Search Results - The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

parallelism with the surface of the land, are the most striking features of the case; for this parallelism shows how equably the worms must have worked; the result being, however, partly the effect of the washing down of the fresh castings by rain. The specific gravity of the objects does not affect their rate of sinking, as could be seen by porous cinders, burnt marl, chalk and quartz pebbles, having all sunk to the same depth within the same time. Considering the nature of the substratum, which

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

would appear that worms have to swallow a greater amount of earth on poor than on rich land, in order to obtain sufficient nutriment. With respect to the tower-like castings near Nice (Nos. 5 and 6 in the above table), Dr. King often found five or six of them on a square foot of surface; and these, judging from their average weight, would have weighed together 7 ounces; so that the weight of those on a square yard would have been 4 lb. 3 oz. Dr. King collected, near the close of the year 1872

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

square foot, in a place abounding with worms, on the summit of a bank, where no castings could have rolled down from above. These castings must have been ejected, as he judged from their appearance in reference to the rainy and dry periods near Nice, within the previous five or six months; they weighed 9 oz., or 5 lb. 5 oz. per square yard. After an interval of four months, Dr. King collected all the castings subsequently ejected on the same square foot of surface, and they weighed 2 oz., or 1

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

curacy I can implicitly rely, offered to collect during a year all the castings thrown up on two separate square yards, near Leith Hill Place, in Surrey. The amount collected was, however, somewhat less than that originally ejected by the worms; for, as I have repeatedly observed, a good deal of the finest earth is washed away, whenever castings are thrown up during or shortly before heavy rain. Small portions also adhered to the surrounding blades of grass, and it required too much time to

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

uniformly spread out. As we know from the two last cases in the above summary, the weight of the dried castings ejected by worms during a year on a square yard of surface, I wished to learn how thick a layer of ordinary mould this amount would form if spread uniformly over a square yard. The dry castings [page] 17

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

to 2 1 inches in 10 years. The accumulation during 29 years, on good, argillaceous pasture-land over the Chalk at Down, amounted to 2 2 inches in 10 years. The accumulation during 30 years on the side of a valley over the Chalk at Down, the soil being argillaceous, very poor, and only just converted into pasture (so that it was for some years unfavourable for worms), amounted to 0 83 inches in 10 years. In these cases (excepting the last) it may be seen that the amount of earth brought to the

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

Roman emperors, dating from 133 to 361, and perhaps to 375 A.D., were likewise found. Also a half-penny of George I., 1715. The presence of this latter coin seems an anomaly; but no doubt it was dropped on the ground during the last century, and since then there has been ample time for its burial under a considerable depth of the castings of worms. From the different dates of the Roman coins we may infer that the building was long inhabited. It was probably ruined and deserted 1400 or 1500

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

by worms; and although the overlying fine mould closely resembled that which in many [page] 18

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

. Even those parts of the concrete floor which the worms could not penetrate would almost certainly have been undermined, and would have sunk, like the great [page] 19

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

before, but a good many castings had since been ejected. I suspect that he imagined that he swept the pavements oftener than he really did, for the conditions were in several respects very unfavourable for the accumulation of even a moderate amount of castings. The tiles are rather large, viz., about 5 inches square, and the mortar between them was in most places sound, so that the worms were able to bring up earth from below only at certain points. The tiles rested on a bed of concrete, and the

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

is not probable that they can have been undermined by worms, for their foundations would no doubt have been laid at a considerable depth. If they have not subsided, the stones of which the columns were constructed must have been removed from beneath the former level of the floor. Chedworth, Gloucestershire. The remains of a large Roman villa were discovered here in 1866, on ground which had been covered with wood from time immemorial. No suspicion seems ever to have been entertained that ancient

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

encountered some remains.* But subsequently the tops of some stone walls were detected in parts of the wood, projecting a little above the surface of the ground. Most of the coins found here belonged to Constans (who died 350 A.D.) and the Constantine family. My sons Francis and Horace visited the place in November 1877, for the sake of ascertaining what part worms may have played in the burial of these extensive remains. But the circumstances were not favourable for this object, as the ruins

