Darwin, Then and Now

Charles Darwin only uses the term “vestiges” five times in The Origin of Species. Ironically, since then vestiges have become synonomous with evolution. The emenent evolutionist, Douglas Futuyma, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan, notes that vestigial structures make no sense without evolution.

In this first in a series, we will discover how structures labeled vestiges have played an important role as evidence for the theory of evolutionary. By the time The Origin of Species was published in 1859, vestiges had already been a hot topic. It was Robert Chambers in the publication of his book entitled Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation in 1844 that popularized the concept of vestiges. Chambers brought together various ideas of stellar evolution and progressive transmutation of species. The book was a best-seller is considered largely responsible for causing a shift in public opinion that paved the way for the general acceptance of evolution following the publication of  The Origin of Species.

While agreeing with the general concept of evolution, Darwin took many exceptions with Chamber’s perspective on vestiges and the concept that evolution occurs by sudden changes in nature. Darwin wrote – “The author [Chambers] apparently believes that organisation progresses by sudden leaps, but that the effects produced by the conditions of life are gradual.”

Perhaps because of these differences with Robert Chambers, Darwin even avoided defining the term “vestiges” in The Origin of Species. In the Glossary, however, Darwin defines a related term: “RUDIMENTARY.—Very imperfectly developed.” In The Origin of Species, the term “rudimentary” appears 101 times.

Darwin envisions rudimentary structures to be the result of two different dynamics: 1) as structures “imperfectly developed”—emerging, and 2) as structures in disuse undergoing loss of function—elimination. Darwin writes – “Rudimentary organs will speak infallibly with respect to the nature of long-lost structures”—a Lamarckian disuse concept. Darwin explains that rudimentary structures continue to exist because “natural selection… had no power to check deviations in their structure.”

Today however, only the process of elimination due to the disuse concept is thought to be in operation. WIKIPEDIA.org states: “Vestigiality describes homologous characters of organisms that have seemingly lost all or most of their original function in a species through evolution. Answers.com defines vestige structures, as “A rudimentary or degenerate, usually nonfunctioning, structure that is the remnant of an organ or part that was fully developed or functioning in a preceding generation or an earlier stage of development.”

 This takes us to the next question – why did Darwin largely attempt to avoid the term vestiages that was associated with the Larmarckian concept of use and disuse?