In which Doctor Ox Reveals Himself as a Physiologist1 of the First Rank, and as an Audacious Experimentalist.
Who, then, was this personage, known by the singular name of Doctor Ox?
An original character for certain, but at the same time a bold savant, a physiologist, whose works were known and highly estimated throughout learned Europe, a happy rival of the Davys, the Daltons, the Bostocks, the Menzies, the Godwins, the Vierordts — of all those noble minds who have placed physiology2 among the highest of modern sciences.
Doctor Ox was a man of medium size and height, aged3 —: but we cannot state his age, any more than his nationality. Besides, it matters little; let it suffice that he was a strange personage, impetuous and hot-blooded, a regular oddity out of one of Hoffmann’s volumes, and one who contrasted amusingly enough with the good people of Quiquendone. He had an imperturbable4 confidence both in himself and in his doctrines5. Always smiling, walking with head erect6 and shoulders thrown back in a free and unconstrained manner, with a steady gaze, large open nostrils7, a vast mouth which inhaled8 the air in liberal draughts9, his appearance was far from unpleasing. He was full of animation10, well proportioned in all parts of his bodily mechanism11, with quicksilver in his veins12, and a most elastic13 step. He could never stop still in one place, and relieved himself with impetuous words and a superabundance of gesticulations.
Was Doctor Ox rich, then, that he should undertake to light a whole town at his expense? Probably, as he permitted himself to indulge in such extravagance,— and this is the only answer we can give to this indiscreet question.
Doctor Ox had arrived at Quiquendone five months before, accompanied by his assistant, who answered to the name of Gédéon Ygène; a tall, dried-up, thin man, haughty14, but not less vivacious15 than his master.
And next, why had Doctor Ox made the proposition to light the town at his own expense? Why had he, of all the Flemings, selected the peaceable Quiquendonians, to endow their town with the benefits of an unheard-of system of lighting16? Did he not, under this pretext17, design to make some great physiological18 experiment by operating in anima vili? In short, what was this original personage about to attempt? We know not, as Doctor Ox had no confidant except his assistant Ygène, who, moreover, obeyed him blindly.
In appearance, at least, Doctor Ox had agreed to light the town, which had much need of it, “especially at night,” as Commissary Passauf wittily19 said. Works for producing a lighting gas had accordingly been established; the gasometers were ready for use, and the main pipes, running beneath the street pavements, would soon appear in the form of burners in the public edifices20 and the private houses of certain friends of progress. Van Tricasse and Niklausse, in their official capacity, and some other worthies21, thought they ought to allow this modern light to be introduced into their dwellings22.
If the reader has not forgotten, it was said, during the long conversation of the counsellor and the burgomaster, that the lighting of the town was to be achieved, not by the combustion23 of common carburetted hydrogen, produced by distilling24 coal, but by the use of a more modern and twenty-fold more brilliant gas, oxyhydric gas, produced by mixing hydrogen and oxygen.
The doctor, who was an able chemist as well as an ingenious physiologist, knew how to obtain this gas in great quantity and of good quality, not by using manganate of soda25, according to the method of M. Tessié du Motay, but by the direct decomposition26 of slightly acidulated water, by means of a battery made of new elements, invented by himself. Thus there were no costly27 materials, no platinum28, no retorts, no combustibles, no delicate machinery29 to produce the two gases separately. An electric current was sent through large basins full of water, and the liquid was decomposed30 into its two constituent31 parts, oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen passed off at one end; the hydrogen, of double the volume of its late associate, at the other. As a necessary precaution, they were collected in separate reservoirs, for their mixture would have produced a frightful32 explosion if it had become ignited. Thence the pipes were to convey them separately to the various burners, which would be so placed as to prevent all chance of explosion. Thus a remarkably33 brilliant flame would be obtained, whose light would rival the electric light, which, as everybody knows, is, according to Cassellmann’s experiments, equal to that of eleven hundred and seventy-one wax candles,— not one more, nor one less.
It was certain that the town of Quiquendone would, by this liberal contrivance, gain a splendid lighting; but Doctor Ox and his assistant took little account of this, as will be seen in the sequel.
The day after that on which Commissary Passauf had made his noisy entrance into the burgomaster’s parlour, Gédéon Ygène and Doctor Ox were talking in the laboratory which both occupied in common, on the ground-floor of the principal building of the gas-works.
“Well, Ygène, well,” cried the doctor, rubbing his hands. “You saw, at my reception yesterday, the cool-bloodedness of these worthy34 Quiquendonians. For animation they are midway between sponges and coral! You saw them disputing and irritating each other by voice and gesture? They are already metamorphosed, morally and physically35! And this is only the beginning. Wait till we treat them to a big dose!”
