GREAT MYTHS OF EVOLUTION #3

by David Menton

THE APPENDIX OF MAN IS A VESTIGIAL AND USELESS ORGAN LEFT OVER FROM

BACK WHEN PRIMATIVE MAN ATE MAINLY RAW VEGETATION

Vestigial organs are believed to be nonfunctional in their present

condition but are considered to have had a function in an evolutionary

ancestor.

It has been claimed by some evolutionists that the human

appendix is a vestigial cecum from our evolutionary ancestors. The

cecum is a blind ending pouch near the end of the large intestine

(colon) which provides additional space for colonic function and may in

some animals, such as cows, contain special bacteria which aid in the

digestion of plant material.

In fact, almost every mammal has a cecum

and many of these ALSO have an appendix! Man, for example, has both a

cecum AND an appendix - neither is vestigial or useless. The appendix

is a lymphoid organ (part of the bodies immune system) which makes

antibodies against infections in the bowel.

Thinking it was a useless evolutionary "left over", many surgeons used

to remove the appendix whenever they were in the abdominal cavity. This

is no longer done unless the appendix is terminally infected. As

recently as 1971, the Encyclopedia Britanica claimed that there were

more than 100 vestigial organs in man, including the appendix and

coccyx!

In years past, some people lost their lives having "vestigial

organs" such as the parathyroid removed by overzealous surgeons. Today

there are few if any organs of the body that are thought to be without

function. None the less, 7 out of 15 high school biology textbooks

recently surveyed sighted vestigial organs, including the appendix, as

evidence for evolution!