Useless Organs

[kat8585]

Actually, the tonsils and appendix are lymphoid tissues and are very necessary.

[nebula]

https://notes.utk.edu/Bio/greenberg.nsf/0/0...ment&Click=

I'm wouldn't be so quick to call them "useless." Maybe non-essential, but hardly functionless or purposeless.

For example, the vermiform appendix contains myriads of lymphoid follicles called Peyer's patches. These "are in an ideal position (1) to destroy bacteria (which are present in large numbers in the large intestine), thereby preventing these pathogens from breaching the intestinal wall, and (2) to generate many "memory" lymphocytes for long-term immunity." (Human Anatomy & Physiology, 7th ed., by Elaine N. Marieb and Katja Hoehn)

The appendix, then, has a common role as the tonsils. The appendix is not necessary for life, but neither are the tonsils. Yet no one claims the tonsils to be "useless organs."

As for wisdom teeth, we forget that in ancient times - before we became strict about oral hygiene, most people began losing their teeth at fairly early ages, relatively speaking. The wisdom teeth for such people may have been necessary, being newer teeth, to enable people to chew food longer than they would have otherwise.

The list mentioned a muscle in the leg that is referred to as a muscle apes use when grasping with their feet, but is very thin in humans for lack of use. Is it useless to us? Ask people who have lost their arms and have learned to use their feet for do things they would have done with their hands, such as writing or playing an instrument, if such a muscle is "useless."

I could go on and on with the list.

Just because it's use is not necessary for life, or seemingly unnecessary, doesn't make it a useless organ. Science would do better assuming something that exists has a function and figuring out what that function is rather than writing it off as a useless left-over.

I find it interesting that no one had anything to say about my post.

Odd.

[The Lorax]

Actually, the tonsils and appendix are lymphoid tissues and are very necessary.

"Very" necessary? So necessary that if they were removed, you'd fall ill and/or die?

No. People live healthy lives without them. Considering their proclivity to infection, they appear to be more of a liability than a benefit.

[kat8585]

https://notes.utk.edu/Bio/greenberg.nsf/0/0...ment&Click=

I'm wouldn't be so quick to call them "useless." Maybe non-essential, but hardly functionless or purposeless.

For example, the vermiform appendix contains myriads of lymphoid follicles called Peyer's patches. These "are in an ideal position (1) to destroy bacteria (which are present in large numbers in the large intestine), thereby preventing these pathogens from breaching the intestinal wall, and (2) to generate many "memory" lymphocytes for long-term immunity." (Human Anatomy & Physiology, 7th ed., by Elaine N. Marieb and Katja Hoehn)

The appendix, then, has a common role as the tonsils. The appendix is not necessary for life, but neither are the tonsils. Yet no one claims the tonsils to be "useless organs."

As for wisdom teeth, we forget that in ancient times - before we became strict about oral hygiene, most people began losing their teeth at fairly early ages, relatively speaking. The wisdom teeth for such people may have been necessary, being newer teeth, to enable people to chew food longer than they would have otherwise.

The list mentioned a muscle in the leg that is referred to as a muscle apes use when grasping with their feet, but is very thin in humans for lack of use. Is it useless to us? Ask people who have lost their arms and have learned to use their feet for do things they would have done with their hands, such as writing or playing an instrument, if such a muscle is "useless."

I could go on and on with the list.

Just because it's use is not necessary for life, or seemingly unnecessary, doesn't make it a useless organ. Science would do better assuming something that exists has a function and figuring out what that function is rather than writing it off as a useless left-over.

I find it interesting that no one had anything to say about my post.

Odd.

Sorry, neb, I missed your post. Yours said it in more detail than mine.

[kat8585]

Actually, the tonsils and appendix are lymphoid tissues and are very necessary.

"Very" necessary? So necessary that if they were removed, you'd fall ill and/or die?

No. People live healthy lives without them. Considering their proclivity to infection, they appear to be more of a liability than a benefit.

People can live healthy lives without a stomach or a colon, too, or a thyroid, or gallbladder.

[The Lorax]

People can live healthy lives without a stomach or a colon, too, or a thyroid, or gallbladder.

....I'm no doctor, but I know you will have trouble digesting food without a stomach unless you get some kind of replacement. (Note they don't offer appendix or tonsil replacements; people don't need them.) With thyroidectomy, patients typically need hormone replacement therapy afterwards. And thyroidectomy isn't done before puberty because of the gland's importance in development. Colectomy is not as big a deal because the colon is just an arbitrarily defined section of the large intestine and, after it is removed, there will still be several feet of like-functioning intestine left. The appendix and the tonsils, however, can be removed entirely with no ill effects. Few other organs can.

[kat8585]

That's all irrelevant. It doesn't prove evolution.

[The Lorax]

That's all irrelevant. It doesn't prove evolution.

If it's all irrelevant, why did you insist that the appendix and tonsils were "very necessary" in the first place? By that token, your last two posts have been irrelevant. They are also incorrect, since neither the appendix nor tonsils are necessary (counter to the claim in your penultimate post), whereas the stomach and the thyroid are (counter to the claim in your last post).

[Gerioke]

That's all irrelevant. It doesn't prove evolution.

If it's all irrelevant, why did you insist that the appendix and tonsils were "very necessary" in the first place? By that token, your last two posts have been irrelevant. They are also incorrect, since neither the appendix nor tonsils are necessary, whereas the stomach and the thyroid are.

How do you know what kind of deseases were around at the fall of man?

[The Lorax]

How do you know what kind of deseases were around at the fall of man?

I don't.

I am only evaluating the usefulness of these organs now. The fact is, the appendix and the tonsils are marginally useless now. But scientists believe that, in the past, they were more important. If these organs were never important, then presumably they would not exist in the first place. If these organs were harmful, then presumably they would be selected out of the population.