The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms | Page 3

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THE FORMATION OF VEGETABLE MOULD THROUGH THE
ACTION OF WORMS WITH OBSERVATIONS ON THEIR
HABITS.
by Charles Darwin

INTRODUCTION.

The share which worms have taken in the formation of the layer of
vegetable mould, which covers the whole surface of the land in every
moderately humid country, is the subject of the present volume. This
mould is generally of a blackish colour and a few inches in thickness.
In different districts it differs but little in appearance, although it may
rest on various subsoils. The uniform fineness of the particles of which
it is composed is one of its chief characteristic features; and this may be
well observed in any gravelly country, where a recently-ploughed field
immediately adjoins one which has long remained undisturbed for
pasture, and where the vegetable mould is exposed on the sides of a
ditch or hole. The subject may appear an insignificant one, but we shall
see that it possesses some interest; and the maxim "de minimis non
curat lex," does not apply to science. Even Elie de Beaumont, who
generally undervalues small agencies and their accumulated effects,

remarks: {1} "La couche tres-mince de la terre vegetale est un
monument d'une haute antiquite, et, par le fait de sa permanence, un
objet digne d'occuper le geologue, et capable de lui fournir des
remarques interessantes." Although the superficial layer of vegetable
mould as a whole no doubt is of the highest antiquity, yet in regard to
its permanence, we shall hereafter see reason to believe that its
component particles are in most cases removed at not a very slow rate,
and are replaced by others due to the disintegration of the underlying
materials.
As I was led to keep in my study during many months worms in pots
filled with earth, I became interested in them, and wished to learn how
far they acted consciously, and how much mental power they displayed.
I was the more desirous to learn something on this head, as few
observations of this kind have been made, as far as I know, on animals
so low in the scale of organization and so poorly provided with
sense-organs, as are earth-worms.
In the year 1837, a short paper was read by me before the Geological
Society of London, {2} "On the Formation of Mould," in which it was
shown that small fragments of burnt marl, cinders, &c., which had been
thickly strewed over the surface of several meadows, were found after a
few years lying at the depth of some inches beneath the turf, but still
forming a layer. This apparent sinking of superficial bodies is due, as
was first suggested to me by Mr. Wedgwood of Maer Hall in
Staffordshire, to the large quantity of fine earth continually brought up