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Introduction to Environmental
Management
Introduction to Environmental
Management
Second Edition

Mary K. Theodore and Louis Theodore

Second edition published 2021
by CRC Press
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742

and by CRC Press

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

© 2021 Mary K. Theodore and Louis Theodore

First edition published by CRC Press 2009

CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

The right of Mary K. Theodore and Louis Theodore to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot
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Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data

Names: Theodore, Mary K., author. | Theodore, Louis, author.
Title: Introduction to environmental management / Mary K. Theodore and Louis Theodore.
Description: Second Edition. | Boca Raton ; London: CRC Press, 2021. |
“First edition published by CRC Press 2009”­—T.p. verso.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020052973 (print) | LCCN 2020052974 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367758103 (Hardback) | ISBN 9781003171126 (eBook)
Subjects: LCSH: Environmental management.
Classification: LCC GE300 .T54 2021 (print) | LCC GE300 (ebook) |
DDC 363.7/05­—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020052973
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020052974

ISBN: 978-0-367-75810-3 (hbk)

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 To
Ireland and Greece –
Homeland of Our Forefathers
Contents
Preface............................................................................................................................................xxv
Acknowledgment .........................................................................................................................xxvii
Authors..........................................................................................................................................xxix

PART I Overview

Chapter 1 Introduction to Environmental Issues ..........................................................................3

1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................3
1.2 Part I ..................................................................................................................3
1.3 Part II.................................................................................................................3
1.4 Part III ...............................................................................................................4
1.5 Part IV ...............................................................................................................4
1.6 Part V.................................................................................................................4
1.7 Part VI ...............................................................................................................5
1.8 Part VII..............................................................................................................5
1.9 Part VIII ............................................................................................................5

Chapter 2 Environmental Regulations..........................................................................................7

2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................7
2.2 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ........................................................8
2.3 Major Toxic Chemical Laws Administered by the EPA ...................................9
2.4 Water Quality Legislation and Regulations ......................................................9
2.4.1 Federal Water Pollution Control Act.................................................. 10
2.4.2 Source-Based Effuent Limitations .................................................... 11
2.4.3 Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1977........................................................ 11
2.4.4 Control of Toxic Pollutants................................................................. 11
2.4.5 1987 CWA Amendments.................................................................... 12
2.4.6 Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)................................................ 13
2.4.7 Water Quality Trading........................................................................ 13
2.4.8 Bioterrorism Act of 2003 ................................................................... 14
2.4.9 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) ..................................................... 14
2.4.10 Marine Protection, Research, And Sanctuaries Act (Title I)............. 15
2.4.11 Grants ................................................................................................. 15
2.5 The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 ..................... 16
2.5.1 Major Provisions of Title III of SARA (also known as
Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act or
EPCRA).............................................................................................. 17
2.6 The Clean Air Act (CAA) ............................................................................... 17
2.6.1 Provisions for Attainment and Maintenance of National
Ambient Air Quality Standards ......................................................... 18
2.6.2 Provisions Relating to Mobile Sources .............................................. 18
2.6.3 Air Toxics ........................................................................................... 19

vii
viii Contents

2.6.4 Acid Deposition Control..................................................................... 19

2.6.5 Operating Permits ..............................................................................20
2.6.6 Stratospheric Ozone Protection..........................................................20
2.7 Occupational Safety and Health Act ............................................................... 21
2.8 U.S. EPA’s Risk Management Program........................................................... 22
2.9 The Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 ............................................................. 23
2.10 Future Trends................................................................................................... 23
References .................................................................................................................. 23

Chapter 3 International Environmental Regulations .................................................................. 25

3.1 Introduction .....................................................................................................25
3.2 Earlier Environmental Regulatory Concerns ..................................................25
3.3 The Greenhouse Effect.................................................................................... 27
3.4 Ozone Depletion in the Stratosphere............................................................... 29
3.5 Acid Rain......................................................................................................... 30
3.5.1 Europe ................................................................................................ 31
3.5.2 North America.................................................................................... 31
3.6 International Activities .................................................................................... 32
3.6.1 The European Union (EU) Chemical Management Framework ....... 33
3.6.2 China ..................................................................................................34
3.6.3 Korea ..................................................................................................34
3.6.4 Taiwan ................................................................................................ 35
3.6.5 Thailand ............................................................................................. 35
3.6.6 Vietnam .............................................................................................. 35
3.6.7 Indonesia ............................................................................................ 36
3.7 Future Trends................................................................................................... 36
References .................................................................................................................. 36

