ABSTRACT
Worms have played a more important part of in the history of the world than most persons would at first suppose. In many parts of England 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 of vegetable mould passes through their bodies in the course of every few years. The generation of the humus-acids is probably hastened during the digestion of the many half-decayed leaves which worms consume. Archaeologists ought to be grateful to worms, as they protect and preserve for a / indefinitely long period every object, not liable to decay, which is dropped on the surface of the land, by burying it beneath their castings. Worms prepare the ground in an excellent manner for the growth of fibrous-rooted plants and for seedlings of all kinds.
