Downing said that the truth of heaven and hell wanted to make children stronger, but Queen Victoria thought that such "stories" were too cruel to children, and she was unhappy, she felt that children needed only fairy tales. Sure enough, this devil's ambassador! The prince stayed at home to "steady" the Queen's affection, and on this day, only little Vicky came to visit her teacher, and she was already deeply moved by Downing's story, and she hoped to discover something more on this great day when the three apostles of the devil gathered. For her, the story of the devil is more fascinating than the story of the gods.

Situo Garden, marble salon.

In addition to Darwin and Wallace, there were many people who came.

In the academic world, there are old friends Faraday, Babbage who tinkers with computers, and Hook, the owner of the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Industry has his Crystal Dockyard director Brunel, Crystal Palace designer Paxton, industrial banker Samuel? Smith.

Foster, editor-in-chief of the Daily News, an old friend of the press.

In the political circles, there is Wood, the chairman of the control committee, and Basser, who is actually in charge of the London sewer project on the sewerage board, an engineer-turned-official who is very rigorous in construction and rarely causes trouble, and is a person that Downing admires.

Literary circles: Hugo, Alexandre Dumas.

What's even more amazing is that there is a bearded man - Carl? Marx. Marx was a staunch materialist, who admired the theory of evolution and wanted to meet the most famous ambassador of the three apostles of the devil. He and his good friend Engels participated in the democratic revolution in Prussia in 1849, and after the defeat, they were oppressed by the Prussian government and forced to leave the continent. Hearing that he had the opportunity to meet with the "Three Apostles of the Devil", Engels also flew from the cotton capital to London to attend the Si Tuo Salon. The fact that two men who were determined to overthrow the rule of the bourgeoisie were able to hang around, run newspapers, and write books in Britain in a grand manner, shows that the Victorian British Empire was a confident power with openness and freedom of speech.

Princess Victoria's only female companion is Juliet, a photographer from Little Holland House? Mrs. Cameron.

18 high-ranking friends were full.

Of these 18 people, I am afraid that only Mrs. Cameron does not believe in evolution at all, or does not dare to think or believe in it under the coercion of religion for many years. Tang Ning was afraid that Princess Victoria would be too lonely, so he temporarily called her here for the reason of looking for a photographer. The other 17 people, at the very least, are willing to be open to the interesting theory from a distance.

The 18 came one after another, all like free-range poultry, gathered in twos and threes, each chatting about topics of interest. Downing is concerned about the shipyard's progress and has been discussing it with Brunel and Paxton. Downing once sat on a 10,000-ton ocean-going ship, and felt that it was okay, quite comfortable, so the specification of the initial mail ship he set for Brunel was about 10,000 tons, and he emphasized that he wanted to build a large dock with a roof because this dock should become an efficient and high-load super assembly line, and the shipbuilding in the future should be continuously produced like dumplings, so the most important thing is to accumulate experience in the process of building the first ship, and not care about the first ship itself.

The most enthusiastic activist here is Wallace, who is spitting on the guests about his original and interesting evolutionary phenomenon: the "warning colors" of poisonous creatures, namely poisonous snakes, poisonous spiders, poisonous frogs, poisonous mushrooms, etc., with bright colors to warn predators and herbivores, "Don't mess with me, I'm poisonous." And some creatures also happen to grow brightly, making predators think that they are poisonous, so they also gain a survival advantage.

Hooke, the owner of the Royal Botanic Gardens, was impressed and passed the photos of the poisonous flora and fauna that Wallace had brought with him.

There were also people who came to make trouble, and Dumas took out a few photos from his pocket for everyone to see, and it turned out to be zebras. Dumas smiled wickedly and said, "Did you see that?" Why does this strange African horse have such eye-catching markings? This is obviously shouting to lions, hounds, and big bad wolves: Come and eat me! Such an evolutionary result is no survival advantage at all. Mr. Wallace, how do you explain this? Zebras can't be poisonous, lions eat zebras, and the local natives also eat zebra meat. ”

Wallace's triumphant momentum just now was suddenly hit hard, his brows were tightly locked, and his mouth was full of words: "Why is this......

