LETTER LXXVII.

TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON.

SELBORNE, May 20, 1777.

DEAR SIR, Lands that are subject to frequent inundations, are always poor; and, probably, the reason may be, because the worms are drowned. The most insignificant insects and reptiles are of much more consequence, and have much more influence in the economy of Nature, than the incurious are aware of; and are mighty in their effect, from their minuteness, which renders them less an object of attention; and from their numbers and fecundity.* Earth-worms, though in appearance a small and despicable link in the chain of Nature, yet, if lost, would make a lamentable chasm. For to say nothing of half the birds, and some quadrupeds, which are almost entirely supported by them, worms seem to be the great promoters of vegetation, which would proceed but lamely without them, by boring, perforating, and loosening the soil, and rendering it pervious to rains and the fibres of plants, by drawing straws and stalks of leaves into it; and, most of all, by throwing up such infinite numbers of lumps of earth, called worm-casts,

The earth-worm has been long considered a viviparous animal, but M. Léon Dufour seems to have determined that it is oviparous. The eggs are of a very peculiar structure, being long, tapering, and terminated at each end by a pencil of fringed membranaceous substance. They have more the appearance, indeed, of a chrysalis or cocoon than of an egg; but their pulp, &c. prove them to be true eggs. The worms, when hatched, are very agile, and, when disturbed, will sometimes retreat for safety within the shell, which they have just quitted, or instinctively dig into the clay.

Reaumur computes, though from what data it is difficult to conjecture, that the number of worms lodged in the bosom of the earth exceeds that of the grains of all kinds of corn collected by man.

A narrative in the Times newspaper of the disinterment of the body of the patriot Hampden, in Hampden Church, in July, 1828, contains some curious facts respecting the worm of corruption. Hampden was interred in June, 1643. It is stated in the Times, that "the skull was in some places perfectly bare, whilst in others the skin remained nearly entire, upon which we discovered a number of maggots, and small red worms, feeding with great activity. This was the only spot where any symptoms of life were apparent, as if the brain contained a vital principle within it which engendered its own destruction; otherwise, how can we account, after a lapse of nearly two centuries, for finding living creatures preying upon the seat of intellect, when they were nowhere else to be found in no other part of the body?"-ED.

which, being their excrement, is a fine manure for grain and grass. Worms probably provide new soil for hills and slopes where the rain washes the earth away; and they affect slopes, probably, to avoid being flooded. Gardeners and farmers express their detestation of worms; the former, because they render their walks unsightly, and make them much work : and the latter, because, as they think, worms eat their green corn. But these men would find, that the earth without worms would soon become cold, hard-bound, and void of fermentation, and consequently steril: and, besides, in favour of worms it should be hinted, that green corn, plants, and flowers are not so much injured by them as by many species of coleoptera (scarabs) and tipule (long-legs,) in their larva or grub state; and by unnoticed myriads of small shell-less snails, called slugs, which silently and imperceptibly make amazing havoc in the field and garden. *

These hints we think proper to throw out, in order to set the inquisitive and discerning to work.

A good monography of worms would afford much entertainment, and information at the same time; and would open a large and new field in natural history. Worms work most in the spring, but by no means lie torpid in the dead months; are out every mild night in the winter, as any person may be convinced that will take the pains to examine his grass plots with a candle; are hermaphrodites, and much addicted to venery, and consequently very prolific.

LETTER LXXVIII.

TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON.

SELBORNE, November 22, 1777. DEAR SIR, You cannot but remember, that the twentysixth and twenty-seventh of last March were very hot days; so sultry, that every body complained, and were restless under those sensations to which they had not been reconciled by gradual approaches.

The sudden summer-like heat was attended by many summer coincidences; for, on those two days, the thermometer rose to sixty-six in the shade; many species of insects revived

Farmer Young, of Norton-farm, says, that this spring, about four acres of his wheat, in one field, was entirely destroyed by slugs, which swarmed on the blades of corn, and devoured it as fast as it sprang.

and came forth; some bees swarmed in this neighbourhood; the old tortoise, near Lewes, awakened, and came forth out of its dormitory; and, what is most to my present purpose, many house-swallows appeared, and were very alert in many places, and particularly at Cobham, in Surrey.*

But as that short warm period was succeeded as well as preceded by harsh, severe weather, with frequent frosts and ice, and cutting winds, the insects withdrew, the tortoise retired again into the ground, and the swallows were seen no more until the tenth of April, when, the rigour of the spring abating, a softer season began to prevail.

Again, it appears by my journals for many years past, that house-martens retire, to a bird, about the beginning of October; so that a person not very observant of such matters would conclude that they had taken their last farewell; but then it may be seen in my diaries, also, that considerable flocks have discovered themselves again in the first week of November, and often on the fourth day of that month, only for one day; and that not as if they were in actual migration, but playing about at their leisure, and feeding calmly, as if no enterprise of moment at all agitated their spirits. And this was the case in the beginning of this very month; for, on the fourth of November, more than twenty house-martens, which, in appearance,

* We are still unable to account for the reappearance of swallows after they seem to have taken their departure; but, at the same time, we are not inclined to believe in their general torpidity during the winter. We must have proof on this subject.

