Page 236 - The Evolution Impasse 2

234 Vestigial Organs Thesis, The

mar row, and small col lec tions of lym - end of the back bone, was seen to
phat ic tis sue such as the ton sils in the pro vide sup port for the bones
throat and Peyer's patch in the small around the pel vic bone and to be a
in tes tine—are al so part of the lym - point of fix a tion for cer tain small
phat ic sys tem. They too help the body
mus cles.
fight in fec tion. 271
In the years that fol lowed, oth er
The ton sils, which al so ap peared or gans re gard ed as ves tig i al were
on that same list of ves tig i al or gans, shown to serve spe cif ic pur pos es:
were like wise dis cov ered to play an The thy mus gland ac ti vates the
im por tant role against in fec tions, es - body's de fense sys tem by set ting the
pe cial ly up un til adult hood. (Like T cells in to ac tion. The pin e al gland
the ap pen dix, ton sils some times be - is re spon si ble for the pro duc tion of
come in fect ed by the very bac te ria im por tant hor mones. The thy roid
they seek to com bat, and so must be es tab lish es bal anced growth in ba -
sur gi cal ly re moved.) The coc cyx, the bies and chil dren. The pi tu i tary en -

It has now been re al ized that the ap pen dix (be low), which ev o lu tion ist
bi ol o gists im ag ined to be ves tig i al, plays an im por tant role in the body's
im mune sys tem. The low est bone in the spi nal col umn, known as the
coc cyx, is al so not ves tig i al, but a point for mus cles to at tach to.

Appendix

Coccyx
The Evolution Impasse II