英皇家學會網上公開牛頓等名人手稿
A gruesome account of a 1666 blood transfusion and amusing notes about how an 8-year-old Mozart responded to tests of his genius were published on Monday as part of an online history of scientific endeavor.
The "Trailblazing" website was created by Britain's influential science academy the Royal Society, and includes handwritten papers on some of the most important scientific discoveries of the past three and a half centuries.
Benjamin Franklin's studies on flying a kite in an electrical storm from 1752 show the first time anyone had proposed that lightning is electricity and not a supernatural force.
And Edward Stone's 1763 notes on the success of willow bark in treating fever document the beginnings of the discovery of salicylic acid and the production of aspirin - now one of the world's most used medicines.
The creators of Trailblazing say it is a "go-at-your-own-pace" virtual journey through science which the Royal Society hopes will inspire members of the public to see science as part of everyday life and culture.
Martin Rees, president of the Royal Society, said the papers showed "a ceaseless quest by scientists over the test and build on our knowledge of humankind and the universe."
"They represent those thrilling moments when science allows us to understand better and to see further," he added.
The papers, taken from past issues of the oldest scientific journal in the English-speaking world, Philosophical Transactions, also include documents from 1776 on how Captain James Cook saved his sailors from scurvy with pickled cabbage, lemons and malt - long before ideas about nutrition developed.
They also include Stephen Hawking's early writing on black holes and Isaac Newton's 1672 landmark work on the nature of light and color and 1940 papers on the discovery of penicillin.
Daines Barrington, a skeptical scientist who wanted to test the claim that Mozart was a genius when he visited London in 1770 at the age of eight, notes the musician was as distracted and playful as any normal boy, but showed remarkable talent.
"The score was no sooner put upon his desk, than he began to play the symphony in a most masterly manner," he wrote.
To see the website, go to
本週一，一家網站公佈了一些重大科學發現的歷史文獻資料，其中包括一篇記述1666年一次可怕的早期輸血經歷的文章，以及有關八歲的莫扎特接受音樂才能測試的有趣記載。
“開拓”網站由英國頗具影響力的科研機構皇家學會創辦，該網站公佈了過去350年間一些重大科學發現的研究手稿。
這其中包括1752年本傑明•富蘭克林在雷電中放風箏的相關研究報告，該研究首次證明閃電是電力，而非某種超自然力。
“開拓”網站還公佈了愛德華•斯通1763年有關白柳樹皮可用來退燒的記錄，這是發現水楊酸，並研製出當今最常用的藥物阿司匹林的開端。
“開拓”網站的創建者表示，這是一次可以“按照你自己的腳步”進行的虛擬科學之旅。英國皇家學會希望通過此舉可激發公衆（對於科學的興趣），將其視爲日常生活和文化的一部分。
皇家學會主席馬丁•里斯稱，這些手稿展示了“科學家們數百年來的不懈探索，通過不斷嘗試建立有關人類和宇宙的知識體系。”
他說：“這些文稿記載了那些激動人心的時刻，科學，纔是讓我們更好、更深入認識世界的方法。”
這些論文文稿均摘自最古老的英文科學期刊《哲學學報》的過刊。同時被公佈上網的還包括1776年詹姆斯•庫克船長如何用醃製甘藍菜、檸檬和麥芽治癒船員壞血病的記載，這比營養學理論的建立早很多年。
此外，網站還公佈了斯蒂芬•霍金有關黑洞理論的早期著述、艾薩克•牛頓1672年有關光學色彩原理的里程碑意義的論著以及1940年發現青黴素的論著。
網站還刊發了驗證莫扎特是否是音樂神童的趣事。1770年，科學家戴恩斯•巴林頓在當時年僅八歲的莫扎特訪問倫敦期間特地對他進行了測試，證實了莫扎特的音樂才能。根據他的記載，當時的莫扎特和一般的男孩一樣，愛玩容易分心，但擁有驚人的音樂天賦。
他寫道：“樂譜一擺上架，他就開始極其嫺熟地演奏起交響曲了。”
Vocabulary:
gruesome：causing great horror; horribly repugnant; grisly（可怕的）
blood transfusion:輸血
trailblazing: being a pioneer in (a particular subject, technique, etc.)（領導性的，帶頭的）
scurvy：壞血病
score：a written or printed piece of music with all the vocal and instrumental parts arranged on staves, one under the other（樂譜）
