The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1882-09-02

nsniu buc SiSih6lIS OF the DOCK ISSUED DV
the writer at the advanced age of - years.
During the interval OF nearly half a century,
he continued his observations, aud of lzte
his four sons--Francis, William, Horace,
and George-helped him to an extent which
he fully acknowledges in his new work.
All through the volume he seems to have
mad some apprehension that the public
might consider the Subject too minute for
investigation, and he deprecstes beforehand
possible hostile criticism in passages like
this: The subject may appear an INSIGHT
hcant one, but we shall see that il Possesses
SOM interest, and the maxim De nainiuais
kr non curdf does not apply to science.
Even Elede Beaumont, who generally un-
dervalues small agencies and their cumu.
lated effects, remarks: La cottche tres
mfnce de III teTre Uegetdke est un monu-
ment a aoae hdute dntiguite, ct, par ke fat
de Sd permanence, IN O6et disne doccu-
per te geotogne, ct capable de Ai fournier
deS res'arqaes antereSsantes." The care DR..
Darwin took in order to arrive at his facts
may be inferred from the following sentence
in his Introductory chapter: LAS I was led
to keep in my study during many months
worms in pots filled with earth, l became in
terested in them. and wished to learn how
far they acted consciously, and how much
mental power they displayed" The result
of these minute observations was the con-
victlon that earthworms are blind and deaf.
but their sense of touch is highly developed.
and that they are extremely sensitive to
vibrations and to changes of temperature
In common estim ton they are believed TO
ream over the soil with no settled h bitation,
burrowlng wherever they may happen to
find suitable conditions. But Darwin says;
81 have never seen two tracks leading to
the same burrow; nor is it likely from what
we shall presently see of their sense organs
that a worm could find its way back to its
burrow after once having left it. They ap-
parently leave their burrows on a voyage of
discovery. and thus they find new sites TO
inhabit."
The function they have to serve in the
econoHly of nature is to cover the globe with
a few inches of vegetable mould reduced
into fine particles by being passed through
their bodies. Usually they are regarded
merely as pests to the gardener and agricul-
t%uralist, with no corresponding benefit ts
the land they inhabit. Instead of that, they
are now declared to be the hest earthworkers
on the gloke, literally blowing the ground by
their millions of burrows, bringing up to the
triturating the soil by their physical move
i AhSAfNN -h4 GS Vi thClI NOId~
cious digestion. In suitable localities they
are estimated to number SO, 1877 to the acre,
which would give New South Wales about
ten million millions. if that proportion were
uniformly maintained throughout the terri
tory. They subsist principally on leaves,
which they drag into their burrows, partly
for food and partly for warmth, shelter and
concealment, but they appear to be nightly
impartial In the matter of diet, for in ex-
tremity they will eat anything. even one
another. The amount of earth brought up
to the surface is a matter of long observation
and nice calculation. In a field belonging to
Mr.. Wedgwood, of Maer Hall, Staffordshire
"mould to an average thickness of % of an
inch had been annually brought up by the
worms, and had been spread over the suface
of this field" AT the same rate the whole
surface of the globe would be covered with
n mould % inches deep in the course of a
hundred years. But it is not every locality
which is favorable to the operations of these
natural cultivators of the soil. They require
a certain quantity of moisture, and they are
extremely rare or quite absent in the drier,
brown, 6brous peat. which is so much valued
by gardeners. On dry, sandy. gravelly tracks,
where heath, with some gorse. ferns, coarse
grass, moss, and lichens alone grow, hardly
any worms can be found; but in MANY parts
of England, wherever a path crosses n heath
its surface becomes covered with a fine.
short swsrd." the work of these voluntary
gardeners.
At page l22a passage occurs in reference
to the vermicular wealth of New South
Wales. Naturaiists all over the wsrld are
in the habit of corresponding freely with each
other, and making known the particular
kind OF investigations they are pursuing
with a view to mutual assistance and CO.
operation. DR.. Darwin had correspondents
in every country while his last book was in
the course of preparation. and one of these
was DR.. G. kreft, late Curator of the Syd-
ney Museum. In reference to that he SAYS:
stIn the dry climate of New South Wales /
hardly expected that worms would be COM
mon, but DR.. G. Kreft of Sydney to whom
| applied after making enquiries from garden.
ers and others and from his own observations
informs me that their castings abound. He
sent me som collected after heavy rain,
and they consisted of little pallets about .I5
of an inch IN diameter, and the blackened
sandy earth of which they were formed still
cohered with considerable tenacity." The
conclusion at which the author arrives from
all the facts collected during half a century
from so many parts of the world is that
worms play a much more important part in
the economy of nature than has been COM
monty believed hitherto. "In many parts of
England he says in his last chapter, "a
weight Of more than ten tons of dry earth
annually passes through their bodies. and is
brought to the surface on each acre of land,
so that the whole superficial bed or vege-
table pould passes through their bodies in
in the course of every few years" They
decompose and disintegrate particles of earth,
generate humus acids, circulate carbonic
acid through the soil and prepare the
ground in an excellent manner for the
growth of fbrous-rooted plants and for seed
lings of all kinds" No theory of evolution is
associated by the author with the results of