Chap. I. MENTAL QUALITIES. 35 



seem to express by their contortions. Judging 

 by their eagerness for certain kinds of food, 

 they must enjoy the pleasure of eating. 

 Their sexual passion is strong enough to 

 overcome for a time their dread of light. 

 They perhaps have a trace of social feeling, 

 for they are not disturbed by crawling over 

 each other's bodies, and they sometimes lie 

 in contact. According to Hoffmeister they 

 pass the winter either singly or rolled up 

 with others into a ball at the bottom of their 

 burrows.* Although worms are so remark- 

 ably deficient in the several sense-organs, 

 this does not necessarily preclude intelligence, 

 as we know from such cases as those of Laura 

 Bridgman; and we have seen that when their 

 attention is engaged, they neglect impressions 

 to which they would otherwise have attended ; 

 and attention indicates the presence of a mind 

 of some kind. They are also much more 

 easily excited at certain times than at others. 

 They perform a few actions instinctively, that 



* ' Familie der Regenwiirmer,' p. 13. Dr. Sturtevant states 

 in the ' New York Weekly Tribune ' (May 19, 1880) that he kept 

 three worms in a pot, which was allowed to become extremely 

 dry; and these worms were found "all entwined together, 

 forming a round mass and in good condition." 



D 2 



