286 THE HISTORY OF CREATION. 



leads to a partial degeneration, and finally even to the loss 

 of individual organs, is, when looked at by itself, a degenera- 

 tion, but yet may be advantageous to the organism in the 

 struggle for life. It is easier to fight when useless baggage 

 is thrown aside. Hence we meet everywhere, in the more 

 highly-developed animal and vegetable bodies, processes of 

 divergence, the essence of which is that they cause the 

 degeneration, and finally the loss, of particular parts. And 

 at this point the most important and instructive of all the 

 series of phenomena bearing upon the history of organisms 

 presents itself to us, namely, that of rudhneiitary or 

 degenerate organs. 



It will be remembered that even in my first chapter I 

 considered this exceedingly remarkable series of phe- 

 nomena, from a theoretical point of view, as one of the 

 most important and most striking proofs of the truth 

 of the doctrine of descent. "We designated as rudimentary 

 organs those parts of the body which are arranged for a 

 definite purpose and yet are without function. Let me 

 remind the reader of the eyes of those animals which 

 live in the dark in caves and underground, and which con- 

 sequently never can use them. In these animals we find 

 real eyes hidden under the skin, frequently developed 

 exactly as are the eyes of animals which really see; 

 and yet these eyes never perform any function, indeed 

 cannot, simply for the reason that they are covered by 

 an opaque membrane, and consequently no ray of light 

 falls upon them (compare above, p. 18). In the ancestors 

 of these animals, which lived in open daylight, the eyes 

 were well developed, covered by a transparent horny 

 capsule (cornea), and actually served the purpose of 



