Department of Biological Sciences & The Mallinson Institute for Science Education, Western Michigan University, 3134 Wood Hall, Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5410, USA.
Hist Philos Life Sci. 2010;32(4):493-519.
Over the past fifty years a legend has developed surrounding H.B.D. Kettlewell's pioneering research on the phenomenon of industrial melanism as illustrated in the peppered moth, Biston betularia. This legend is particularly pernicious in that it unfairly diminishes Kettlewell's intellectual involvement in the work for which he is most famous (Rudge 2006). One of the most persistent allegations made is that Kettlewell's published work neglects or ignores his debt to J.W. Tutt, identified as the first to propose the explanation of industrial melanism at issue in Kettlewell's original investigations (Owen 1997). The following essay first examines whether J.W. Tutt was indeed the first to explain the phenomenon of industrial melanism in terms of differential bird predation and the long term effects of air pollution, before considering further whether J.W. Tutt's explanation was, in point of fact, the explanation at issue in Kettlewell's investigations.
在过去的五十年中，H.B.D. 凯特尔韦尔 (H.B.D. Kettlewell) 关于工业黑化现象的开创性研究，在胡椒蛾 (Biston betularia) 身上得到了体现，围绕这一研究产生了一个传说。这个传说特别有害，因为它不公正地贬低了凯特尔韦尔在他最著名的工作中所涉及的智力投入 (Rudge 2006)。其中最持久的指控之一是，凯特尔韦尔发表的作品忽视或忽略了他对 J.W. 塔特 (J.W. Tutt) 的债务，后者被认为是第一个提出在凯特尔韦尔最初的调查中所涉及的工业黑化解释的人 (Owen 1997)。本文首先考察了 J.W. 塔特是否真的是第一个用鸟类捕食的差异和长期空气污染的影响来解释工业黑化现象的人，然后再进一步考虑 J.W. 塔特的解释是否实际上是凯特尔韦尔调查中所涉及的解释。
