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Earthworms

Earthworms image
Parent Issue
Day
5
Month
June
Year
1894
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Darwin says in "The Formatiou of Vegetable Mold: ' ' "If a man had to plug; up a small cylindrical hole with such objects as leaves, petioles or twigs he would drag or push them in by t'rjir pointed ends, but if these objects v .re very thin relatively to the size oí ! he hole he would probably insert some by their thicker or broader end. The guide in his case would be intelïigence. ' ' He then goes on to show by reports of actual experiments that this is the method pursued by earthworms. Not only do they adapt the leaves of the trees of their owu country to their needs, but the leaves of foreign trees are dealt with in a similar way. The f ollowing words of Mr. Darwin are remarkable: ' 'If worms are able to judge, either bef ore drawing or af ter having drawn an object close to the mouths of their burrows, how best to drag it in, they must acquire some notion of its general shape. This they probably acquire by touching it in many places with the anterior extremity of their bodies, which serves as a tactile organ. ' 'It may be well to remember how perfect the sense of touch becomes in a man when born blind and deaf, as are worms. If worms have the power of acquiring some notion, however rude, of the shape of an object and of their burrows, as seems to be the case, they deserve to be called intelligent, for they then act in nearly the same marnier as wonld a man under similar circumstances. "

Article

Subjects
Ann Arbor Argus
Old News