万物简史 第77期:敲石头的人们(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，他还是早期的社会主义者，写过许多富有鼓动性的小册子，比如《不流血的革命》。1794年，发生了一次听上去有点儿发疯的阴谋，叫做"玩具气枪计划"，有人打算趁国王乔治三世在剧院包厢里看戏的机会用带毒的飞镖射中他的脖子。帕金森跟这件事有牵连，被带到枢密院进行盘问，差一点给戴上镣铐发配到澳大利亚。但是，对他的指控后来不了了之。他渐渐对生活采取比较保守的态度，并开始对地质学产生了兴趣，最终成为地质学会的创始人之一和一部重要的地质学作品《上个世界的有机遗骸》的作者。有半个世纪时间，这本书不停地印刷。他再也没有制造过麻烦。

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，今天我们所以记得他，是因为他对一种疾病的具有划时代意义的研究。这种疾病在当时被称之为"震颤性麻痹"，但之后一直被叫做帕金森综合征。(帕金森在另一个方面也稍有名气。1785年，他很可能成了历史上独一无二的人，在一次兑奖销售活动中赢得一个自然史博物馆。这家博物馆位于伦敦的莱斯特广场，原本是阿什顿·利弗建立的，但利弗无节制地搜集自然宝物，最后搞得倾家荡产。帕金森将这个博物馆保留到1805年，再也维持不下去，便把收藏品拆卖了。)