re ait 
Oct. 16, 1873] 
you desire to be served. That is a much simpler thing to 
do than to adapt antique arrangements to purposes which 
_ they were not intended to serve. Another point in which 
_ there are some difficulties that the old universities have 
_ had to contend with comes before us in regard to those 
. 
_ unfortunate arrangements which for so long a period con- 
nected them with a very unpopular party in the State. 
It is only recently that, by a prolonged series of efforts on 
the part of individuals, we gained the abolition of what 
were commonly termed university tests. I do not think 
I shall offend anybody by referring to that subject, because 
_ these tests may now be regarded with a curious, though 
somewhat painful, interest, like the thumbscrews and 
_ other instruments of torture of which we read in history ; 
_ but in reality they constituted a very atrocious evil. We 
must all regret that they ever existed, not only on account 
of the labour and difficulty which they involved to those 
who took an active part in sweeping them out of the way, 
_ but also on account of the far worse amount of evil, in 
the shape of immorality and dishonesty, which they 
_ created. However, you at Owens College are happily 
_ free from all these evils. I earnestly hope, and fully 
believe indeed, that Owens College will ever preserve 
_ that union between freedom and science—freedom not 
4 only to think, but freedom of research and freedom of 
__speech—which is absolutely necessary for the progress of 
_ science. I hope that nobody will ever meddle with your 
professors, and try to put an extinguisher upon their re- 
searches,” 
ON THE APPENDIX VERMIFORMIS AND 
THE EVOLUTION HYPOTHESIS 
eo WARDS the close of the last meeting of the British 
; Association at Bradford, a paper was read before 
the Biological Section, which calls for special comment, 
because of the unfavourable impression which it and 
much of the subsequent discussion must have left on 
non-scientific as well as scientific hearers, as well as on 
account of its scientific inaccuracy. 
The paper referred to was by Prof. Struthers, who en- 
deavoured to show that the appendix vermiformis of the 
human intestine may be considered as a good example of 
a useless and detrimental addition to the vital economy, 
and, such being the case, it must be apparent to all that 
evidence of design is not exhibited in the construction of 
the living body, and consequently the doctrine of special 
creation must be supplanted by that of evolution. 
The general weakness of this argument must be appa- 
rent to many at first sight, but there are some points with 
reference to it which call for special remark. In the first 
place it may be shown, if it is assumed as true that the 
appendix vermiformis of the human czcum is, as stated, 
useless and positively injurious, that the fact militates 
quite as much against the doctrine of the evolutionist, 
as it does against those of the teleological school. For if 
it is positively disadvantageous, on the Darwinian hypo- 
thesis, for the individuals of a species to possess an ap- 
pendix vermiformis, it is a necessary deduction, that in a 
very short period either the species should die out, or be 
replaced by another in which the detrimental organ is 
absent. The human race and the anthropoid apes, how- 
ever, seem quite able to hold their own, without the loss 
of their supplementary caecum, consequently either the 
appendix vermiformis causes insignificant danger, or the 
evolution hypothesis is incorrect. 
It is not difficult to demonstrate that it is the former of 
these two alternatives which fails, that the danger caused 
by the existence of the appendix vermiformis is much 
exaggerated, and that its uselessness is only an expression 
of ignorance on the part of those who make statements to 
that effect. / 
Some people have died from perforation of the appendix 
ie 
P Pex 3s eT re 
Fe a ee ennh ; 
NATURE 509 
vermiformis, or the peritonitis which it induces; the 
number of recorded cases are comparatively few, and those 
which follow disease of the rudiment of the vitelline duct 
in the small intestine are much rarer, though Prof. 
Struthers seems to have seen several. This shows 
no doubt that there are disadvantages attending the pos- 
session of a complicated cecum, or an unobliterated 
vitelline duct ; but it shows too much for the argument 
on which we are considering its bearing, for there are 
many other organs, avowedly indispensable to the eco- 
nomy, which have caused death by their simple mechani- 
cal presence. A case was lately recorded before the 
Zoological Society, in which a kangaroo met its death 
from strangulation of a loop of the small intestine by the 
coiling round it of the uncomplicated, but long caecum ; 
are we from this to infer that the caecum is so dangerous 
an addition to the organism, that it would be better if it 
did not exist? Such can hardly be correct. Again, in 
man, if the testes do not descend into the scrotum, impo- 
tency is the result, can we therefore infer that the 
abdominal rings would be better away, because some die 
of strangulated inguinal hernia? It would be as logical 
to wish to dispense with the head, because some have 
been killed"by wounds on the scalp. 
Again, it can scarcely be said in the present state of our 
physiological knowledge, that the appendix vermiformis 
is useless, and a remnant of a fcetal structure. Leaving 
sexual structures out of the question, as subject to diffe- 
rent laws, it is quite contrary to evolutionary doctrine 
that useless rudiments of embryonic organs should be re- 
tained in after life ; for the individuals encumbered with 
the unnecessary remains of a former different végzme 
could scarcely be expected to succeed in the struggle for 
existence against less trammelled and consequently more 
advantageously circumstanced members of its own or any 
other class. If also the appendix vermiformis were a 
rudiment of a foetal organ, it is not easy to see how it is 
that it is retained in man and the anthropoid apes, whilst 
it is not found in the lower monkeys, the Ungulata, and 
other animals which possess a czecum (the wombat ex- 
cepted), and are therefore similarly situated in early life. 
On the other hand, the voice of the evolution hypothesis 
clearly states that, with the exception above mentioned, 
the appendix vermiformis must bring positive advantage 
to its possessors ; for it is only developed in the most 
elaborated and the highest of those creatures which are 
the result of its unceasing and most beautiful routine, 
and there is no reason why its action should cease at this 
point where it is most called for, and where the struggle 
is most acute. 
There is another aspect in which we think the whole 
subject should be regarded. Prof. Struthers’ remarks all 
have an anti-teleological tendency ; in other words, they 
are little more than hits at a theory which has had its 
day, and which, if left alone, will die a quiet and natural 
death. Why make this death a painful one, and attempt 
to develop an unplesant party feeling between those who, 
from the capacities of their brains and their previous edu- 
cation, have been led to adopt the one or the other? 
Such discussions, as acknowledged by most who are com- 
petent to form a correct opinion, do very little, or nothing, 
towards the advancement of science, and tend to lower 
it very much in the estimation of the non-scientific world. 
The true theory will ultimately predominate, without 
doubt, but it willdo so from its own intrinsic value, and not 
from attacks on the deepest feelings of its opponents, 
especially when they are based on a false interpretation 
of its deductions. To quote the words of one of the 
greatest of our physiologists, it can only bring ignominy 
on the body of scientific workers if they are supposed to 
countenance an argument such as that of Prof. Struthers, 
which assumes that because one or two individuals have 
died from the impactation of cherry-stones in the appendix 
vermiformis, therefore there is no God! 
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