To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, hordes of readers are reveling in On the Origin of Species, which sets forth the case for evolution via natural selection. Others are poring over The Voyage of the Beagle, the chronicle of Darwin’s five-year, round-the-world expedition.
It’s probably safe to say, however, that only die-hard Darwinistas are cracking the spine on his last book, The Formation of Vegetable Mould, Through the Action of Worms, with Observations on Their Habits. In this work, which Darwin himself described as “a curious little book,” he discusses the role that earthworms play in the formation and erosion of soil. “The subject may appear an insignificant one,” he modestly noted, “but we shall see that it possesses some interest.” Indeed, for a short while after this book was first published in 1881, it sold more quickly than On the Origin of Species had.
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