Page 742 - Atlas of Creation Volume 2

systems and have no room for any "transitional" phase. Acrustacean would be left sightless and would be elim-

inated by natural selection if the refracting lens in its eye were to diminish and be replaced by reflecting mir-
rored surfaces.
It is, therefore, certain that both of these eye structures were designed and created separately. There is such
superb geometric precision in these eyes that believing that they came into being by chance is simply ludicrous.

Signs of Creation in the Ear

Another interesting example of the irreducibly complex organs in living things is the human ear.
As is commonly known, the hearing process begins with vibrations in the air. These vibrations are en-

hanced in the external ear. Research has shown that that part of the external ear known as the concha works as
a kind of megaphone, and sound waves are intensified in the external auditory canal. In this way, the volume
of sound waves increases considerably.
Sound intensified in this way enters the external auditory canal. This is the area from the external ear to the
ear drum. One interesting feature of the auditory canal, which is some three and a half centimeters long, is the
wax it constantly secretes. This liquid contains an antiseptic property which keeps bacteria and insects out.

Furthermore, the cells on the surface of the auditory canal are aligned in a spiral form directed towards the out-
side, so that the wax always flows towards the outside of the ear as it is secreted.
Sound vibrations which pass down the auditory canal in this way reach the ear drum. This membrane is so
sensitive that it can even perceive vibrations on the molecular level. Thanks to the exquisite sensitivity of the

ear drum, you can easily hear somebody whispering from yards away. Or you can hear the vibration set up as
you slowly rub two fingers together. Another extraordinary feature of the ear drum is that after receiving a vi-
bration it returns to its normal state. Calculations have revealed that, after perceiving the tiniest vibrations, the
ear drum becomes motionless again within up to four thousandths of a second. If it did not become motionless
again so quickly, every sound we hear would echo in our ears.
The ear drum amplifies the vibrations which come to it, and sends them on to the middle ear region. Here,

there are three bones in an extremely sensitive equilibrium with each other. These three bones are known as the
hammer, the anvil and the stirrup; their function is to amplify the vibrations that reach them from the ear drum.
But the middle ear also possesses a kind of "buffer," to reduce exceedingly high levels of sound. This feature
is provided by two of the body's smallest muscles, which control the hammer, anvil and stirrup bones. These
muscles enable exceptionally loud noises to be reduced before they reach the inner ear. Thanks to this mecha-

740 Atlas of Creation Vol. 2