The Formation Of Vegetable Mould, Through The Action of Worms, With Observations On Their Habits.

London: John Murray, 1883. Ealry printing of Darwin's final work, published shortly before his death. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated. In near fine condition Bookplate to the pastedown. A sharp example of this work by the leading mind in evolutionary biology. One of the most important figures in human history, English naturalist, geologist and biologist Charles Darwin became internationally renowned for his contributions to the science of evolution. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors and, in a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace, introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, overcoming scientific rejection of earlier concepts of transmutation of species. By the 1870s, the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact. However, many favored competing explanations and it was not until the emergence of the modern evolutionary synthesis from the 1930s to the 1950s that a broad consensus developed in which natural selection was the basic mechanism of evolution. Darwin's scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life. Published in 1883, The Formation Of Vegetable Mould, Through The Action of Worms covers, in depth, the important role of the earthworm on the constantly changing topsoil of the earth.