萬(wàn)物簡(jiǎn)史 第77期:敲石頭的人們(9)

Then there was Dr. James Parkinson, who was also anearly socialist and author of many provocativepamphlets with titles like "Revolution withoutBloodshed." In 1794, he was implicated in a faintlylunatic-sounding conspiracy called "the Pop-gunPlot," in which it was planned to shoot King GeorgeIII in the neck with a poisoned dart as he sat in hisbox at the theater. Parkinson was hauled before thePrivy Council for questioning and came within anace of being dispatched in irons to Australia beforethe charges against him were quietly dropped.Adopting a more conservative approach to life, he developed an interest in geology andbecame one of the founding members of the Geological Society and the author of an importantgeological text, Organic Remains of a Former World, which remained in print for half a century.He never caused trouble again.

再就是詹姆斯·帕金森博士，他還是早期的社會(huì)主義者，寫(xiě)過(guò)許多富有鼓動(dòng)性的小冊(cè)子，比如《不流血的革命》。1794年，發(fā)生了一次聽(tīng)上去有點(diǎn)兒發(fā)瘋的陰謀，叫做"玩具氣槍計(jì)劃"，有人打算趁國(guó)王喬治三世在劇院包廂里看戲的機(jī)會(huì)用帶毒的飛鏢射中他的脖子。帕金森跟這件事有牽連，被帶到樞密院進(jìn)行盤問(wèn)，差一點(diǎn)給戴上鐐銬發(fā)配到澳大利亞。但是，對(duì)他的指控后來(lái)不了了之。他漸漸對(duì)生活采取比較保守的態(tài)度，并開(kāi)始對(duì)地質(zhì)學(xué)產(chǎn)生了興趣，最終成為地質(zhì)學(xué)會(huì)的創(chuàng)始人之一和一部重要的地質(zhì)學(xué)作品《上個(gè)世界的有機(jī)遺骸》的作者。有半個(gè)世紀(jì)時(shí)間，這本書(shū)不停地印刷。他再也沒(méi)有制造過(guò)麻煩。

Today, however, we remember him for his landmark study of the affliction then called the"shaking palsy," but known ever since as Parkinson's disease. (Parkinson had one other slightclaim to fame. In 1785, he became possibly the only person in history to win a natural historymuseum in a raffle. The museum, in London's Leicester Square, had been founded by SirAshton Lever, who had driven himself bankrupt with his unrestrained collecting of naturalwonders. Parkinson kept the museum until 1805, when he could no longer support it and thecollection was broken up and sold.)

然而，今天我們所以記得他，是因?yàn)樗麑?duì)一種疾病的具有劃時(shí)代意義的研究。這種疾病在當(dāng)時(shí)被稱之為"震顫性麻痹"，但之后一直被叫做帕金森綜合征。(帕金森在另一個(gè)方面也稍有名氣。1785年，他很可能成了歷史上獨(dú)一無(wú)二的人，在一次兌獎(jiǎng)銷售活動(dòng)中贏得一個(gè)自然史博物館。這家博物館位于倫敦的萊斯特廣場(chǎng)，原本是阿什頓·利弗建立的，但利弗無(wú)節(jié)制地搜集自然寶物，最后搞得傾家蕩產(chǎn)。帕金森將這個(gè)博物館保留到1805年，再也維持不下去，便把收藏品拆賣了。)