Life of Charles DarwinBettany, G. T. (George Thomas)
Science
Life of Charles Darwin
Bettany, G. T. (George Thomas)
Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882
existed as pasture for a very long time. At the end of November, 1871, a
trench was dug across this part of the field, and the nodules of chalk
were found buried seven inches. A similar change took place in a field
covered with flints, where in thirty years the turf was compact without
any stones. A pathway formed of loose-set flagstones was similarly
buried by worms, and became undistinguishable from the rest of the lawn.
And these are but a few of the evidences of the wonderful action of
worms, collected by the activity of Charles Darwin and his sons.
Earthworms were not only scrutinised in their out-of-door work, but were
kept in confinement and studied. It appears they swallow earth both to
make their burrows and to extract all nutriment it may contain; they
will eat almost anything they can get their skin over. From careful
calculation it was shown that worms on an average pass ten tons of the
soil on an acre of ground through their bodies every year. It is, then,
but a truism to say that every bit of soil on the surface of the globe
must have passed through their bodies many times. They were discovered
to work mainly by night, when hundreds may with care be discerned, with
tails fixed in their burrows, prowling round in circles, rapidly
retreating into holes, and strongly resisting efforts to extract them.
It was found by careful study that they have no sense of hearing, but a
most remarkable sensitiveness to vibrations of the earth or even
to contact with air in motion. No book Darwin wrote was fuller of
interesting and undoubtedly correct observations.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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