Soul of the ocean

Ra Page — Fri, 17 Jul 1998 23:00:00 +0000

OF THE 33 animal phyla (or major divisions of the animal kingdom), 32 can be
found in the sea. Although the oceans constitute 71 per cent of the Earth’s
surface, less than 0.2 per cent of this oceanic area harbours about a quarter of
all marine species. The coral reef, to put it melodramatically, is the soul of
the ocean, where the ocean is the mother of all life.

Add to such an assertion the ineffable awe that overcomes so many first-time
explorers of coral reefs (causing snorkellers to hyperventilate and otherwise
dispassionate scientists like Charles Darwin and zoologist John Stanley Gardiner
to eulogise). Then there are the environmental threats from people: global
warming (attributed to coral “bleaching”), sediment and nutrient loading
(nourishing phytoplankton screening out light), and destructive fishing
practices. Yes, all the ingredients of a highly emotive ecological study are
here.

Fortunately, Osha Gray Davidson’s The Enchanted Braid(John Wiley,
£19.99/$24.95, ISBN 047117727X) refrains from the usual
gloom-mongering by introducing these ecosystems in the wider context of their
evolutionary history. Coral reefs are testimonies to survival—they climb
on top of each other, hugging the sea surface thousands of years after the
islands they once fringed have submerged, their ancestors survived numerous
worldwide extinction events. Although Davidson’s “natural history for the
layperson” employs as much sentiment as science, it engages the general reader
without yielding to oversimplification.

A slice of Bacon

Ra Page — Fri, 01 May 1998 23:00:00 +0000

LOOK in any encyclopaedia under the entry Francis Bacon (1561-1626) and
you’ll find a catalogue of professions: writer, philosopher, ambassador, privy
counsellor, MP, Lord Chancellor. It is tempting, in fact, to class the man as
the sort of polymath who defined his era—particularly when you consider
the abiding influence of his writings on modern scientific method.

It was Bacon, after all, who almost single-handedly shifted the emphasis
in Western philosophy from the stagnant Aristotelian preoccupation with pure
logic and final causes, or purposes, to what would become the empirical
scientific tradition: data collection leading to inductive generalisations.

Perez Zagorin’s extensive biography, Francis Bacon (Princeton,
£19.95, ISBN 0691059284 [July in Britain]) wastes no time, however, in
exploding the myth of the accomplished all-rounder. The book chronicles a
political career riddled with blunders, missed opportunities and lingering
grudges.

Aimed at those interested in philosophy rather than the history and science
of the period, the book nevertheless demonstrates how the treachery of court
life and the lessons of Bacon’s political career manifested themselves in his
writing.

The art of dissemblance, for instance, of which Bacon was a life-long
practitioner, is central to the way he won the confidence of devout readers with
titles like The Wisdom of the Ancients and The Great
Instauration (alluding to biblical notions of restoration), when his real
intentions were to distance divine philosophy (faith) from natural philosophy
(reason), and undermine classical authority. Examples like these combine to
offer an invaluable insight into Bacon’s extensive writings as well as a
comprehensive introduction to them.

Ra Page, Author at New �Ӱ�ԭ��

Soul of the ocean

A slice of Bacon