The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the action of worms withobservations of their habitsby Charles DarwinINTRODUCTION.The share which worms have taken in the formation of the layer ofvegetable mould, which covers the whole surface of the land inevery moderately humid country, is the subject of the presentvolume. This mould is generally of a blackish colour and a fewinches in thickness. In different districts it differs but littlein appearance, although it may rest on various subsoils. Theuniform fineness of the particles of which it is composed is one ofits chief characteristic features; and this may be well observed inany gravelly country, where a recently-ploughed field immediatel　

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE PRIVATE LIFE OF NAPOLEON, V11BY CONSTANTPREMIER VALET DE CHAMBRETRANSLATED BY WALTER CLARK1895CONTENTS:CHAPTER XV. to CHAPTER XXIII.CHAPTER XV.During the second day of the battle of Dresden, at the end of which theEmperor had the attack of fever I mentioned in the preceding chapter, theKing of Naples, or rather Marshal Murat, performed prodigies of valor.Much has been said of this truly extraordinary prince; but only those whosaw him personally could form a correct idea of him, and even they neverknew him perfectly until they had seen him on a field of battle. Therehe seemed like those great actors who produce a complete illusion amid...　

The Drums Of Jeopardyby Harold MacGrathCHAPTER IA fast train drew into Albany, on the New York Central, from theWest. It was three-thirty of a chill March morning in the firstyear of peace. A pall of fog lay over the world so heavy thatit beaded the face and hands and deposited a fairy diamond dustupon wool. The station lights had the visibility of stars, andlike the stars were without refulgence - a pale golden aureola,perhaps three feet in diameter, and beyond, nothing. The fewpassengers who alighted and the train itself had the same nebulosityof drab fish in a dim aquarium.Among the passengers to detrain was a man in a long black coat.The high collar was up. The man wore a derby ha　

Stories of a Western Townby Octave ThanetCONTENTSThe Besetment of Kurt LiedersThe Face of FailureTommy and ThomasMother EmeritusAn Assisted ProvidenceHarry LossingTHE BESETMENT OF KURT LIEDERS A SILVER rime glistened all down the street. There was a drabble of dead leaves on the sidewalk which was of wood, and on the roadway which was of macadam and stiff mud. The wind blew sharply, for it was a December day and only six in the morning. Nor were the houses high enough to furnish any independent bulwark; they were low, wooden dwellings, the tallest a bare two stories in height, the majority only one story. But they were in good painting and repair, and most of them had a homely gayety of ge　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENIB AND LITTLE CHRISTINAby Hans Christian AndersenIN the forest that extends from the banks of the Gudenau, in NorthJutland, a long way into the country, and not far from the clearstream, rises a great ridge of land, which stretches through thewood like a wall. Westward of this ridge, and not far from theriver, stands a farmhouse, surrounded by such poor land that the sandysoil shows itself between the scanty ears of rye and wheat whichgrow in it. Some years have passed since the people who lived herecultivated these fields; they kept three sheep, a pig, and two oxen;...　

The Argonauts of North Libertyby Bret HartePART ICHAPTER IThe bell of the North Liberty Second Presbyterian Church had justceased ringing. North Liberty, Connecticut, never on any day acheerful town, was always bleaker and more cheerless on theseventh, when the Sabbath sun, after vainly trying to coax a smileof reciprocal kindliness from the drawn curtains and half-closedshutters of the austere dwellings and the equally sealed and hard-set churchgoing faces of the people, at last settled down into ablank stare of stony astonishment. On this chilly March evening ofthe year 1850, that stare had kindled into an offended sunset andan angry night that furiously spat sleet and hail in the faces　

The Evolution of Theology: An Anthropological Studyby Thomas Henry HuxleyI conceive that the origin, the growth, the decline, and thefall of those speculations respecting the existence, the powers,and the dispositions of beings analogous to men, but more orless devoid of corporeal qualities, which may be broadlyincluded under the head of theology, are phenomena the study ofwhich legitimately falls within the province of theanthropologist. And it is purely as a question of anthropology(a department of biology to which, at various times, I havegiven a good deal of attention) that I propose to treat of theevolution of theology in the following pages....　

AFTER THE DANCE"AND you say that a man cannot, of himself,understand what is good and evil; that it is allenvironment, that the environment swamps theman. But I believe it is all chance. Take myown case . . ."Thus spoke our excellent friend, Ivan Vasilie-vich, after a conversation between us on the impos-sibility of improving individual character withouta change of the conditions under which men live.Nobody had actually said that one could not ofoneself understand good and evil; but it was ahabit of Ivan Vasilievich to answer in this way thethoughts aroused in his own mind by conversation,and to illustrate those thoughts by relating inci-dents in his own life. He often quite forgot the..　

The Essays of Montaigne, V2by Michel de MontaigneTranslated by Charles CottonEdited by William Carew Hazilitt1877ESSAYS OF MONTAIGNEBOOK THE FIRSTCONTENTS OF VOLUME 2.I. That Men by Various Ways Arrive at the Same End.II. Of Sorrow.III. That our affections carry themselves beyond us .IV. That the soul discharges her passions upon false objects, wherethe true are wanting.V. Whether the governor of a place besieged ought himself to goout to parley.VI. That the hour of parley is dangerous.VII. That the intention is judge of our actions.VIII. Of idleness.IX. Of liars....　

George Sand, Some Aspects of Her Life and Writingsby Rene DoumicTranslated by Alys HallardFirst published in 1910. This volume is dedicated to MadameL. Landouzy with gratitude and affectionThis book is not intended as a study of George Sand. It ismerely a series of chapters touching on various aspects of her lifeand writings. My work will not be lost if the perusal of these pagesshould inspire one of the historians of our literature with the ideaof devoting to the great novelist, to her genius and her influence,a work of this kind.CONTENTSI AURORE DUPINII BARONNE DUDEVANTIII A FEMINIST OF 1832IV THE ROMANTIC ESCAPADE...　

The Story of My Heartby Richard JefferiesAN AUTOBIOGRAPHYCHAPTER ITHE story of my heart commences seventeen years ago. In the glowof youth there were times every now and then when I felt thenecessity of a strong inspiration of soulthought. My heart wasdusty, parched for want of the rain of deep feeling; my mind arid and dry,for there is a dust which settles on the heart as well as that which fallson a ledge. It is injurious to the mind as well as to the body to be alwaysin one place and always surrounded by the same circumstances. A species ofthick clothing slowly grows about the mind, the pores are choked, littlehabits become a part of existence, and by degrees the mind is inclosed in a.　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE BOTTLE NECKby Hans Christian AndersenCLOSE to the corner of a street, among other abodes of poverty,stood an exceedingly tall, narrow house, which had been so knockedabout by time that it seemed out of joint in every direction. Thishouse was inhabited by poor people, but the deepest poverty wasapparent in the garret lodging in the gable. In front of the littlewindow, an old bent bird-cage hung in the sunshine, which had not evena proper water-glass, but instead of it the broken neck of a bottle,turned upside down, and a cork stuck in to make it hold the water with...