文字缘同骨肉深——记袁希渊与杨克强的友谊

本文翔实地记述了袁复礼、杨钟健两位学者在半个世纪中的学术合作和真挚友情,从而可见两位先生不仅是卓有建树的科学家,而且在道德风范方面也是足为楷模的。

REMARK ON THE FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN PROFESSOR YUAN FULI AND YANG ZHONGJIAN:IN COMMORATION OF THE 100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF PROFESSOR YUAN FULI

There is a large photograph preserved in my home which is a group photo of the earliest geologists of China at the residence of Prof. A. W. Grabau in Peiping (nowaday Beijing). At both ends of it standing two persons all wore glasses, western-style clothes and white shoes. That makes an effect of distinctive symmetry of the picture. The two persons are exactly Mr. Yuan Fuli and my late father Yang Zhongjian (C. C. Young). Although the distance between the two shown in the photo is the farthest, the relationship of them in real life, nevertheless, is very close, just as Mr. Yuan had written in his article "In memory of Mr. Yang Zhongjian" that "Through associating with Mr. Yang for nearly 50 years, Mr. Yang and I had established an extremely fine friendship". Mr. Yuan is my father's elder by four years, he had already done many geologic works before my father returned from the Munich University. Mr. Yuan joined the Northwest Scientific Expedition in 1928 and worked in Xinjiang for four years. On July 19th, 1931, the Sino-France Scientific Expedition with Yang Zhongjian as its member arrived in Urumqi and just on next day, he visited Mr. Yuan at the Southern Gate ot Urumqi, after having a cheerful talking, the two riding on horses side by side went to meet Teilhard de Chardin P. at the place where the Sino-France Scientific Expedition was stationed. Owing to some reasons, the Sino-France Expedition could not carry on survey in Xinjiang, and Yang almost visited Mr. Yuan everyday, he admired very muh Mr. Yuan for his working ability, and wrote afterwards that "If the academic circles want doing something in the Northwestern borders, the appointed person of leadership must be Mr. Yuan". Yang left Urumqi on August 11st back to Peiping, Mr. Yuan saw him off and presented many foodstuff. In his book "Sections in Northwest China", Yang wrote these words: "After I set out on the journey, the most unforgettable person for me is Mr. Yuan. Although Mr. Yuan told me that he would return to Peiping within the next few days, but I was wondering when he could actually leave". Mr. Yuan had found abundant well-preserved fossil bones in Xinjiang, there were 71 skeletons when Yang Zhongjian went there, and Yang asked him in greater detail about their sites, lithofacies and methods of excavation. The two also made a field investigation together over the fossil fish site at the Southern suburbs of Urumqi. Not long after Yang arrived in Peiping, Mr. Yuan returned by way of Ningxia and collected some instructive dinosaur there. The fossils that Mr. Yuan had collected were transported to Peiping and delivered to Yang for study, then the results of Dicynodon and Lystrosaurus published, it is of great significance in stratigraphy and paleontology. Hereafter, Mr. Yuan generously presented other fossil materials to Yang for identification, the two of them often had lively discussion about the stratigraphic age, paleogeography and relative geological problems concerning these fossils. In the spring of 1936, the two went to Yushe, Wuxiang and other places in Shanxi with the U. S. paleontologist C. L. Camp to survey the fossilferous Triassic system, and also made observation of the Cenozoic geology there. During the course of excavation of a great quantity of the fossil reptiles, Mr. Yuan put in a lot of hard work. He handed over freely these fossils that created a furore in international academic circles to Yang and others for study, thereby the research results had rapidly been made known to the world. Mr. Yuan delivered the dinosaurs too and Yang named them as Tianshansaurus and Pinacosaurus. Mr. Yuan was always ready to dedicate any personal efforts to whatever so long as it is in the interest of science. In 1944, Yang published an article to narrate the hard situation under which Mr. Yuan collected the Tianshansaurus, Yang was imbued with ardent love for his comrade-in-arms to write that "Mr. Yuan is really not the one to study these fossils personally, it is merely his spirit to seek truth that urge him to put himself into great trouble in spite of severe cold and hardships, in order to get access to a dinosaur, he plunged into the excavation for several months, he is indeed a model for the young explorers". Mr. Yuan published a book "Cenozoic Biostratigraphy in China" with Prof. Du Hengjian in 1984, there was written some lines on the title page saying "To the memory of Professor Yang Zhongjian——the founder of vertebrate paleontology and cenozoic geology of China", what a deep feeling he cherished while the respectful senior was writting these words!