DARWIN'S ' EARTHWORMS ' 255 



egli Angeli and the Pantheon ; these surprise you with the 

 vastness of their proportions on entering, which St. Peter's 

 does not. In fact, to appreciate the latter you must go into 

 the galleries of the dome and look down on human beings 

 like ants below, and up to the tier upon tier of gigantic 

 heads in mosaic that rear themselves aloft, curving inwards 

 to the navel of the dome. This last — the interior of the 

 dome — produces an overpowering effect, heightened perhaps 

 by the height at which you stand, and the slimness of the 

 rail that separates you from the gulf below and the infinite 

 space above crowded with grim faces glaring at you. 



The dome itself, seen from outside, is very inferior in 

 proportions to St. Paul's, which, seen from Waterloo Bridge, 

 is exceedingly beautiful — as indeed is the whole building 

 which had the advantage of being the design of one man of 

 surpassing genius in many lines of thought and action. 



As to the pictures and sculpture, it is dangerous to begin 

 upon them in a letter, and so I will draw this epistle to a 

 close. 



By this time the plans for ultimate retreat from the cares 

 of Kew began to take practical shape. As he thanks Darwin 

 for his book on ' The Formation of Vegetable Mould through 

 the Action of Worms, with Observations on their Habits ' 

 (published October 10, 1881) he tells of his purchase of a piece 

 of land at Sunningdale, to effect which he sold privately his 

 superfluous books and collections, for he could neither go on 

 accumulating collections at Kew, nor house what he already 

 possessed in any other residence. 



I take shame to myself for not having earlier thanked 

 you for the Diet of Worms, which I have read through with 

 great interest. I must own I had always looked on worms 

 as amongst the most helpless and unintelligent members of 

 the creation ; and am amazed to find that they have a 

 domestic life and public duties ! I shall now respect them, 

 even in our Garden pots ; and regard them as something 

 better than food for fishes. I am interested in observing 

 how they shun some soils at Kew, apparently from want of 

 vegetable matter in them. 



I have been very busy for the last six weeks owing to Dyer 



