Ligabue Magazine 36

Of course, the Jesuits are well known for their love of secrecy and they would probably even write the Hail Mary and Paternoster in code. We are thus faced with a far from elementary – my dear Watson – muddle. Davide Domenici has gone a good way to clearing up the confusion by putting together all the pieces in a puzzle which is still a source of curiosity and controversy for scholars so deeply versed in the history of South American civilisation you’d think they had grown up at the court of Atahuallpa.

This Inca intrigue seems to be never-ending and has almost espionage-like complications. It also recounts a story told by the Italian Jesuit Joan Anello Oliva, who claimed that among the nefarious deeds perpetrated by Pizarro was the poisoning by muscat laced with arsenic of the Inca leaders before the battle of Cajamarca. In short, in this story there is something for everyone and thanks to the insight of Domenici, Ligabue Magazine has been able to offer its readers the exclusive world première of an historic scoop – as the television commentators might say. At this point away we could sit back and enjoy the story, if it were not for the fact that someone has now even called into question the whole business. But to silence all sceptics, a lecturer at the University of Rome has described a letter from a Jesuit of 1610 found in some (undisclosed) archives, denouncing the poisoning perpetuated by the grim Pizarro. It will all probably end up in an Italian-style mess with a right-wing pro-Pizarro party and a left-wing anti-Pizarro party.

On page 146, another frequent collaborator with the Ligabue Magazine, the naturalist Bruno Berti, focuses on the egg in an instructive article on what we all perceive by antonomasia as the source of life. The egg marked the evolution from amphibians to reptiles. Its perfect form has fascinated mathematicians throughout history, and of this rich treasure-trove Konrad Lorenz says: “the hatching of a new life from a tiny egg is always a great surprise”. A vital form of food for us, the egg contains elements – concealed as if secret – enabling life to continue. This fascinating fact alone is worth dwelling on. Berti engages in an interesting entertaining survey and raises an old vexed issue.

When we are faced with an irresolvable question such as how to square the circle we ask: “What came first? The egg or the hen?”. This apparently rhetorical question, as old as the egg itself, comes to mind on reading the article by the well-known palaeontologist Philip J. Cunie, head of the dinosaur section in the Royal Tyrrell Museum, Alberta. In his case the question is: What came first? – the dinosaurs or the birds? Here, too- as we will see- academic debate raged on for two centuries. Then recently a major discovery was made in southern China. A thoroughgoing fossil deposit was found at Liaoning, where local farmers had been selling the fossils to museums and tourists.

A certain Li Yinfang found the fossil of a long-tailed animal, as large as a chicken and surrounded by feathers. The farmer, who was no fool, realised he had found something very interesting, and since the fossil had been split in two, he was able to cash in on the find by selling half to the National Geological Museum of China and the other half to the Institute of Geology and Palaeontology at Nanjing. Dr Currie surveys the excavations, research and debate concerning these feathered dinosaurs. His account must be read carefully because he deals with complex material requiring specific knowledge. But l’d should like to mention another aspect of this fascinating article. I was particularly impressed by the passionate self-denial of scientists in pursuing their research even when dealing with lifeless stones. For the profane it’ s not easy to understand how on finding a fossil dinosaur feather they can be so excited.

The fossil found by Li Yinfang was given the curious name of Sinosauropteryx prima (First Chinese Dragon Feather). Philip J. Currie’s enthusiasm emerges in the description of his initial encounter with this fossil: “The first feathered theropod had been shown to me in Beijing (China) in September 1996. My wife and I had been invited to visit Dr. Ji Qiang, the director of the National Geological Museum of China in Beijing, who was lucky enough to have this delicate little fossil in his museum’s collections. Seeing that specimen for the first time was one of those moments in life that I would love to experience again and again”.

Although I understand little of fossils I was deeply moved by this great love for scientific research, whose fruits we will all eventually be able to enjoy. After having regaled us with marvellous accounts of her journeys to the East, this time on page 92, Cristina Del Mare takes us to imperial India whose charms were described by Kipling. It comes as a surprise to learn that in tropical India you can still take a picturesque little train to reach the Nilgiri Hills, once a commodious summer refuge for maharajahs and nabobs, now again only inhabited by the original tribe of the Toda, buffalo herdsmen and producers of dairy products, who have never owned weapons or fought wars. Borrowing from Bertolt Brecht we might say: happy the land with no need for heroes!

If you’re not one of those selfish people who believe après moi le dèluge, read the article on page 178 by Gianfranco Bologna, Secretary General of the WWF Italy and the Peccei-Club Foundation. You will be shocked to learn the condition the planet will probably be in by the year 2050. According to UN estimates, the world population will be 9.4 billion, resources will be reduced and, for example, the problem of waste disposal alone will require drastic measures in all countries.