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The progress of Science.

The most marked scientific events of the year 1881 were the publications of Mr. Darwin's book 'On the Formation of Vegetable Mould by the Action of Worms,' and the holding of the Electrical Exhibition at Paris. Mr. Darwin's work is a monument of patient investigation, and illustrates the scientific method in its best form. He has taken one of the humblest of creatures, and shown it to play a large and important part, almost unsuspected before, in producing the fertility of the soil. Instead of the vegetable mould being the origin of the worms which are everywhere to be found in it, it is in a great degree the product of these worms which make it and keep it fruitful. […]