NATURAL science news. 



179 



of moist castings and the rolling 

 down of dry ones, thus reducing 

 the slope of the hills' by accumula- 

 tions at the bottom. The castings 

 are also blown repeatedly in one 

 direction by the prevalent winds. 

 Now as a layer of earth one-fifth 

 6f an inch thick, or ten tons by 

 weight, has been calculated in 

 many places to be brought annu- 

 ally to the surface per acre, if only 

 a small part of this flows down 

 every inclined surface, or is blown 

 by the wind repeatedly in one di- 

 rection, it is easy to see that a 

 great change may be produced in 

 the surface of the land in the 

 course of ages. 



In consequence of the immense 

 amount of earth continually being 

 brought to the surface by worms, 

 it is not difficult to understand 

 how objects, such as stones, rocks, 

 etc., lying on the surface will in 

 course of time become gradually 

 buried in the ground. The worms, 

 undermining the stones, bring up 

 the earth to the surface, and so 

 raise the ground round the edge of 

 the stone till the latter sinks and 

 is eventually buried in the soil, 

 provided the soil is suitable for 

 worms to live in. Darwin showed 

 that in a field covered with flints 

 of various sizes, the smaller ones 

 disappeared in a few }^ears, and in 

 thirty years all had become buried, 

 owing to the action of worms. 



Owing to the burial of stones 

 and other objects by the action of 

 worms, ancient monuments, por- 

 tions of Roman villas and other 

 objects of antiquity have been pre- 

 served. These have been gradu- 

 ally buried by the worms, and so 

 preserved from the destructive ef- 

 fect of rain and wind. Many Ro- 

 man remains were studied by Dar 

 win, and traces of the action of 

 Worms found, to which action their 

 preservation was mainly due. The 

 sinking of the foundations of many 

 old buildings is due to the action 

 of worms, and no building is safe 

 from this unless the foundations 

 are laid lower than the level at 

 which the worms can work, viz., 

 about eight feet below the surface. 



Another useful effect produced 

 by worms is the preparation of the 

 soil for the growth of seedlings. 

 By their agency the soil is periodi- 

 cally sifted and exposed to the air, 

 and in this way is able to retain 

 moisture and absorb soluable sub- 

 stances of use for the nutrition of 

 plants. 



Moreover, bones are buried by 

 the castings and brought within 

 reach of the roots of plants. 



The earthworm is thus seen to 



be one of the best examples which 

 show how "great effects from little 

 causes spring." This unpleasant 

 looking and slimy animal, before 

 the days of Darwin, was looked 

 upon as an entirely useless crea- 

 ture, except as a bait for fish and 

 as food for birds. — Knowledge. 



How I Became a Paleontologist. 



A Paleontologist is merely a nat- 

 uralist who studies the fossil re- 

 mains of animals or plants in dif- 

 ferent layers of the rocks, in order 

 to determine the character and or- 

 der of succession of the fossil or- 

 ganisms, or knowing this order, to 

 determine, by the fossils found in 

 any layer, to what part of the geo- 

 logical series that layer belongs. 

 Therefore it is plain that to be a 

 paleontologist, one must first be a 

 zoologist or botanist, and that pal- 

 eontology is merely an application 

 of certain facts of natural history 

 to geological problems, 



I believe that one must be born 

 with certain tastes and tendences 

 to become a thorough naturalist, 

 though many who have such tastes 

 are prevented by circumstances 

 from letting them develop in the 

 natural way. The first of social 

 duties is to earn one's living and it 

 is difficult to do this and pursue 

 the study of science at the same 

 time, especially for young people. 



I do not remember when I was 

 not interested in nature; but that 

 incident which led me to become 

 especially interested in shells, was 

 the possession, when a boy of 12 

 years old, of a copy of Dr. Gould's 

 Invertebrata of Massachusetts. I 

 then lived near the woods just out 

 of Boston, and soon endeavored 

 to make a complete collection of 

 the Massachusetts shells. The 

 sea coast being near by, most of 

 my vacations were spent in its vi- 

 cinity and my collection grew. 

 Finding some things I could not 

 name, I was encouraged to consult 

 Dr. Gould himself, one of the best 

 and most lovable of men, then liv- 

 ing in Boston. He helped me in 

 various ways and by none more 

 than by this bit of advice. "You 

 will have to earn your bread and 

 butter very soon" he said, "and 

 to continue doing so, but if you 

 wish to be a naturalist do not de- 

 fer your studies. You can always 

 find some minutes every day for 

 study, and if the time comes when 

 you have more freedom, you will 

 be on the road already. If you 

 try to defer it until the freedom is 

 gained the chances are that it 



will be too late." The advice was 

 followed, books were borrowed 

 from the libraries and few days 

 passed that did not see some pro- 

 gress. School ended, I went into 

 an office on India Wharf where I 

 did the usual boy's work for wages 

 which about paid for my shoe-leath- 

 er, but kept a book in my desk to 

 save unoccupied moments, and 

 copied at odd times scientific works 

 which I thought I should never be 

 able to buy. An opening seemed 

 to present itself in India, and 

 through my dear father's kindness 

 I was taken to Agassiz's Museum 

 in Cambridge to learn what I might 

 for a few months before sailing. 

 As it happened I did not go to In- 

 dia, the ship on which I was to 

 sail was burned by the "Alabama," 

 and my months of study were for- 

 tunately prolonged. 



Later, in the midst of war times, 

 I went to Chicago to seek that 

 livelihood which Boston did not 

 seem to offer; and here I worked 

 during the day and spent my even- 

 ings at scientific work in the Aca- 

 demy of Sciences. To Dr. Gould's 

 rule of action I added another, that 

 so long as I could earn enough to 

 live on, I would invariably choose 

 of two opportunities that which 

 gave me the best chances for con- 

 tinuing my studies whether it paid 

 better in money or not. Several 

 times, as it seemed to others fool- 

 ishly, I turned away from good sal- 

 aries to harder work with less pay, 

 but better chances for study. I 

 believe I have never regretted it, 

 nor had true reason for regretting 

 it. Explorations in theuLake Su- 

 perior iron regions, then in Alaska, 

 fell to my lot, each a stepping stone 

 to something else, To sum it up, 

 I became a naturalist, and inci- 

 dently a paleontologist, through 

 hard work, steadily pressing in 

 one direction, without regard to 

 pucuniary consideration; doing al- 

 ways what was nearest my hand, 

 with all my might, as well as I 

 knew how, and crossing no bridges 

 till I came to them. Faithfulness, 

 energy, perserverance without 

 grumbling or vacillation, will bring 

 almost any one to his desired end 

 in the course of time. — Prof. Wm. 

 H. Da//, Paleontologist U. S. Geo- 

 logical Survey, Washington, D. C. , 

 in the Outdoor World. 



