Silent Spring - Softcover

Rachel Carson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0395453909 ISBN 13: 9780395453902

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books, 1987

Synopsis

Discusses the reckless annihilation of fish and birds by the use of pesticides and warns of the possible genetic effects on humans

About this title

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

As the chemical penetrated the soil the poisoned beetle grubs crawled out on the surface of the ground, where they remained for some time before they died, attractive to insect-eating birds. Dead and dying insects of various species were conspicuous for about two weeks after the treatment...Brown thrashers, starlings, meadowlarks, grackles, and pheasants were virtually wiped out. Robins were "almost annihilated," according to the biologists' report. Dead earthworms had been seen in numbers after a gentle rain; probably the robins had fed on the poisoned worms. For other birds, too, the once beneficial rain had been changed, through the evil power of the poison introduced into their world, into an agent of destruction. Birds seen drinking and bathing in puddles left by rain a few days after the spraying were inevitably doomed...Among the mammals ground squirrels were virtually annihilated; their bodies were found in attitudes characteristic of violent death by poisoning. Dead muskrats were found in the treated areas, dead rabbits in the fields. The fox squirrel had been a relatively common animal in the town; after the spraying it was gone.

Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books
• Publication date: 1987
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0395453909
• ISBN 13: 9780395453902
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Lois Darling, Louis Darling
• Number of pages: 368