The original batman

摘要

LAZZARO SPALLANZANI watched by the flickering light of a single candle as a bat flew hither and yon around his simple room in Reggio nell'Emilia, Italy. Then he made a remarkable observation: when he blew out the candle, the bat's flight was unaffected. It flew in total darkness as if it were light! Spallanzani, an ordained Catholic priest and tireless, self-taught scientist, knew this because he had tied some string around one of the bat's bony ankles. Holding tightly to it like a strange kite, he occasionally felt the bat tugging in different directions as it flew around in the pitch-black room. When he repeated the test with his tame barn owl - or "night-bird", as he called it - the owl became clumsy in total darkness. It flew into the walls. It collided gracelessly with objects in the room.