ntageous to the
species.

Conversely, the existence of rudimentary organs in living species (the
rudimentary spurs of female birds, the rudimentary legs of skeleton of
serpents) proves that organs do not change by use or disuse, otherwise
they would long ago have disappeared.

With regard to this difficulty, Darwin says: "If it could be
demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly
have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my
theory would absolutely break down. But I can find no such case." Let
us see.

A difficult organ to account for is the electric organ of the skates. In
these fishes it has been shown to be a true electric battery, but the
discharges from this battery, even in the adults, are so feeble that
they are of no practical use so far as has been ascertained. It is well
known that the electric eel and the torpedo use their batteries for
stunning other animals. It is evident that, according to the theory of
natural selection, these batteries could not have been preserved through
their long functionless and useless stages, for that theory assumes that
they were preserved because they were useful.

It is asserted by evolutionists that wings as organs of flight have been
independently evolved in at least four different lines--namely, in
insects, the fossil pterodactyls, birds and bats. That an organ so
highly specialized as any one of these wings could be evolved seems
improbable; while the evolution of the four different kinds,
independently of each other, only increases the improbability. The
difficulty, however, is to account for the evolution of any known kind
of wing. In each case there exists the insuperable difficulty of
preserving the organ through the rudimentary stages. The wings of an
insect in the first generation of its evolution would be almost
imperceptible and entirely useless for any purpose whatever, and so it
would continue to be for a great number of generations. It is evident,
therefore, that they could not have been preserved through their long
rudimentary stage on the ground that they were useful, nor do we know of
any theory that will account for their evolution. To say that they were
evolved is easy, but to account for their evolution seems impossible.
Fairhurst refers to the delicate and complex organs of spiders. "The
organs which spiders possess for secreting material and for making a web
could not have been gradually evolved. The whol