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

appears to have been destroyed by fire, and most of the stones used in the buildings have since been carried away. These circumstances are unfavourable for ascertaining the part which worms have played in the burial of the ruins; but as careful sections of the rubbish overlying an ancient town have seldom or never before been made in England, I will give copies of the most characteristic portions of some of those made by Mr. Joyce. They are of too great length to be here introduced entire. An

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

since decayed, some of the lime probably having been dissolved. The disturbed state of the rubbish may have been due to its having been searched for building stones. This bed was capped by fine vegetable mould, 9 inches in thickness. From these facts we may conclude that the Hall was burnt down, and that much rubbish fell on the floor, through and from which the worms slowly brought up the mould, now forming the surface of the level field. A section across the middle of another hall in the Basilica

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

us. Worm-castings were observed on the floors of several of the rooms, in one of which the tesselation was unusually perfect. The tesser here consisted of little cubes of hard sandstone of about 1 inch, several of which were loose or projected slightly above the general level. One or occasionally two open worm-burrows were found beneath all the loose tesser . Worms have also penetrated the old walls of these ruins. A wall, which had just been exposed to view during the excavations then in

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

the solidity of the bed on which their tesselated and often ornamented pavements were laid. The sinking must, as it appears to me, be attributed in chief part to the pavement having been undermined by worms, which we know are still at work. Even Mr. Joyce at last admitted that this could not have failed to have produced a considerable effect. Thus also the large quantity of fine mould overlying the pavements can be accounted for, the presence of which would otherwise be inexplicable. My sons

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

rendered intelligible. For worms will continually have brought up fine earth from below, which will have been stirred [page] 22

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

up by the plough whenever the land was cultivated. But after a time a greater thickness of fine earth will thus have been accumulated than could be reached by the plough; and a bed like the 25 -inch mass, in Fig. 14, will have been formed beneath the superficial mould, which latter will have been brought to the surface within more recent times, and have been well sifted by the worms. Wroxeter, Shropshire. The old Roman city of Uriconium was founded in the early part of the second century, if

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

walls were perhaps intentionally pulled down, and that hollow places were filled up. This may have been the case; but if after the desertion of the city the land was left for many centuries uncultivated, worms would have brought up enough fine earth to have covered the ruins completely; that is if they had subsided from having been undermined. The foundations of some of the walls, for instance those of the portion still standing about 20 feet above the ground, and those of the market-place, lie at

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

ally so deep. The mortar employed in the buildings must have been excellent, for it is still in parts extremely hard. Wherever walls of any height have been exposed to view, they are, as Dr. Johnson believes, still perpendicular. The walls with such deep foundations cannot have been undermined by worms, and therefore cannot have subsided, as appears to have occurred at Abinger and Silchester. Hence it is very difficult to account for their being now completely covered with earth; but how much

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

countries, worms aid in the work of denudation in several ways. The vegetable mould which covers, as with a mantle, the surface of the land, has all passed many times through their bodies. Mould differs in appearance from the subsoil only in its dark colour, and in the absence of fragments or particles of stone (when such are present in the subsoil), larger than those which can pass through the alimentary canal of a worm. This sifting of the soil is aided, as has already been remarked, by

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

they are formed. Through these several means, minute fragments of rocks of many kinds and mere particles in the soil will be continually exposed to chemical decomposition; and thus the amount of soil will tend to increase. As worms line their burrows with their castings, and as the burrows penetrate to a depth of 5 or 6, or even more feet, some small amount of the humus-acids will be carried far down, and will there act on the underlying rocks and fragments of rock. Thus the thickness of the

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

. Morren remarks that the intestinal canal is impleta tenuissim terr , veluti in pulverem redact . * Perrier also speaks of l tat de p te excessivement fine laquelle est r duite la terre quils rejettent, c. As the amount of trituration which the particles of earth undergo in the gizzards of worms possesses some interest (as we shall hereafter see), I endeavoured to obtain evidence on this head by carefully examining many of the fragments which had passed * Morren, 'De Lumbrici terrestris, c., p. 16

