t n e 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



JANUARY, 1382, 



EARTH-WORMS AND THEIR WONDERFUL WORKS.* 



By W. H. LAEEABEE. 



THE subject of Mr. Darwin's latest volume is the share which 

 worms have taken in the formation of the layer of vegetable 

 mold that covers the surface of the land in every moderately hu- 

 mid country. It is a real surprise to learn, from the observations 

 which Mr. Darwin has so patiently made for nearly half a century, 

 and which he records in this work, how important a part these uncon- 

 sidered creatures have played in giving to the surface of the land its 

 generally tine consistency and fertile properties, and how essentially 

 and vastly they have contributed to the comfort and prosperity of 

 mankind. Ever since his first paper on vegetable mold was read be- 

 fore the Geological Society of London, in 1837, Mr. Darwin has kept 

 on with his investigations, in flower-pots in his room, in his garden, 

 and in the field, and has detected the work of the worms wherever 

 anything will grow in meadows and table-lands, in cultivated places 

 and in woods, on mountains fifteen hundred feet high in Scotland, 

 nearly twice as high at Turin, seven thousand feet above the sea 

 on the Nilgiri Hills of Southern India, and on the slopes of the 

 Himalayas effecting the transformation of the hard, cold earth, and 

 the raw leaves into fine, fruitful soil. It is easy to say, as some have 

 done, that the creatures are too insignificant to accomplish so extensive 

 a work ; but the facts adduced by Mr. Darwin convey a striking lesson 

 in the principle that nothing is so minute that it can be despised. 



We may first consider the agent apparently so insignificant that 

 has done so much to transform and clothe the surface of the earth. 



* The Formation of Vegetable Mold through the Action of Worm?, with Obser- 

 vations on their Habits. By Charles Darwin, LL. D., F. R. S. With Illustrations. Pub- 

 lished by D. Appleton & Co., Xew York. 



VOL. XX. 19 



