WHAT EVOLUTION IS 53 



5. FROM RUDIMENTARY 

 ORGANS 



The last biological topic to be con- 

 sidered in the present account as bear- 

 ing on the problem of evolution has 

 to do with rudimentary organs. Rudi- 

 mentary organs are those organs that 

 are without use or function. They 

 are like the buttons on the sleeve of a 

 man's coat; they are essentially use- 

 less and sometimes worse than useless. 

 A well-known rudimentary organ, 

 from the human body, is the vermi- 

 form appendix of the large intestine. 

 This organ is a blind tube several 

 inches in length and attached to the 

 large intestine near its beginning. It 

 is shown to the right in the figure on 

 P^^^ 55- It is easily subject to in- 

 flammation and forms a danger center 

 in the intestinal tract. In diseased 

 states it is regularly removed by the 