A curious fact respecting the swallow was mentioned by our late worthy friend and intelligent naturalist, Captain Dougal Carmichael. It appears that swallows are birds of passage at the southern extremity of Africa, as well as in other parts of the world. They return to the Cape of Good Hope in September, and quit it again in March and April. A pair of these birds (hirundo capensis) fixed their flask-shaped nest against the angle formed by the wall with the board which supported the eaves. This nest had a single aperture, by which the birds went in and out. It fell down after the young quitted it. On the February following, these birds built in the same place; but on this occasion Captain Carmichael remarked, in the construction of the nest, an improvement which can hardly be referred to the dictates of mere instinct. It was formed with an opening at both sides, and the swallows invariably entered at the one, and came out at the other. One advantage obtained by this arrangement was, that its occupants were saved the trouble of turning round in the nest, and thus avoided the risk of any derangement in its internal economy. But the chief object appeared to be, to facilitate their escape from the attacks of serpents, which harbour in the roofs of thatched houses, or crawl up along the wall, and not unfrequently devour both the mother and her young. - ED.

had all departed about the seventh of October, were seen again, for that one morning only, sporting between my fields and the Hanger, and feasting on insects which swarmed in that sheltered district. The preceding day was wet and blustering, but the fourth was dark, and mild, and soft, the wind at south-west, and the thermometer at 58; a pitch not common at that season of the year. Moreover, it may not be amiss to add in this place, that whenever the thermometer is above 50, the bat comes flitting out in every autumnal and winter month.

From all these circumstances laid together, it is obvious that torpid insects, reptiles, and quadrupeds, are awakened from their profoundest slumbers by a little untimely warmth; and, therefore, that nothing so much promotes this deathlike stupor as a defect of heat. And farther, it is reasonable to suppose, that two whole species, or at least many individuals of these two species of British hirundines, do never leave this island at all, but partake of the same benumbed state; for we cannot suppose that, after a month's absence, house-martens can return from southern regions to appear for one morning in November, or that house-swallows should leave the districts of Africa to enjoy, in March, the transient summer of a couple of days.

LETTER LXXIX.

TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON.

SELBORNE, January 8, 1778. DEAR SIR,-There was, in this village, several years ago, a miserable pauper, who, from his birth, was afflicted with a leprosy, as far as we are aware, of a singular kind, since it affected only the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet. This scaly eruption usually broke out twice in the year, at the spring and fall; and by peeling away, left the skin so thin and tender, that neither his hands nor feet were able to perform their functions; so that the poor object was half his time on crutches, incapable of employ, and languishing in a tiresome state of indolence and inactivity. His habit was lean, lank, and cadaverous. In this sad plight, he dragged on a miserable existence, a burden to himself and his parish, which was obliged to support him, till he was relieved by death, at more than thirty years of age.

The good women, who love to account for every defect in

children by the doctrine of longing, said that his mother felt a violent propensity for oysters, which she was unable to gratify, and that the black rough scurf on his hands and feet were the shells of that fish. We knew his parents, neither of whom were lepers his father, in particular, lived to be far advanced in years.

In all ages, the leprosy has made dreadful havoc among mankind. The Israelites seem to have been greatly afflicted with it from the most remote times, as appears from the peculiar and repeated injunctions given them in the Levitical law.* Nor was the rancour of this foul disorder much abated in the last period of their commonwealth, as may be seen in many passages of the New Testament.

Some centuries ago, this horrible distemper prevailed all over Europe; and our forefathers were by no means exempt, as appears by the large provision made for objects labouring under this calamity. There was an hospital for female lepers in the diocese of Lincoln, a noble one near Durham, three in London and Southwark, and perhaps many more in or near our great towns and cities. Moreover, some crowned heads, and other wealthy and charitable personages, bequeathed large legacies to such poor people as languished under this hopeless infirmity.

It must, therefore, in these days, be, to a humane and thinking person, a matter of equal wonder and satisfaction, when he contemplates how nearly this pest is eradicated, and observes that a leper is now a rare sight. He will, moreover, when engaged in such a train of thought, naturally inquire for the reason. This happy change, perhaps, may have originated and been continued from the much smaller quantity of salted meat and fish now eaten in these kingdoms-from the use of linen next the skin - from the plenty of better bread - and from the profusion of fruits, roots, legumes, and greens, so common in every family. † Three or four centuries ago, before there were any enclosures, sown grasses, field turnips, or field carrots, or hay, all the cattle that had grown fat in summer, and were not killed for winter use, were turned out soon after Michaelmas to shift as they could through the dead months;

*See Leviticus, chap. xiii. and xiv.

In former times many affections of the skin, especially impetiginous eruptions, were mistaken for leprosy, and confounded with scurvy, which is also a different disease. The disuse of salted provisions as a daily article of diet, and the employment of vegetables, sugar, and diluting drinks, have caused the rare occurrence of these diseases in the present day. -ED.