Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-03
HABITS OF EARTHwORMs.
The Result of Years of Observation
by q Great Scientist.

The Result OF Years of Observations
by a Great Scientist.
In one of his last essays Richard Jeffriea
referred with great enthusiasm to Mr. Oar.
wins book on earthworms, speaking Of IL al
especially valuable to the practical farmer
as well as interesting to the unscientift
lover of country life and field learning.
The book has. moreover. a larger than
common measure of the peculiar charm that
characterizes all Mr. Darwin's literary work.
the charm of homely industry and fascinat-
ing research delightfully."- recorded.
The introduction speaks Of the thin layer
Of mold on the earth's surface the dirt"
commonly supposed to be much deeper than
it is, as being constantly altered and added
to by the action of earthworms. Astonish-
ing statistics are given concerning the num-
Der of them to a square foot In common
soil, and the amount of earth thrown to the
surface In a year by Castings" One Ii
already interested, and then ready to sffer
respect to the worm, when Ii Is further
Chown that earthworms possess important
mental qualities"
worm is given, but the book deals rather
with the psychology than with the anatomy
/ of earthworms. The series of experiments
recorded demonstrating that earthworms
have power of attention, discrimination and
social instincts, is delightful for not only
does one see Darwin at home with the flow
erpot, containing the worms, at his elbow
for daily consideration month after month,
but one hccomes personally interested in the
earthworms a colony. 1t IS possible to
feel sorry when one of them dies.
Fat, squirming earthworms brought to
the surface by a chance spadeful of soil In
the garden, seem to be there by chance,
mere in-earth jewellers. But Darwin began
his work among them by regarding each az
an individual of well-developed int diligence,
and inhabiting carefully made house OF
q
fancies, even.
The experiments which were TO test the
earthworm's mental capacities were, for the
most part very simple and homely, all the
household taking part.
1t is amusing to follow Mr. Darwin vi
and down the garden walks with his lantern
perhaps crawling cautiously on his handt
and knees, surprising the earthworm al
his nightly toil-the searcher assisted not
infrequently by my sons" And IL is enter.
| tanning to picture him with a covered Ian
tern personating the moon shedding DIM
light over the fowerpot where the worm
colony were kept, to test their sensibility
to light.
To see If they objected to change of tenn
perature, he drew near tenderly with the
heated poker; only one of the worms DASH
ed into its burrow," which settled the point
Of the degree of development OF their tenn
perature sense.
They were taken to the parlor to listen to
the piano and bassoon, fed with familiar
and unfamiliar kinds of food and heated in
all ways with the greatest care and consid-
Grafton.
To demonstrate the existence of sense of
touch was less important; every one knows
how i'll at ease the earthworm is out of its
natural contact with common evil But OAR
wins object was to find out what a prac-
tically deaf, blind and dumb individual. such
| as the earthworm is, would do under I'M
usual conditions to make Itself comfortable.
That worms rarely do have a choice In the
| matter of food and even architecture Is no
| longer absurd, In the light of Mr.. Darwln's
years long researches. But with all these
facts accepted. we are still unprepared to
hear that an earthworm is sometimes Ill.
1t Is true that with his one species of para
site he Is very low In the scale compared
with man exalted by his several dozen spe-
cies. e..
But il Is fact that his one parasite can
cause the earthworm so much discomtort
that he crawls away from his cherished
home to die by the wayside in great de-
spair. There Is Darwin's hearty assurances
to comfort us that the worm really suffers
less, however, than his actions would imply.
LOUISE LYNDON.