A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller [92]
“Not at all,” said the scholar, looking a bit doubtful, as if thinking et tu, Brute.
“I was wondering what there is about the refrangible property of light that you thought might be offensive to religion?”
“Well-” The then paused uncomfortably. “Monsignor Apollo, whom you know, grew quite heated on the subject. He said that light could not possibly have been refrangible before the Flood, because the rainbow was supposedly-”
The room burst into roaring laughter, drowning the rest of the remark. By the time the abbot had waved them to silence, Thon Taddeo was beet red, and Dom Paulo had some difficulty in maintaining his own solemn visage.
“Monsignor Apollo is a good man, a good priest, but all men are apt to be incredible asses at times, especially outside their domains. I’m sorry I asked the question.”
“The answer relieves me,” said the scholar. “I seek no quarrels.”
There were no further questions and the thon proceeded to his second topic: the growth and the present activities of his collegium. The picture as he painted it seemed encouraging. The collegium was flooded with applicants who wanted to study at the institute. The collegium was assuming an educational function as well as an investigative one. Interest in natural philosophy and science was on the increase among the literate laity. The institute was being liberally endowed. Symptoms of revival and renaissance.
“I might mention a few of the current researches and investigations being conducted by our people,” he went on.
“Following Bret’s work on the behavior of gases, Thon Viche Mortoin is investigating the possibilities for the artificial production of ice. Thon Friider Halb is seeking a practical means for transmitting messages by electrical variations along a wire-” The list was long, and the monks appeared Impressed. Studios in many fields-medicine, astronomy, geology, mathematics, mechanics-were being undertaken. A few seemed impractical and ill-considered, but most seemed to promise rich rewards in knowledge and practical application. From Jejene’s search for the Universal Nostrum to Bodalk’s reckless assault on orthodox geometries, the collegium’s activities exhibited a healthy hankering to pry open Nature’s private files, locked since mankind had burned its institutional memories and condemned itself to cultural amnesia more than a millennium ago.
“In addition to these studies, Thon Maho Mahh is heading a project which seeks further information about the origin of the human species. Since this is primarily an archeological task, he asked me to search your library for any suggestive material on the subject, after I complete my own study here. However, perhaps I’d better not dwell on this at any length, since it’s tending to cause controversy with the theologicans. But if there are any questions-”
A young monk who was studying for the priesthood stood up and was recognized by the thon.
“Sir, I was wondering if you were acquainted with the suggestions of Saint Augustine on the subject?”
“I am not.”
“A fourth century bishop and philosopher. He suggested that in the beginning, God created all things in their germinal causes, including the physiology of man, and that the germinal causes inseminate, as it were, the formless matter-which then gradually evolved into the more complex shapes, and eventually Man. Has this hypothesis been considered?”
The thon’s smile was condescending, although be did not openly brand the proposal childish. “I’m afraid it has not, but I shall look it up,” he said, in a tone that indicated he would not.
“Thank you,” said the monk, and sat down meekly.
“Perhaps the most daring research of all, however,” continued the sage, “is being conducted by my friend Thon Esser Shon. It is an attempt to synthesize living matter. Then Esser hopes to create living protoplasm, using only six basic ingredients. This work could lead to-yes? You have a question?”
A monk in the third row had risen and was bowing toward the speaker. The abbot leaned forward to peer at him and recognized,