Page 239 - The Errors the American National Academy of Sciences

ou know that when you cut yourself, or when an old injury
starts bleeding, the bleeding will eventually stop. A scab will
form over the injury and the wound will heal. This may seem
very simple and normal. Yet, biochemical research has re-
vealed that this is the result of the working of an extremely complex
system. (Michael Behe, Darwin's Black Box, New York: Free Press, pp.
79-97) Damage to, or the absence of, just one of the components of this
system will cause it to stop functioning.
The blood must clot at the right time and in the right place, and
the clotting must stop once normal conditions have returned. The sys-
tem must work flawlessly right down to the very tiniest detail.
In the event of bleeding, clotting needs to take place at once if the
creature is not to die from loss of blood. It is also essential that the
clotting take place all over the wound and, most important of all, that
it should only take place at the site of the injury. Otherwise, all the
creature's blood will clot and solidify, which will kill it. Blood clotting,
therefore, has to be kept under careful control, and has to occur at the
right time and place.
The blood platelets or thrombo-
cytes, particles produced by the bone
marrow, possess an indispensable
property. These particles are the
main components of clotting. A pro-
tein known as von Willebrand factor
ensures that the thrombocytes which
keep moving around in the blood do
not go past the wound. The thrombo-
cytes become caught at the injury
site, and release a substance that

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