Alexandre Dumas again challenged Darwin: "Mr. Darwin, why is that? ”

Darwin stared at the picture of the zebra for a long time, but he couldn't think of it, and a small crisis of evolution spread.

Alexandre Dumas often held extravagant salons under the guise of extravagant salons and asked Downing for reimbursement, so he did not dare to question the ambassador about the "flaw in the theory of evolution". Others won't let Tang Ning go, Hugo beckoned to Tang Ning: "Come on, Tang Ning come and explain to us, I don't think anything in this world can be difficult to beat Tang Ning, I hope to see that day." ”

Tang Ning smiled slightly, Cheng Zhu in his chest, told everyone to wait, he ran to the "Egypt Hall" where the carriage and bicycles were parked to get a bicycle, asked Basser to help, and said while turning around: "Look, what happens when the wheels turn to a certain speed? You can't tell which way the wheels are turning, can you? The same is true of the zebra's markings, of course, a zebra can't deceive the lion's eyes, but think about it, zebras are always crowded together in a large group, when the lions hunt, the zebra herd will gallop in all directions, the effect is the same as the rapid rotation of the wheel, the lion has difficulty in distinguishing the direction of a zebra's running, which increases the chance of escape for the spotted horse. It's as simple as that. ”

As soon as these words came out, a big mystery was immediately solved, and Director Hook laughed: "That's it, interesting, interesting, it seems that most of the phenomena in the biological world can be explained by evolution!" ”

The girl and the old man see things from a different angle, and Princess Victoria asks Dumas, "These pictures of zebras are so beautiful, give them to me." There was a burst of laughter, and the noble eldest princess spoke, and Alexandre Dumas was of course honored.

Princess Victoria got the photo and said excitedly: "I must show my dad and tell him Uncle Downing's wonderful explanation!" Oh, Uncle Alfred, why don't you give me a picture of your viper too......"

Wallace: "No problem, but ...... Your Majesty has already seen it at the Science Museum. ”

Princess Victoria: "Oh, forget it. ”

Wallace escaped the risk of confiscation of his property, otherwise there would have been nothing to show for some time.

Mrs. Cameron always disbelieved in science, saying, "Is there nothing that cannot be explained?" With so many scientists present, please give your opinions, there should be phenomena that cannot be explained. ”

Unexpectedly, this time it was Darwin himself who raised the question, he said: "Actually...... I myself have some phenomena that I am confused about, and I hope you will refer to this ...... Peacock, do you know? The male peacock drags a long, gorgeous tail, which is obviously not conducive to survival, and this tail greatly reduces the peacock's ability to fly. ”

The peacock came from the East Indies, but someone had already brought it to England to raise it, and everyone who had seen the peacock nodded their heads and looked in the direction of Downing, and Princess Victoria opened her eyes: "The gorgeous tail is a male peacock?" "She didn't think Darwin was going to be wrong about the peacock's gender, which was incredible.

Everyone laughed.

Wallace laughed, "Since everything is evolved, of course it is possible for a beautiful male to be beautiful!" As long as there is a reason for it, the reason for the evolution of this gorgeous peacock tail is ......"

But after a while, he couldn't laugh anymore, as if this was really a big trouble with evolution, just kidding, could the trouble that could trouble Darwin be a small trouble?

Although Tang Ning smiled confidently and calmly, he didn't give an answer at the first time, but seemed to be involved elsewhere: "Actually, I like to travel very much, and I will encounter a lot of interesting things." Especially the customs of various places. When Mr. Bruble builds a 10,000-ton luxury cruise ship, I will definitely travel all over the world. You haven't been to China, have you? I'll tell you a story -- there is a story in China that the king of Chu loved a thin waist and starved to death in the palace. It is said that because a king likes extremely slender beauties, the beauties of the palace have dieted to lose weight to please the king of Chu, and as a result, many palace maids have starved to death. Oh, and by the way, the emperor of China, in addition to the empress, could legally have many concubines, court maids.

