It was one o'clock in the afternoon when the female naturalist arrived at the Lingao Natural History Museum. Although the museum has been completed, the interior decoration and exhibition work is progressing very slowly. There are many experts in the field of exhibitions in the Senate, but it is not easy for anyone to set up an exhibition under such simple conditions - besides, the Senate is currently in a quasi-war state, and many senators are either busy with their jobs or on business trips. A system project has been stalled and delayed, and it is still a semi-finished product. Its implementation is still far away, so we can only make do with simple science popularization activities.
Because the museum has not officially opened yet, the main entrance is closed. Sonia entered through the side entrance reserved for staff. Walk through an internal corridor to the atrium.
The atrium is the center of the entire Natural History Museum, a full-height open space with a transparent dome inlaid with glass on top. Under the dome, a skeleton of a mosasaurus or plesiosaur was originally prepared. The current plan is a gray whale skeleton plus several shark skeletons. Hanging in mid-air in a dynamic posture, the visual impact is shocking enough.
However, the skeleton of the gray whale is still in Japan at the moment. The veteran in charge of setting up the exhibition only hung several ropes and markers of different lengths from the dome to determine the location of the gray whale skeleton. In order to estimate the relationship between the general effect and the surrounding decorations.
In the center of the atrium is a granite stone platform, where the long-term plan is to place a large carnivorous dinosaur—such as a Tyrannosaurus rex or Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. The current plan is to obtain an elephant skeleton - if the mammoth skeleton can be obtained from Siberia, it will be better, but if not, the Asian elephant skeleton is still easy to obtain.
Every time Sonia walked to the atrium, she would be impressed by the bold and imaginative design of the patriarch. Museum collections and exhibitions were not pioneered by the Senate. Since the Renaissance, there has been a craze for museum collections in Europe. The tyrants of various Italian states were among the best. Soon, kings and emperors also caught up with this fashion with the great geographical discoveries. Specimens of exotic plants and animals were popular, especially grotesquely malformed fetuses and human specimens. One of the gains of Peter the Great of Russia from his study tour in Western Europe was that he brought back a large collection of natural history. Of course, in the opinion of the senators, these collections were mostly for curiosity and had limited scientific content.
When Sonia was in Portugal, she visited many small-scale museum collections. In terms of the number and types of collections, the Senate's collection was not particularly rich, but in terms of breadth and depth, it was obviously better than just the collections. Collections for "novelty" purposes are much stronger. What's more, most natural history collections are simply displayed, which makes them boring if you look at them too much.
This is what science should be like. Sonia thought about walking all the way through the atrium. She is very disgusted with the curiosity-seeking collecting mentality of dignitaries. However, "exotic" collections are the most favored by them, and thus receive a large amount of sponsorship. For this reason, many people do not hesitate to fake it. She had personally seen the "water monkey" brought from afar and soaked in high-concentration brandy: although she could tell at a glance that it was made of monkeys and the webbed palms of some unknown amphibian, it was still against her will. remained silent. Because she herself sometimes has to forge "discoveries" to obtain sponsorship.
The atrium, corridors, exhibition halls...everywhere is filled with building materials for decoration and packaging boxes of different sizes. "Handle with care" is written all over the boxes. Some of the exhibits are wrapped in oilcloth and reed mats, and their specific appearance cannot be seen.
The naturalized workers and students along the way greeted her one after another. Sonia is a very conspicuous presence in the museum. Not to mention her eye-catching exotic appearance, her title alone: "Third-level Researcher" is enough to make the naturalized workers stand in awe: This ghost girl He is already a third-level researcher at such a young age!
"Hello." She smiled and greeted people all the way, walked through the exhibition hall, climbed two marble stairs, and arrived at the third floor. Most of the third floor is a closed research area. As a "third-level researcher", Sonia occupies an office here.
As the only naturalist among the naturalized people, Sonia deserves this treatment. Unlike what she imagined, the senators valued her not just because of her beauty and body, but more because Sonia was actually very useful to the Senate - she was a naturalist.
There is no longer an independent discipline of "natural history" in the modern scientific system. The elders come from the old time and space of the 21st century, whether it is China, the United States, Venezuela or Equatorial Guinea. Natural history is not offered in any university or research institution. It can even be said that this subject did not exist at the time of the grandfathers of the senators.