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

water-worn pebbles of brick from Geneva resembled closely many of those extracted from the gizzards of worms, but the larger ones were somewhat smoother. Four castings found on the recently uncovered, tesselated floor of the great room in the Roman villa at Brading, contained many particles of tile or brick, of mortar, and of hard white cement; and the majority of these appeared plainly worn. The particles of mortar, however, seemed to have suffered more corrosion than attrition, for grains of

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

The trituration of small particles of stone in the gizzards of worms is of more importance under a geological point of view than may at first appear to be the case; for Mr. Sorby has clearly shown that the ordinary means of disintegration, namely, running water and the waves of the sea, act with less and less power on fragments of rock the smaller they are. Hence, as he remarks, even making no allowance for the extra buoying up of very minute particles by a current of water, depending on

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

castings Castings blown to leeward over level land An attempt to estimate the amount thus blown The degradation of ancient encampments and tumuli The preservation of the crowns and furrows on land anciently ploughed The formation and amount of mould over the Chalk formation. WE are now prepared to consider the more direct part which worms take in the denudation of the land. When reflecting on sub-aerial denudation, it formerly appeared to me, as it has to others, that a nearly level or very gently

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

through the agency of worms. For the many castings which are thrown up during rain, and those thrown up some little time before heavy rain, flow for a short distance down an inclined surface. Moreover much of the finest levigated earth is washed completely away from the castings. During dry weather castings often disintegrate into small rounded pellets, and these from their weight often roll down any slope. This is more especially apt to occur when they are started by the wind, and probably when

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

average length of ten out of the above eleven castings was 2 03 inches, and half of this we may take as being one inch. It may therefore be concluded that one-third of the whole earth brought to the surface was in these cases carried down the slope through one inch. It was shown in the third chapter that on Leith Hill Common, dry earth weighing at least 7 453 lbs. was brought up by worms to the surface on a square yard in the course of a year. If a square yard be drawn on a hill-side with two

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

earth, weighing above 23 pounds, will annually reach the bottom. Here a thick bed of alluvium will accumulate, ready to be washed away in the course of centuries, as the stream in the middle meanders from side to side. If it could be shown that worms generally excavate their burrows at right angles to an inclined surface, and this would be their shortest course for bringing up earth from beneath, then as the old burrows collapsed from the weight of the superincumbent soil, the collapsing would

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

monsoon; and most of them presented a subsided appearance. The worms here eject their castings only during the rainy season; and at the time of Dr. Kings visit no rain had fallen for 110 days. He carefully examined the ground between the place where these huge castings lay, and a little water-course at the base of the knoll, and nowhere was there any accumulation of fine earth, such as would necessarily have been left by the disintegration of the castings if they had not been wholly removed. He

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

bleached petioles, in comparison with those of other plants of the same kind, where there had been no such accumulation. The earth thus accumulated had no doubt been secured (as I have everywhere seen) by the smaller roots of the plants. After describing this and other analogous cases, Dr. King concludes: I can have no doubt that worms help greatly in the process of denudation. Ledges of earth on steep hill-sides. Little horizontal ledges, one above another, have been observed on steep grassy

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

atmospheric agencies. There is some analogy between the formation, as here supposed, of these ledges, and that of the ripples of wind-drifted sand as described by Lyell.* The steep, grass-covered sides of a mountainous valley in Westmoreland, called Grisedale, was marked in many places with innumerable, almost horizontal, little ledges, to rather lines of miniature cliffs. Their formation was in no way connected with the action of worms, for castings could not anywhere be seen (and their absence is

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

two inches in 10 years. Therefore in so long a period as 2000 years, a large amount of earth will have been repeatedly brought to the surface on most old embankments and tumuli, especially on the talus round their bases, and much of this earth will have been washed completely away. We may therefore conclude that all ancient mounds, when not formed of materials unfavourable to worms, will have been somewhat lowered in the course of centuries, although their inclinations may not have been

