私人科学与帝国野心:1834-1838年赫歇尔在好望角的博物学实作

Private Science and Imperial Ambitions:Herschel’s Natural History Practice at the Cape of Good Hope from 1834-1838

1834-1838年赫歇尔的南非科学之旅,是发生在大英帝国空间内的私人探险,在政府和王室的参与下,私人科学与帝国野心不可避免地紧密结合起来。南非之旅不仅让赫歇尔的天文观测取得巨大进展,而且还成就了他在好望角的博物学考察。赫歇尔栽培、观察、记录球茎植物,并完成大量种子发芽试验。他发现并例证物种变化,明确质疑神创论和物种不变论,还多次与赖尔、达尔文等人讨论自己的这个发现。赫歇尔还记述南非的鸟类、昆虫、矿物、物候和风土人情,绘制了大量的博物画。赫歇尔夫妇的博物画没有特意呈现植物的性器官等种类特征,不能为精确的科学分类提供所需的全部细节资料,但绘画轮廓的精确性和颜色的真实性还是得到了博物学家的认可和重视。赫歇尔在南非的天文观测与博物学,因对观察、描述、分类和绘画的共同强调,而变得"统一"起来。

Herscher’s scientific journey of 1834-1838 in South Africa was a private adventure in the British Empire. With the participation of the government and the royal family, private science and imperial ambition were inextricably combined. This journey not only made Herschel’s astronomical observations a great achievement, but it also made his natural history practice successful. Herschel cultivated, observed and recorded bulbous plants and did a large number of seed germination tests. He discovered and exemplified species changes, explicitly questioned creationism and species invariance, and repeatedly discussed his findings with Ryle, Darwin and others. Herschel also recorded the birds, insects, minerals, phenology and customs of South Africa and left many botanical drawings. These drawings do not highlight the stamens and pistils of flowers, and therefore can not provide all the required details for precise scientific classification, but still their accuracy and color have been recognized and valued by many naturalists. Herschel’s astronomical observations and natural history practice in South Africa became "unified" owing to a common emphasis on observation, description, classification and painting.