在已探知的星球中,唯地球有人類。人類社會和自然界構(gòu)成了這顆星球的整個世界。人類來源于自然,依賴于自然,不斷地探索自然,了解自己從何而來,向何而去?為什么在這萬物共生的自然界脫穎而出,成為這個世界的主宰?又怎樣與這個世界大家庭和睦相處,適應(yīng)客觀發(fā)展?……只有了解過去,才能更好地認(rèn)識現(xiàn)在;懂得了過去和現(xiàn)在,才能主動地面對未來。歷史是最好的教科書,在《地球簡史》《人類簡史》《時間簡史》等紛紛面世的當(dāng)代,人們不由地把目光又投向260多年前就誕生了的《自然史》,這部洋洋數(shù)百萬字的曠世巨著,開辟了科學(xué)史作的先河,它從行星到地球,從空氣到海洋,從動物到人類,……天、地、生、人,無所不包,海、陸、空,面面俱到,是一部記述自然的百科全書。
書中全面論述了地球理論和地球歷史,展現(xiàn)了風(fēng)、火、水、潮、雷、震(地震)、光、熱等各種自然現(xiàn)象;對人和生物的論述更是生動形象,豐富多彩。從生命的起源、器官的發(fā)育、青春期的特點(diǎn),到機(jī)能的退化,直至死亡,把人類生息繁衍的過程講得有聲有色。對生物,特別是動物的描繪投下了重重筆墨,占據(jù)了大量篇幅,天上飛的,地上長的,野生的,馴養(yǎng)的,食肉的,食草的,大到熊、馬,小至鼠、兔,畜、禽,鳥、獸,花、草、樹、木,樣樣俱全,活靈活現(xiàn),既有理性,又有情趣,好像無論哪種野性的動物都可以成為人類的寵物和朋友。法國著名思想家盧梭是這樣評價(jià)的:“布封以異常平靜而又悠然自得的語言歌頌了自然界中所有的重要物品,呈現(xiàn)出造物者的尊嚴(yán)與靈性。他具有那個世紀(jì)最美的文筆!
萬物皆有道,自然最奇妙。幾乎所有涉及自然的事物都可以從《自然史》汲取營養(yǎng),得到啟示。讀這類名著,既能增長知識,豐富閱歷,又能賞心悅目,閑情逸致。即使歷史已過去了幾百年,社會發(fā)生了巨變,也未失去這部歷史巨著的價(jià)值和魅力。這就是一部不朽之作的歷史地位。布封在書中提出“物種可變”和“進(jìn)化”的思想,被生物進(jìn)化論創(chuàng)始人達(dá)爾文稱為“以現(xiàn)代科學(xué)眼光對待這個問題的第一人”。
哲語說,文如其人。《自然史》的作者布封,全名喬治,路易,勒克萊爾.布封(Georges-Louis Leclerc,Comtede Buffon,1707-1788),如同他的不朽著作一樣,也有一部不尋常的經(jīng)歷。他生于法國,自幼喜好自然科學(xué),特別是數(shù)學(xué)。1728年法律專業(yè)畢業(yè)后,又學(xué)了兩年醫(yī)學(xué)。20歲時就先于牛頓發(fā)現(xiàn)了二項(xiàng)式定理;26歲成為法蘭西科學(xué)院機(jī)械部的助理研究員,翻譯并出版了英國博物學(xué)者海爾斯的著作《植物生理與空氣分析》和牛頓的《微積分術(shù)》;1739年,32歲的他轉(zhuǎn)為法蘭西科學(xué)院數(shù)學(xué)部的副研究員,并被任命為“巴黎皇家植物園及御書房”的總管;1753年成為法蘭西科學(xué)院院士。他用40年的時間寫出了長達(dá)36卷的《自然史》,后又由他的學(xué)生整理出版了8卷,共44卷。此書一出版,就轟動了歐洲的學(xué)術(shù)界,各國很快有了譯本。1777年,法國政府給布封建了一座銅像,上面寫著:“獻(xiàn)給和大自然一樣偉大的天才。”這是對布封的崇高評價(jià)。
《自然史》原著為法文,這里出版的是英國學(xué)者James Smith Barr在1797-1807年翻譯的英文版10卷冊,選取的是原著中最精華的部分。發(fā)行這樣的英文版高級作品、高級讀物,就像外文書籍、外文刊物一樣,自然面對的也是高水平的讀者和館藏者,希望他們既可以接近原汁原味地欣賞原著,感受自然的魅力,受到自然科學(xué)和文學(xué)藝術(shù)的熏陶,同時又能自然而然地提高英文素養(yǎng)和寫作水平。在廣大知識分子外語水平普遍提高的今天,這樣的科學(xué)傳播形式也許會受到越來越多讀者的青睞。
《Natural History(7 自然史第7卷)》:
The Mexican hog might be rendered a domestic animal like the common kind; he has nearly the same habits and natural inclinations; feeds upon the same aliments, and his flesh, though more dry and lean, is not unpalatable, and may be improved by castration. When killed, not only the parts of generation, if the flesh is intended to be eaten, (as is also done with the wild boar) must be taken instantly away, but also the glands at the opening in the back, and which are common to both male and female, must likewise be removed, for if this operation be deferred for only half an hour, the flesh becomes utterly unfit to be eaten.