Since the Song Dynasty hundreds of years ago, Chinese ladies have a very peculiar phenomenon, they have been bound since childhood, so that the bones of the feet are deformed, and it is difficult to walk, and Chinese men still regard this as beauty. You say, doesn't this look like a peacock's gorgeous tail? ”

Wood, who had never found an opportunity to speak, did not look like a high-ranking government official, and finally found an opportunity, and said: "Ah, I have also heard an interesting story: there is a remote mountain in the East Indies, and the women there are beautiful with long necks, and they have put metal rings around their necks since they were young, and when they were young, they put on three or four, and when they grow up, they can put on ten or twenty of them, like giraffes in the shape of humans. I thought that this cruel custom was only found in small tribes, but I didn't expect it...... There are also big eastern countries like China. ”

While everyone was amazed at the strange customs, Darwin, the great master of evolution, spoke: "Ladies and gentlemen...... It's crooked, it's crooked. In fact, I often make this mistake of taking non-heritable things as the motivation for evolution, whether it is foot binding or long neck, it is obviously a trait that cannot be inherited, otherwise these people don't need to start from a young age, and peacocks ...... This is a hereditary trait that should not be maintained without a survival advantage. ”

Maybe it's to blame Downing for his brilliant explanation of the zebra just now, and now everyone is wondering what kind of survival advantage the peacock tail has? If no explanation can be found, does it mean that the theory of evolution is incomplete?

At this time, Mr. Marx, a bearded man who never shaved, appeared in a low-key manner, and said in a deep voice: "Ladies and gentlemen, I have noticed that some paleontologists have mentioned that many organisms that once existed in zài have become extinct, and even some scientists say that most of the creatures that once existed in zài have become extinct. ”

Everyone was drawn to Marx's rather revealing questions, even Downing.

Marx: "I have an idea that biological evolution can explain the birth of species, then it can also explain the extinction of species. There is life and there is death. It is believed that peacock tails are not good for survival and can explain the extinction of species. The direction of evolution is random, and the initial survival advantage is not necessarily the advantage after a certain number of years, and the peacock's tail can be explained as follows: initially, the male peacock attracted the female because of the beautiful tail, and since the beautiful big tail may represent the abundant food source, it is right in a certain way, and the female is attracted to such a large tail. （http：/／.）。

After many generations of inheritance, the tail grows larger and larger, and it becomes a non-survival advantage. In other words, the selection of females is beginning to show the setting side, and if this continues, it is likely that the peacock will become extinct. My view is that the large tail of the male peacock may be late in the life course of the peacock, rather than having some survival advantage.

Not...... It can be said that the survival advantage can be misunderstood by the opposite sex, originally the tail of the male peacock is just a table of the good health of the male peacock, however, the birds fly around, there are few opportunities to meet, how can you find that the other party is suitable for mating at a glance? The attribute of a large tail can be seen at a glance, so a large tail has become a good health standard. This criterion is successful until the tail is large enough to make it easy for male peacocks to prey, and then, there is a risk that a species will become extinct. ”

Darwin astutely captured one of the most useful selection mechanisms in Marx's passage, excitedly raising his voice: "Sexual choice! Ah, in this way, there are a lot of strange traits that cannot be explained, because of the random selection of the opposite sex, and as long as this sexual selection does not unduly affect the survival of the species, then it is possible to inherit it. Our competition for survival has a pretty good addition. ”

Yes, everyone congratulated Darwin on his new discovery, and the brainstorming of a group of academic elites was really constructive.

Downing was deeply impressed by Marx's dialectical thinking, and it was not easy to become a thinker of the "great scourge". Downing's original understanding of extinction was that the original survival advantage no longer adapted to the new environment, while Marx's play clarified a new possibility, and the misunderstanding and abuse of survival advantage by sexual selection led to extinction, which is novel and has a certain amount of truth.