Charles Darwin is perhaps the greatest evolutionary scientist that ever lived. His studies on the evolution of man from a primordial stage of an Ape to modern man did cause controversies among Christian creationists as much as his daring assertion that the Black man was less endowed intellectually than his white counter parts and that the white man had a “Civilizing Mission” to accomplish in dark continent of Africa.  It was this kind of view, espoused by the greatest scientist of the 19th Century that sparked off the feverish scramble for Africa as white men started flocking to Africa in the guise of bringing civilization in the 1880s.

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Quite recently, some of Darwin’s theoretical views that an appendix was an evolutionary organ have come under serious dispute. Darwin believed that an appendix was a redundant organ that was useful only at the time of human evolution when human beings ate certain kinds of diet, which they no longer eat. He went on to assert that in view of the changes in the kind of diet we eat today, an appendix has largely become vestigial and an irrelevant organ.

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Taking these suppositions on, a group of modern Scientists recently invalidated the scientific opinion of Darwin in their research published in the Journal of Science when they concluded to the contrary that an appendix in man was still a very useful organ and served a solid purpose. They repudiated the assertion that an appendix was an evolutionary organ when they cited the fact that animals such as rats and dogs have appendices so this could not therefore be an evolutionary organ. They also observed that an appendix serves the purpose of boosting the immune system of the body since it is filled with a heavy presence of disease fighting bacteria that help to regulate the capacity of the body to fight infections especially in the gut.

It is sad that these modern scientists are critiquing Darwin many years after his death-perhaps if he were around, he would defend himself with even greater scientific facts.  Unfortunately, creationists have jumped out to imply that these disputes on Darwin’s opinion mean there is a problem with evolution, but it cannot be said with enough emphasis that this in no way means that.

Again, evolution can explain such organs of no use, but creationism can’t. That one structure is no longer considered neutral with respect to fitness does not mean that such neutral organs do exist. Examples: leg bones in whales, eyes of blind cavefish, pelvis remnants in snakes, the human tailbone, human goose bumps, human muscles to move the ears.

The fact will always remain that evolution is real and Darwin could have been wrong on the representation of Appendix as vestigial organ, yet the truth is, he is not completely off the mark and creationists still have a big problem convincing the world to turn against evolution completely.