第 20 节
作者:
精灵王 更新:2021-04-30 17:23 字数:9320
the conquerors of the ocean surge。 All the world; since the publication
of Darwin's delightful 〃Voyage of the Beagle;〃' and of Williams'
〃Missionary Enterprises;〃 knows; or ought to know; enough about them:
for those who do not; there are a few pages in the beginning of Dr。
Landsborough's 〃British Zoophytes;〃 well worth perusal。
There are a few other true cellepore corals round the coast。 The
largest of all; Cervicornis; may be dredged a few miles outside on the
Exmouth bank; with a few more Tubulipores: but all tiny things; the
lingering and; as it were; expiring remnants of that great coral…world
which; through the abysmal depths of past ages; formed here in Britain
our limestone hills; storing up for generations yet unborn the materials
of agriculture and architecture。 Inexpressibly interesting; even solemn;
to those who will think; is the sight of those puny parasites which; as it
were; connect the ages and the aeons: yet not so solemn and full of
meaning as that tiny relic of an older world; the little pear… shaped
Turbinolia (cousin of the Madrepores and Sea…anemones); found fossil
in the Suffolk Crag; and yet still lingering here and there alive in the
deep water of Scilly and the west coast of Ireland; possessor of a
pedigree which dates; perhaps; from ages before the day in which it was
said; 〃Let us make man in our image; after our likeness。〃 To think that
the whole human race; its joys and its sorrows; its virtues and its sins; its
aspirations and its failures; has been rushing out of eternity and into
eternity again; as Arjoon in the Bhagavad Gita beheld the race of men
issuing from Kreeshna's flaming mouth; and swallowed up in it again;
〃as the crowds of insects swarm into the flame; as the homeless streams
leap down into the ocean bed;〃 in an everlasting heart…pulse whose blood
is living souls … and all that while; and ages before that mystery began;
that humble coral; unnoticed on the dark sea…floor; has been 〃continuing
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as it was at the beginning;〃 and fulfilling 〃the law which cannot be
broken;〃 while races and dynasties and generations have been
〃Playing such fantastic tricks before high heaven; As make the angels
weep。〃
Yes; it is this vision of the awful permanence and perfection of the
natural world; beside the wild flux and confusion; the mad struggles; the
despairing cries of the world of spirits which man has defiled by sin;
which would at moments crush the naturalist's heart; and make his brain
swim with terror; were it not that he can see by faith; through all the
abysses and the ages; not merely
〃 Hands; From out the darkness; shaping man;〃
but above them a living loving countenance; human and yet Divine;
and can hear a voice which said at first; 〃Let us make man in our
image;〃 and hath said since then; and says for ever and for ever; 〃Lo; I
am with you alway; even to the end of the world。〃
But now; friend; who listenest; perhaps instructed; and at least
amused … if; as Professor Harvey well says; the simpler animals represent;
as in a glass; the scattered organs of the higher races; which of your
organs is represented by that 〃sca'd man's head;〃 which the Devon
children more gracefully; yet with less adherence to plain likeness; call
〃mermaid's head;〃 (12) which we picked up just now on Paignton Sands?
Or which; again; by its more beautiful little congener; (13) five or six of
which are adhering tightly to the slab before us; a ball covered with
delicate spines of lilac and green; and stuck over (cunning fellows!) with
stripes of dead sea…weed to serve as improvised parasols? One cannot
say that in him we have the first type of the human skull: for the
resemblance; quaint as it is; is only sensuous and accidental; (in the
logical use of that term;) and not homological; I。E。 a lower manifestation
of the same idea。 Yet how is one tempted to say; that this was Nature's
first and lowest attempt at that use of hollow globes of mineral for
protecting soft fleshy parts; which she afterwards developed to such
perfection in the skulls of vertebrate animals! But even that conceit;
pretty as it sounds; will not hold good; for though Radiates similar to
these were among the earliest tenants of the abyss; yet as early as their
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time; perhaps even before them; had been conceived and actualized; in
the sharks; and in Mr。 Hugh Miller's pets the old red sandstone fishes;
that very true vertebrate skull and brain; of which this is a mere mockery。
(14) Here the whole animal; with his extraordinary feeding mill; (for
neither teeth nor jaws is a fit word for it;) is enclosed within an ever…
growing limestone castle; to the architecture of which the Eddystone and
the Crystal Palace are bungling heaps; without arms or legs; eyes or ears;
and yet capable; in spite of his perpetual imprisonment; of walking;
feeding; and breeding; doubt it not; merrily enough。 But this result has
been attained at the expense of a complication of structure; which has
baffled all human analysis and research into final causes。 As much
concerning this most miraculous of families as is needful to be known;
and ten times more than you are likely to understand; may be read in
Harvey's 〃Sea…Side Book;〃 pp。 142… 148; … pages from which you will
probably arise with a sense of the infinity and complexity of Nature;
even in what we are pleased to call her 〃lower〃 forms; and the simplest
and; as it were; easiest forms of life。 Conceive a Crystal Palace; (for
mere difference in size; as both the naturalist and the metaphysician
know; has nothing to do with the wonder;) whereof each separate joist;
girder; and pane grows continually without altering the shape of the
whole; and you have conceived only one of the miracles embodied in
that little sea…egg; which the Creator has; as it were; to justify to man His
own immutability; furnished with a shell capable of enduring fossil for
countless ages; that we may confess Him to have been as great when
first His Spirit brooded on the deep; as He is now and will be through all
worlds to come。
But we must make haste; for the tide is rising fast; and our stone will
be restored to its eleven hours' bath; long before we have talked over
half the wonders which it holds。 Look though; ere you retreat; at one or
two more。
What is that little brown thing whom you have just taken off the rock
to which it adhered so stoutly by his sucking…foot? A limpet? Not at
all: he is of quite a different family and structure; but; on the whole; a
limpet…like shell would suit him well enough; so he had one given him:
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nevertheless; owing to certain anatomical