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

whole it appears that the crowns and furrows on land formerly ploughed, but now covered with grass, tend slowly to disappear when the surface is inclined; and this is probably in large part due to the action of worms; but that the crowns and furrows last for a very long time when the surface is nearly level. Formation and amount of mould over the Chalk Formation. Worm-castings are often ejected in extraordinary numbers on steep, grass-covered slopes, where the Chalk comes close to the surface

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

thickness. Why worms should penetrate and bring up chalk in some places and not in others I do not know. In many districts where the land is nearly level, a bed several feet in thickness of red clay full of unworn flints overlies the Upper Chalk. This overlying matter, the surface of which has been converted into mould, consists of the undissolved residue from the chalk. It may be well here to recall the case of the fragments of chalk buried beneath worm-castings on one of my fields, the angles

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

know how thin a layer of mould suffices to support worms, yet a limit must at last be reached; and then their cast- [page] 30

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

calculations that on a surface with a mean inclination of 9 26 , 2 4 cubic inches of earth which had been ejected by worms crossed, in the course X 2 [page] 30

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

18 inches in diameter, which was filled with sand, on which fallen leaves were strewed; and these were soon dragged into their burrows to a depth of 3 inches. After about 6 weeks an almost uniform layer of sand, a centimeter ( 4 inch) in thickness, was converted into humus by having passed through the alimentary canals of these two worms. It is believed by some persons that wormburrows, which often penetrate the ground almost perpendicularly to a depth of 5 or 6 feet, materially aid in its

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

Worms are poorly provided with senseorgans, for they cannot be said to see, although they can just distinguish between light and darkness; they are completely deaf, and have only a feeble power of smell; the sense of touch alone is well developed. They can therefore learn little about the outside world, and it is surprising that they should exhibit some skill in lining their burrows with their castings and with leaves, and in the case of some species in piling up their castings into tower-like

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F2145 Book contribution: Murray, John IV. 1919. [Recollections of Darwin]. John Murray III, 1808-1892, a brief memoir. London: John Murray. Text

with a MS. in his hands and said, 'Here is a work which has occupied me for many years and interested me much. I fear the subject of it will not attract the public, but will you publish it for me?' My father replied, 'It always gives me pleasure and hope to hear an author speak of his work thus. What is the subject?' 'Earth-worms,' said Darwin. The book was duly published, and six editions were called for in less than a year. 1 The year was 1881. Earthworms was published in 1881

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A1307 Review: Anon. 1881. [Review of Earthworms] Darwin. New Zealand Times, XXXVII, issue 6452, (17 December): 3. Text PDF

, pavements, coins, c., are covered and undermined in the course of ages. Thus the fine villa of Brading, in the Isle of Wight, to which some time age I drew your readers' attention was covered with three or four feet of this excreted mould, the floor having gradually sunk as the worms burrowed and threw up their excretions! Even one of the mighty blocks at Stonehenge has sunk considerably through this agency. As regards the functions of nature, the worms are but poorly provided, Darwin thinks

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F1357 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

about 35 years before.. .. .. .. 1 22 (4.) Down. Average weight of 11 not large castings ejected on a sloping surface on my lawn, after they had suffered some loss of weight from being exposed during a considerable length of time to rain .. 0 7 (5.) Near Nice in France. Average weight of 12 castings of ordinary dimensions, collected by Dr. King on land which had not been mown for a long time and where worms abounded, viz., a lawn protected by shrubberies, near the sea; soil sandy and calcareous

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F3396 Book contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1884. [Letter extract from 1881 and recollection of Darwin's words]. In R. Meldola, The presidential address: Darwin and modern evolution. Transactions of the Essex Field Club 3: 64-93. Text

