Earth- Worms in History. 69 



looks as though it had passed through the intestines of 

 worms, even where scarcely any castings are to be observed 

 upon the surface. The upper crust is continually being 

 eaten and ejected by them, thus aiding the fertility of the 

 soil, as well as conveying water and air to the interior by 

 the myriads of burrows which they drill. The vast quan- 

 tities of leaves that they drag into their holes tend also to 

 enrich the ground. Nor does their good end here. They 

 cover up seeds, undermine rocks, burying them up, and to 

 their labors is due the preservation of many ruins and 

 ancient works of art. Numerous old-time Roman villas 

 have been discovered beneath the ground in England, whose 

 entombments were undoubtedly caused by the worms that 

 undermined them and deposited their castings upon the 

 floors, till finally, aided by other causes, they disappeared 

 from sight. 



When a wide, turf-covered expanse of earth is beheld, we 

 would do well to remember that its smoothness, upon which 

 so much of its beauty depends, is largely due to all the 

 inequalities having been slowly levelled by worms. That all 

 the surface-mould of any such expanse has passed, and will 

 again pass, every few years through the bodies of worms is 

 a marvellous reflection, and one which should not be lightly 

 dismissed from the mind. The most ancient, as well as one 

 of the most valuable of man's inventions, is the plough. But 

 long before man existed the land was in fact regularly 

 ploughed, and still continues to be ploughed, by earth-worms. 

 No other animal has played such a part in history as have 

 these lowly-organized creatures. True it is that corals, 

 which are still lower in the scale of animals, have performed 

 more conspicuous work in the innumerable reefs and islands 

 they have built in the great oceans, but their work is con- 

 fined to the tropical zones, while that of the earth-worm is 

 well-nigh universal. Verily it is by the little things in life 

 that the Creator has erected the most stupendous monu- 

 ments to show forth His infinite power and wisdom. 



