万物简史 第89期:敲石头的人们(14)

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与此同时，地质学有大量的分类工作要做，这项工作不是什么都一帆风顺的。从一开始，地质学家就想把岩石按其形成的时期来进行分类，但在怎么划分时期的问题上经常发生激烈的争论——而且是一场旷日持久的争论，后来被称之为“泥盆纪大争论”。剑桥大学的亚当·塞奇威克断言有一层岩石是寒武纪的，而罗德里克·默奇森认为它完全属于志留纪，争论于是就发生了。争论持续了好多年，而且越来越激烈。“巴谢是个下流痞子。”默奇森在给一位朋友的信中气呼呼地说。

Some sense of the strength of feeling can be gained by glancing through the chapter titles of Martin J. S. Rudwick's excellent and somber⁴ account of the issue, The Great Devonian Controversy. These begin innocuously enough with headings such as "Arenas⁵ of Gentlemanly Debate" and "Unraveling the Greywacke," but then proceed on to "The Greywacke Defended and Attacked," "Reproofs⁶ and Recriminations," "The Spread of Ugly Rumors," "Weaver⁷ Recants His Heresy," "Putting a Provincial⁸ in His Place," and (in case there was any doubt that this was war) "Murchison Opens the Rhineland Campaign." The fight was finally settled in 1879 with the simple expedient⁹ of coming up with a new period, the Ordovician, to be inserted between the two.

在《泥盆纪大争论》一书里，马丁·J.S.鲁迪克极好而又有些沮丧地描述了这场争论。只要瞥一眼该书各章的标题，就可以知道一点上述感情的强烈程度。开头几章的标题的语气倒还温和，比如《绅士们的辩论舞台》和《破译杂砂岩之谜》，但接着就是《捍卫杂砂岩与攻击杂砂岩》、《指摘与反驳》、《散布恶毒的谣言》、《韦弗撤回邪说》、《杀杀乡下人的气焰》（惟恐你还怀疑这不是一场战争）、《默奇森发起莱茵兰战役》等等。争论于1879年得以解决，办法很简单，在寒武纪和志留纪中间加一个时期：奥陶纪。

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