204 THE SEVEN FOLLIES OF SCIENCE 



some others present very characteristic appearances. The 

 large hairs of the deer are very peculiar when viewed as 

 an opaque object. Indeed there are few more interesting 

 objects for microscopical study than hairs with their 

 various forms and structures. 



THAT WORMS SHALL EAT OUR BODIES AFTER 

 WE ARE DECENTLY BURIED 



HIS is a very old belief. In the Book of Job 

 (Chap, xix, v. 25) the prophet exclaims: "And 

 though after my skin worms destroy this body, 

 yet in my flesh shall I see God." 



And Shakespeare makes Hamlet say (Act IV, Scene 3, 

 line 28): "A man may fish with the worm that hath eat 

 of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm." 



Rosalind also boldly avers that "men have died from 

 time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love " 

 ("As You Like It," Act. IV, Scene i, line 107). 



And all through our literature the same idea prevails. 

 No wonder then that the popular mind is firm in the belief 

 that it is the fate of humanity to be eaten by worms if not 

 consumed by fire or consigned to the fishes. And the 

 worm that is usually thought of in this connection is the 

 common earthworm or angleworm as it is usually called. 



Now in the first place the earthworm does not feed upon 

 undecomposed flesh; I have never met them in a putre- 

 fying carcass. Their food consists chiefly of decaying 

 vegetable matter; consequently the site of an old manure 

 heap is a choice place to dig for them. And, secondly, earth- 

 worms are scarcely ever found at the depth to which a nor- 



