万物简史 第78期:敲石头的人们(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.

有个人在性格上不如帕金森那样引人注目，但影响比当时所有地质界的人的影响加起来还要大，这个人就是查尔斯·莱尔。莱尔生于赫顿去世的那一年，离赫顿家只有113公里的金诺迪村。他的父母是苏格兰人，但他在遥远的南方--英格兰汉普郡的新森林长大，因为他的母亲认为苏格兰人又懒又爱喝酒。

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.

总的来说，他和19世纪绅士科学家一模一样，也来自生活优裕、思想活跃的家庭。他的父亲也叫查尔斯，是个大名鼎鼎的人，是研究诗人但丁和藓沼(即莱尔藓，大多数去过英国乡村的人都在上面坐过，就是以他的姓氏命名的)方面的主要权威。莱尔受他父亲的感染，对自然史产生了兴趣，然而，是在牛津大学，在威廉·巴克兰--身穿飘逸长袍的巴克兰--的影响之下，莱尔才开始把毕生的精力献给了地质学。

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.

巴克兰多少是个有魅力的怪人。他作出过一些真正的成就，但人们至少也是因为他的怪僻性格才记得他。他尤其以养了一群野兽出名，其中有的很大，有的很危险。他还以吃遍开天辟地以来有过的每一种动物闻名。他会以烘豚鼠、面糊耗子、烤刺猬或煮东南亚海参来招待家里的客人，这取决于他的一时冲动和是否有货。巴克兰觉得它们的味道都不错，但菜园里的普通鼹鼠除外，他宣称这种动物的味道是令人恶心的。他几乎势必成为粪便化石的权威，家里有一张桌子几乎完全用收集来的这类标本制成。