Human uses of mammals that "one is well advised to study the behaviour rather than attempting to get at any underlying emotion". Charles Darwin however had accepted the idea of emotion in animals, writing his 1872 book "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals" on the subject. Darwin believed that mammals had social, mental and moral lives. In "The Descent of Man" (1871), he wrote: "There is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental faculties." Biologists remained wary of the idea, even for the great apes, but this led to serious difficulties, as Donald O. Hebb explained
The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms went the less controversial direction of the lowly worm. His network of correspondents and fans responded to his interest and "earthworm anecdotes began surfacing in his mountain of mail". He had been interested in earthworms "since his first fishing days at The Mount and flirting days at Maer". Still, other work constrained him. Broken off from "Descent", he had to finish his next work "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals". By 1876, with his first grandson on the way, he felt his writing life was nearly over, with so much unfinished. He wanted to write on earthworms