These animals are extremely numerous in all the warm climates of South America. They go in herds of two or three hundred together, and unite, like hogs, in the defence of each other. They are particularly fierce when their young are attempted to be taken from them. They surround their plunderers, attack them without fear, and frequently make their lives pay the forfeit of their rashness. In their native country they prefer the mountainous parts to the low and level grounds; neither do they seek marshes nor mud, like our hogs, but remain in the forests, where they subsist upon wild fruits, roots, and vegetables; they are an unceasing enemy to all the serpent kinds, with which the uncultivated forests of the New Continent abound: as soon as they perceive a serpent or viper, they seize it with their fore hoofs, skin it in an instant, and devour the flesh.
These animals are very prolific; the young ones follow the dam, and do not separate from her till they are full grown. If taken young they are very easily tamed, and soon lose all their natural ferocity, but they never shew any signs of docility, but continue stupid, without attachment, or even seeming to know the hand that feeds them. They do no mischief, and may be permitted to run tame, without apprehending any dangerous consequence. They seldom stray far from home, but return of themselves to the sty: they never quarrel among each other, except when they are fed in the same trough. At such times they have an angry grunt, much stronger and harsher than that of a common hog; but they seldom scream, only when suddenly surprised, or frightened, when they have a shrill manner of blowing like the wild boar. When enraged they draw their breath with great force, and point their bristles upward which more resemble the sharp armour of the hedge-hog than the bristles of the wild boar.
The species of the Mexican hog is preserved without alteration, and altogether unmixed with that of the European hog, which has been transported to, and become wild in, the forests of America. These animals meet in the woods, and even herd together, and yet never produce an intermediate breed. It is the same with the Guinea hog, which has greatly multiplied in America, after being brought thither from Africa.
However approximate the species of the European hog, the Guinea-hog, and the peccari, may appear, it is, nevertheless, evident, that they are each distinct, and separate from the others since they inhabit the same climate without intermixture. Of the three, the strongest, most robust, and most formidable, is our wild boar. The peccari, though equally fierce, is yet less active, and inferior as to the engines of defence, his tusks being much shorter. This animal dreads the cold, and cannot subsist, without shelter, even in our temperate regions; nor can our wild boar exist in countries which are very cold; therefore it is impossible that either of them could have found a passage from the one continent to the other, over any northern country; and therefore the Mexican hog cannot be considered as an European hog degenerated, or changed, by the climate of America, but as an animal peculiar to the southern regions of that continent.
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