萬(wàn)物簡(jiǎn)史 第114期:勢(shì)不兩立的科學(xué)(22)

Still, his altruism in general toward his fellow mandid not deflect him from more personal rivalries.One of his last official acts was to lobby against aproposal to erect a statue in memory of CharlesDarwin. In this he failed—though he did achieve acertain belated, inadvertent triumph. Today hisstatue commands a masterly view from thestaircase of the main hall in the Natural HistoryMuseum, while Darwin and T. H. Huxley areconsigned somewhat obscurely to the museum coffeeshop, where they stare gravely over peoplesnacking on cups of tea and jam doughnuts.

不過(guò)，他對(duì)人類(lèi)的無(wú)私精神并沒(méi)有使他忘記自己的對(duì)手。他最后一個(gè)正式舉動(dòng)是到處游說(shuō)，反對(duì)一項(xiàng)關(guān)于修建紀(jì)念查爾斯·達(dá)爾文的雕像的建議。他的這次努力沒(méi)有成功——雖然他無(wú)意之中為自己贏(yíng)得了一個(gè)勝利，只是晚了一些。今天，他自己的雕像從自然史博物館大廳的樓梯上像主人般地俯瞰著下面，而達(dá)爾文和赫胥黎的雕像卻不大顯著地放在博物館的咖啡店里，以嚴(yán)肅的目光凝視著人們喝茶，吃果醬炸面包圈。

It would be reasonable to suppose that Richard Owen's petty rivalries marked the low point ofnineteenth-century paleontology, but in fact worse was to come, this time from overseas. InAmerica in the closing decades of the century there arose a rivalry even more spectacularlyvenomous, if not quite as destructive. It was between two strange and ruthless men, EdwardDrinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh.

有理由認(rèn)為，理查德·歐文那心胸狹窄的對(duì)抗行為，標(biāo)志著19世紀(jì)的地質(zhì)學(xué)進(jìn)入低谷，但更嚴(yán)重的對(duì)抗即又發(fā)生，這一次來(lái)自海外。在那個(gè)世紀(jì)的最后幾十年里，美國(guó)也發(fā)生了一次對(duì)抗，其程度要惡毒得多，盡管破壞力沒(méi)有那么大。這場(chǎng)對(duì)抗發(fā)生在兩個(gè)古怪而又冷酷的人之間：愛(ài)德華·德林克·柯普和奧斯尼爾·查爾斯·馬什。

They had much in common. Both were spoiled, driven, self-centered, quarrelsome, jealous,mistrustful, and ever unhappy. Between them they changed the world of paleontology.

他們有許多共同之處。兩個(gè)人都已被寵壞，有緊迫感，以自我為中心，動(dòng)輒吵架，妒忌心強(qiáng)，不信任別人，老是郁郁不樂(lè)。他倆一起改變了古生物學(xué)界。