2i8 MISCELLANEA {continued). [1879. 



book may be roughly estimated by the fact that, in the three 

 years following its publication, 8500 copies were sold — a 

 sale relatively greater than that of the ' Origin of Species.' 



It is not difficult to account for its success with the non- 

 scientific public. Conclusions so wide and so novel, and so 

 easily understood, drawn from the study of creatures so 

 familiar, and treated with unabated vigour and freshness, 

 may well have attracted many readers. A reviewer remarks : 

 *' In the eyes of most men. . . the earthworm is a mere 

 blind, dumb, senseless, and unpleasantly slimy annelid. 

 Mr. Darwin undertakes to rehabilitate his character, and the 

 earthworm steps forth at once as an intelligent and beneficent 

 personage, a worker of vast geological changes, a planer 

 down of mountain sides ... a friend of man . . . and an 

 ally of the Society for the preservation of ancient monu- 

 ments." The St. James's Gazette, of October 17th, 1881, 

 pointed out that the teaching of the cumulative importance 

 of the infinitely little is the point of contact between this 

 book and the author's previous work. 



One more book remains to be noticed, the ' Life of Erasmus 

 Darwin.' 



In February 1879 an essay by Dr. Ernst Krause, on the 

 scientific work of Erasmus Darwin, appeared in the evolu- 

 tionary journal, ' Kosmos,' The number of ' Kosmos ' in 

 question was a " Gratulationsheft," * or special congratulatory 

 issue in honour of my father's birthday, so that Dr. Krause's 

 essay, glorifying the older evolutionist, was quite in its place. 

 He wrote to Dr. Krause, thanking him cordially for the honour 

 paid to Erasmus, and asking his permission to publish t an 

 English translation of the Essay. 



* The same number contains a list of my father's publications, 



good biographical sketch of my f The wish to do so was shared 



father, of which the material was to by his brother, Erasmus Darwin 



a large extent supplied by him to the younger, who continued to be 



the writer, Prof. Preyer of Jena. associated with the project. 

 The article contains an excellent 