Society' in the years 1862, 1863, 1864, and 1868.) 1880. 'The Power of Movement in Plants.' In conjunction with Francis Darwin. 1880. 'The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms, with Observations on their Habits.' Such is the legacy bequeathed by Charles Darwin to the science of the nineteenth century! The mere list of works above catalogued gives no adequate idea to those unacquainted with their contents of the marvellous powers of observation, the fertility of resource, the

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A1309 Review: Anon. 1881. [Review of Earthworms] Apotheosis of the worm. Evening Star (Washington), (17 December): 6. Text PDF

that it eats dirt and turns it into vegetable mold. There are on an average on every acre of ground over 57,000 worms. These eat and digest from eight to sixteen tons of soil per acre in the course of the year. Whatever passes through the intestinal canal of the worm becomes vegetable mold, and without this mold there would be no crops and no increase of grain or the animals which feed upon the products of the soil. Nor is this all. The worm is the preserver of the memorials of the past. Its

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A2736 Review: Anon. 1881. [Review of Earthworms]. Nederlandsche Katholieke Stemmen, no. 42 (15 October): 3. Text PDF

het stof op om hem aan de bewondering zijner bewonderaars voor te stellen. Hij heeft hun nu in de gewone pieren hunne halfgoden in de dauwwormen hunne goden aangewezen. Volgens Darwin is de worm's menschen grootste weldoener, de eigenlijke ploeger der natuur, de onontbeerlijke vóorploeger van den landman. Want, zooals reeds in den eersten zin van het werk wordt gezegd, wij danken het vooral den worm dat de geheele oppervlakte van elk tamelijk vochtig land door een aardsoort bedekt is, die door

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F1361 Book: Darwin, C. R. 1881. The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits. fifth thousand (corrected), and with textual changes. London: John Murray. Text Image PDF

Nice in France. Average weight of 12 castings of ordinary dimensions, collected by Dr. King on land which had not been mown for a long time and where worms a bounded, viz., a lawn protected by shrubberies, near the sea; soil sandy and calcareous; these castings had been exposed for some time to rain, before being collected, and must have lost some weight by disintegration, but they still retained their form .. .. .. .. .. 1 37 (6.) The heaviest of the above twelve castings .. 1 76 (7.) Lower

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F1353 Periodical contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1881. Mr Darwin on vivisection. Nature. A Weekly Illustrated Journal of Science 23 (21 April): 583. Text Image PDF

the first place receive more relief than man. Let it be remembered how many lives and what a fearful amount of suffering have been saved by the knowledge gained of parasitic worms through the experiments of Virchow and others on living animals. In the future every one will be astonished at the ingratitude shown, at least in England, to these benefactors of mankind. As for myself, permit me to assure you that I honour, and shall always honour, every one who advances the noble science of physiology

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F1352 Periodical contribution: Darwin, C. R. 1881. [Letter to Frithiof Holmgren on vivisection]. The Times. (18 April): 10. Text Image PDF

man. Let it be remembered how many lives and what a fearful amount of suffering have been saved by the knowledge gained of parasitic worms through the experiments of Virchow5 and others on living animals. In the future every one will be astonished at the ingratitude shown, at least in England, to these benefactors of mankind. As for myself, permit me to assure you that I honour, and shall always honour, every one who advances the noble science of physiology. Dear Sir, yours faithfully, CHARLES

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CUL-DAR64.1.80 Note: 1881.01.03 Worms out last night crawling along walks — mild weather walk wet Text Image

The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online 80 Jan 3d 1881 Worms out last night crawling along walks — mild weather walk we

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CUL-DAR65.39-39v Note: [1881].01.04--[1881].01.08 Ash petioles field — only few in each hole Drawn in by apex Text Image

Jan 8th 1881 — Mem ash-trees in Field surface partly thickly strewn with old petioles; I picked up 47 petioles, where they lay with thick mud a casting; of the 47, 14 had been gnawed at the broad basal end (or a little above the articulation, as is often the case with those drawn into burrows). Thus sufficient to show that worms after drawing in petioles into burrows; reject them as not fitted for protective purpose as cannot easily for draw far down holes, for many of the 47 had partly fallen