Natural history in modern history is approximately equivalent to the collection of zoology, entomology, botany, paleontology, mineralogy, meteorology, astronomy, geography, anthropology, ecology, etc. in modern history. Naturalists not only possess the capabilities of botanists, zoologists, geologists, mineralogists, etc., but also have rich field investigation capabilities and experience. Almost every naturalist is an explorer. The most well-known naturalist in the world is the famous Sir Charles Robert Darwin.
The 19th century was the golden age of natural history. Naturalists were active in every corner of the earth, exploring the secrets of nature. However, with the advancement and development of science, this subject gradually disappeared. By the 21st century, the classification of animals, plants, and minerals has been done for hundreds of years. Natural history is broken down into many more detailed disciplines. The school can't cultivate it, and society doesn't need it, so the elders don't have this ability at all.
But the Senate, like the great powers in the 19th century, desperately needed people to do these things. It is true that the information in the Great Library contains maps and general distributions of various animals, plants and minerals, but the information cannot be detailed enough to find what the Senate urgently needs in any corner of the mountain. This kind of thing can still only be sent to on-site inspection and recording. This work is not too complicated, but if we only rely on a few veterans of the remote exploration team to do it, we will not be able to complete the world's survey work in fifty or one hundred years. Therefore, it is a reasonable and realistic approach to let Sonia receive modern academic training, then let her accumulate relevant inspection experience, and then train batches of naturalized citizen inspection team members.
Soon after Sonia arrived at Lin Hanlong's side, she was arranged to "study" - all foreign female slaves were required to go, but Sonia's learning content was more complicated. In addition to Chinese, she also had to study under the elders in a systematic way. Study the various modern branches of "Natural History". Sonia swam in the ocean of knowledge and studied eagerly. Even when she was pregnant and about to give birth, she was still reading large books at home.
Sonia was completely unaware of this. She felt a little "flattered" by the treatment she enjoyed, thinking that the master had exerted his influence. After all, in this era, knowledge is still a genuine "wealth", and the owner will not easily teach it to others. Books recording this knowledge are also very rare.
The third floor of the Museum of Natural History is very quiet. There is no suspended ceiling here. When you look up, you can see the exposed trusses and structural panels of the roof. Rows of vaulted glass windows let in a lot of light, making the entire space extremely bright. You feel energetic as soon as you walk in.
She took out her key and opened the office door with the name "Researcher III" and her name on it. Sonia loved this "treatment". This fully reflects that she is a "status" and "respected" person - she values this very much.
Her office is more than thirty square meters - larger than the offices of many senior officials. Such a large office is naturally not suitable for setting up a desk. It’s also Sonia’s studio. There was a huge work table in the center of the room, and a microscope specially handmade for her by Lin Hanlong stood on the table. Against the wall are many storage racks used to store various specimens and materials. Most of the storage shelves are still empty now. A set of "Encyclopedia of the Song Dynasty 1635 Edition" approved by the Office of Truth, printed by the Great Library Printing House, and bound in calfskin by European craftsmen stands on the shelf, very conspicuous.
There are three desks in the room, one of which belongs to her, and the other two belong to the "graduate students" of the Remote Exploration Department who help her. Of course, there is not even a single undergraduate in the education system of the Senate, let alone graduate students. In fact, the employees who were assigned to work in the remote exploration department after graduating from high school were now assigned to study with Sonia as an apprentice.
The two "apprentices", a man and a woman, are not in the office at the moment - they have gone to clean the specimens.
Specimens and exhibits gathered from all over are numerous. The departments that handed over the specimens included not only the Natural Herbarium of Parkview Academy, but also the Herbarium of the Remote Exploration Department and the Herbarium of Lingao General Hospital. Some of the early human specimens were also handed over to the museum according to Dr. Toki's order. - There is almost no room for it in the warehouse of the Teaching Department.
These specimens, which are filled to the brim in their respective specimen rooms, are only a drop in the bucket when moved to the 2,000-square-meter exhibition hall. Although the number is small, when sorting and transferring specimens, it was found that many early specimens suffered from corruption, insect infestation, shrinkage, and fragmentation due to lax production procedures or quality issues with the chemicals used, as well as relatively poor storage conditions. question. Especially early insect and animal specimens were severely damaged.
The current job of the entire Natural History Museum staff is to "organize specimens." Organize, evaluate, classify, and register specimens collected from various places.
