124 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



apart from the body and brain seemed insu- 

 perable, and to believe sincerely and with- 

 out a doubt that which is inconceivable is, 

 at least in my own case, impossible. 



Doubts regarding the question of im- 

 mortality gave me no concern as to conse- 

 quences. Those doubts are honest, and I 

 can not prevent them. I was and am con- 

 vinced that if what I was taught in my 

 youth concerning God and a future life be 

 true, an All-wise and All-just Supreme Being 

 can not condemn me for believing according 

 to the best light of the intellect which he 

 himself gave me ; while, if the doctrine of 

 immortality be false, then of course death 

 ends all. In either case there is no cause 

 for uneasiness. Since my partial return to 

 health, the wish to live has strengthened ; in 

 fact, now that I am able to attend to my 

 daily business, the state of my health gives 

 me more concern than it did at a time when 

 I was too weak to walk across the floor. On 

 the whole, I think that the fear of, or rather 

 the repugnance to death, varies directly with 

 the vicissitudes of health strongly devel- 

 oped in robust health, decreasing gradually 

 as death draws nearer. It is well that it is 

 so. J. J. F. 



New York, December 22, 1ST8. 



EAP.THWOEMS, Etc. 



To the Editors of the Popular Science Monthly. 



I had the good fortune during the past 

 summer to witness a remarkable display of 



reason, or something quite akin to reason, in 

 an earthworm. I was watching a number of 

 them in my garden after a shower, as they 

 swallowed bits of dry grass and leaves, when 

 I observed one of very large size take hold 

 of a stick about six inches long. He took 

 hold as he reached it, by the middle, and drew 

 it toward his hole. But as the dirt was heaped 

 up near the hole, the stick soon became bed- 

 ded about an inch, and then resisted the per- 

 sistent efforts of the worm to draw it farther. 

 He then deliberately let go of the middle 

 and felt along to the end of the stick, which 

 he seized and drew easily to his retreat. I 

 watched until it had partially disappeared 

 in the hole, but was unable to determine the 

 special value of the prize. It is likely that 

 he desired to feed on the decayed bark of 

 the stick, as I have observed that these 

 worms almost invariably eat dried food in- 

 stead of green. 



By the way, have you ever had your at- 

 tention drawn to the circulation of the Cala- 

 dium esculentum? You will observe at the 

 tip of a thrifty-growing leaf, on the upper 

 side, a small hole, in which you can insert 

 the point of a pin. Now water the plant 

 abundantly, and shortly you will observe a 

 small globule of water leap out of this hole. 

 Nine of these combine to make a drop, which 

 falls off and is replaced by another. In a 

 short time quite a pool of water will be 

 found under the plant. 



E. P. Powell. 



Ciinton, New Yoke, January 20, 1S79. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



MORALITY AND EVOLUTION. 



IT is announced that Herbert Spencer 

 has ceased writing upon his " Soci- 

 ology," and begun the " Principles of 

 Morality," the last of his series; and it 

 is inferred from this that, having found 

 his " Synthetic Philosophy " overgrown 

 and unmanageable, he has abandoned 

 a part of it in order to finish the rest. 

 This is an entire misapprehension. He 

 has never had his great work so com- 

 pletely in command as now. His sus- 

 pension of labor upon the sociological 

 division is but temporary, and he anti- 

 cipates a part of the final ethical discus- 

 sion for reasons quite other than those 

 assigned. The step has been taken in 

 consequence of Mr. Spencer's uncertain 

 health, and from an apprehension that 



he might break down before reaching 

 its concluding part. Regarding " The 

 Principles of Morality " as the most 

 important portion of his undertaking, 

 to which all the preceding works are 

 preliminary, he felt it to be of great 

 importance to prepare such a state- 

 ment of his ethical views as will show 

 the bearing of the previous parts of 

 his system upon that subject. He ac- 

 cordingly some months ago stopped 

 work upon the second volume of the 

 "Sociology," and began "The Data of 

 Ethics," the first portion or ground- 

 work of " The Principles of Morality." 

 This is now so nearly finished that it 

 may be expected to appear in a small 

 volume of two hundred and fifty pages 

 in the course of the spring, when Mr. 



