huxley asthat was the position he held. Upon inquiring how Churchill's had made such an elementalerror, he was told that the information had been provided to them by Dr. Owen himself.

作為解剖學(xué)家，他的才華是毋庸置疑的，因此他能做出最不要臉的壞事而又不受人指責(zé)。1857年，博物學(xué)家T.H.赫胥黎在翻閱一本新版的《丘吉爾醫(yī)學(xué)指南》時，突然注意到歐文被列為政府采礦學(xué)院的比較解剖學(xué)和生理學(xué)教授，他感到相當(dāng)吃驚，因?yàn)檫@正是達(dá)爾文現(xiàn)在擁有的職位。當(dāng)他詢問這本指南怎么會犯這么低級的錯誤時，他被告知那個信息是歐文博士本人提供的。

A fellow naturalist named Hugh Falconer, meanwhile, caught Owen taking credit for one of hisdiscoveries. Others accused him of borrowing specimens, then denying he had done so. Oweneven fell into a bitter dispute with the Queen's dentist over the credit for a theory concerningthe physiology of teeth.

同時，有一位跟歐文一起工作的、名叫休·福爾克納的博物學(xué)家當(dāng)場揭穿歐文把他的一項(xiàng)發(fā)現(xiàn)歸功于自己。別人還指責(zé)他盜用標(biāo)本，后來又否認(rèn)他這么干過。歐文甚至為了一個有關(guān)牙齒生理學(xué)理論的功勞與女王的牙科醫(yī)生發(fā)生激烈的爭吵。