on the second thought

This seems to be odd, but on the second thought, the saying is thought-provoking.

这种说法近乎怪诞，细玩却耐人寻味。

The second drawer began to fill and as it did I wondered whether there were bigger discoveries out there, not just species, but life that depends on things thought to be useless, life even without DNA. I started a third drawer for these big discoveries.

第二个抽屉开始被填满。此时我在想外头是否还有更大的发现，不只是物种，还有依赖于人们认为无用的东西的生命以及甚至没有 DNA 的生命。我为这些重大发现设立了第三个抽屉。

The second remark bears on the criticism of the material propositions to which that elevation in thought in the first instance leads.

第二点值得注意的是关于对上述那种思想提高所赢得的内容的批判。