“Indeed, master,” replied Ygène, scratching his sharp nose with the end of his forefinger36, “the experiment begins well, and if I had not prudently37 closed the supply-tap, I know not what would have happened.”
“You heard Schut, the advocate, and Custos, the doctor?” resumed Doctor Ox. “The phrase was by no means ill-natured in itself, but, in the mouth of a Quiquendonian, it is worth all the insults which the Homeric heroes hurled38 at each other before drawing their swords, Ah, these Flemings! You’ll see what we shall do some day!”
“We shall make them ungrateful,” replied Ygène, in the tone of a man who esteems39 the human race at its just worth.
“Bah!” said the doctor; “what matters it whether they think well or ill of us, so long as our experiment succeeds?”
“Besides,” returned the assistant, smiling with a malicious40 expression, “is it not to be feared that, in producing such an excitement in their respiratory organs, we shall somewhat injure the lungs of these good people of Quiquendone?”
“So much the worse for them! It is in the interests of science. What would you say if the dogs or frogs refused to lend themselves to the experiments of vivisection?”
It is in the interests of Science.
It is probable that if the frogs and dogs were consulted, they would offer some objection; but Doctor Ox imagined that he had stated an unanswerable argument, for he heaved a great sigh of satisfaction.
“After all, master, you are right,” replied Ygène, as if quite convinced. “We could not have hit upon better subjects than these people of Quiquendone for our experiment.”
“We — could — not,” said the doctor, slowly articulating each word.
“Have you felt the pulse of any of them?”
“Some hundreds.”
“And what is the average pulsation41 you found?”
“Not fifty per minute. See — this is a town where there has not been the shadow of a discussion for a century, where the carmen don’t swear, where the coachmen don’t insult each other, where horses don’t run away, where the dogs don’t bite, where the cats don’t scratch,— a town where the police-court has nothing to do from one year’s end to another,— a town where people do not grow enthusiastic about anything, either about art or business,— a town where the gendarmes42 are a sort of myth, and in which an indictment43 has not been drawn44 up for a hundred years,— a town, in short, where for three centuries nobody has struck a blow with his fist or so much as exchanged a slap in the face! You see, Ygène, that this cannot last, and that we must change it all.”
“Perfectly45! perfectly!” cried the enthusiastic assistant; “and have you analyzed46 the air of this town, master?”
“I have not failed to do so. Seventy-nine parts of azote and twenty-one of oxygen, carbonic acid and steam in a variable quantity. These are the ordinary proportions.”
“Good, doctor, good!” replied Ygène. “The experiment will be made on a large scale, and will be decisive.”
“And if it is decisive,” added Doctor Ox triumphantly47, “we shall reform the world!”
收听单词发音 |
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physiologist
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| n.生理学家 | |
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physiology
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| n.生理学，生理机能 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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imperturbable
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| adj.镇静的 | |
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doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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inhaled
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| v.吸入( inhale的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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draughts
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| n. <英>国际跳棋 | |
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animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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elastic
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| n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的 | |
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haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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vivacious
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| adj.活泼的，快活的 | |
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lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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physiological
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| adj.生理学的，生理学上的 | |
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wittily
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| 机智地，机敏地 | |
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edifices
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| n.大建筑物( edifice的名词复数 ) | |
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worthies
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| 应得某事物( worthy的名词复数 )； 值得做某事； 可尊敬的； 有（某人或事物）的典型特征 | |
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dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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combustion
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| n.燃烧；氧化；骚动 | |
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distilling
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| n.蒸馏（作用）v.蒸馏( distil的过去式和过去分词 )( distilled的过去分词 )；从…提取精华 | |
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soda
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| n.苏打水；汽水 | |
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decomposition
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| n. 分解, 腐烂, 崩溃 | |
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costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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platinum
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| n.白金 | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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decomposed
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| 已分解的，已腐烂的 | |
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constituent
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| n.选民；成分，组分；adj.组成的，构成的 | |
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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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forefinger
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| n.食指 | |
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prudently
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| adv. 谨慎地，慎重地 | |
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hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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esteems
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| n.尊敬，好评( esteem的名词复数 )v.尊敬( esteem的第三人称单数 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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pulsation
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| n.脉搏，悸动，脉动；搏动性 | |
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gendarmes
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| n.宪兵，警官( gendarme的名词复数 ) | |
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indictment
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| n.起诉；诉状 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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analyzed
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| v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析 | |
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triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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