万物简史 第110期:势不两立的科学(18)

He did not hesitate to persecute those whom hedisliked. Early in his career Owen used his influenceat the Zoological Society to blackball a young mannamed Robert Grant whose only crime was to haveshown promise as a fellow anatomist. Grant wasastonished to discover that he was suddenly deniedaccess to the anatomical specimens he needed toconduct his research. Unable to pursue his work, hesank into an understandably dispirited obscurity.

他毫不犹豫地迫害他不喜欢的人。早年，他利用自己在地质学会的影响排斥一位名叫罗伯特·格兰特的年轻人，而格兰特惟一的罪过就是显示出他很有希望成为一名解剖学家。格兰特吃惊地发现自己突然被剥夺了使用解剖标本的权利，而这是他进行研究所必不可缺的。由于无法再从事他的工作，他变得灰心丧气，默默无闻，这是可以理解的。

But no one suffered more from Owen's unkindly attentions than the hapless and increasinglytragic Gideon Mantell. After losing his wife, his children, his medical practice, and most of hisfossil collection, Mantell moved to London.

欧文如此不客气，受到伤害最大的要算是越来越悲惨的倒霉蛋吉迪恩·曼特尔。在失去妻子、子女、医生职业和大部分化石收藏品以后，曼特尔搬到了伦敦。

There in 1841—the fateful year in which Owen would achieve his greatest glory for namingand identifying the dinosaurs—Mantell was involved in a terrible accident. While crossingClapham Common in a carriage, he somehow fell from his seat, grew entangled in the reins,and was dragged at a gallop over rough ground by the panicked horses. The accident left himbent, crippled, and in chronic pain, with a spine damaged beyond repair.

1841年是决定性的一年，欧文在伦敦将获得命名和发现恐龙的殊荣——而曼特尔遇上了一场可怕的事故。当马车穿过克莱翰公地的时候，他不知怎的从车座上掉下来，缠在缰绳中间，被受惊的马匹飞快拉过粗糙的地面。这起事故造成他背部弯曲，走路跛脚，常年疼痛，脊椎受损，再也无法恢复。