Chapter 4 ISO 14000................................................................................................................... 37

4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 37
4.2 How the Standards Are Developed ................................................................. 38
4.3 Development of Environmental Standards...................................................... 39
4.4 The ISO 14000 Standards ............................................................................... 41
4.5 Implementing ISO 14000 ................................................................................ 43
4.6 Maintaining an ISO 14000 Environmental Management System ..................44
4.7 Comparison between ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 Series Standards .................44
4.8 The ISO 14001: 2004 Edition.......................................................................... 45
References .................................................................................................................. 45

Chapter 5 Multimedia Concerns................................................................................................. 47

5.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 47
5.2 Historical Perspective...................................................................................... 47
5.3 Environmental Problems ................................................................................. 48
5.4 Multimedia Approach...................................................................................... 49
5.5 Multimedia Application................................................................................... 50
5.6 Education and Training ................................................................................... 50
References .................................................................................................................. 52
Contents ix

Chapter 6 Classifcation and Sources of Pollutants .................................................................... 53

6.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 53
6.2 Air Pollutants................................................................................................... 53
6.2.1 Ozone and Carbon Monoxide ............................................................ 53
6.2.2 Airborne Particulates ......................................................................... 54
6.2.3 Airborne Toxics.................................................................................. 54
6.2.4 Sulfur Dioxide .................................................................................... 54
6.2.5 Acid Deposition.................................................................................. 54
6.3 Indoor Air Pollutants....................................................................................... 54
6.3.1 Radon ................................................................................................. 54
6.3.2 Environmental Tobacco Smoke.......................................................... 55
6.3.3 Asbestos ............................................................................................. 55
6.3.4 Formaldehyde and Other Volatile Organic Compounds.................... 55
6.3.5 Pesticides ............................................................................................ 55
6.4 Water Pollutants............................................................................................... 55
6.4.1 Drinking Water Pollutants ................................................................. 56
6.4.2 Critical Aquatic Habitat Pollutants .................................................... 56
6.4.3 Surface Water Pollutants .................................................................... 57
6.5 Land Pollutants................................................................................................ 57
6.5.1 Industrial Hazardous Wastes.............................................................. 58
6.5.2 Municipal Wastes ............................................................................... 58
6.5.3 Mining Wastes.................................................................................... 58
6.5.4 Radioactive Wastes............................................................................. 58
6.5.5 Pollutants from Underground Storage Tanks..................................... 58
6.6 Hazardous Pollutants....................................................................................... 59
6.7 Toxic Pollutants ............................................................................................... 59
References ..................................................................................................................60

Chapter 7 Effects of Pollutants ................................................................................................... 61

7.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 61
7.2 Air Pollution .................................................................................................... 61
7.2.1 Humans .............................................................................................. 61
7.2.2 Plants ..................................................................................................64
7.2.3 Animals .............................................................................................. 65
7.2.4 Materials of Construction...................................................................66
7.3 Water Pollution ................................................................................................66
7.3.1 Drinking Water ..................................................................................66
7.3.2 Critical Aquatic Habitats.................................................................... 67
7.3.3 Surface Waters ................................................................................... 67
7.3.4 Humans .............................................................................................. 68
7.3.5 Plants .................................................................................................. 68
7.3.6 Animals .............................................................................................. 68
7.3.7 Global Water Health Issues ................................................................ 68
7.4 Land Pollution ................................................................................................. 69
7.4.1 Humans .............................................................................................. 69
7.4.2 Plants .................................................................................................. 69
7.4.3 Animals .............................................................................................. 69
References .................................................................................................................. 69
x Contents

Chapter 8 Measurement Methods ............................................................................................... 71

Vincenza Imperiale
8.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 71
8.2 Water Source Sampling ................................................................................... 72
8.3 Water Sampling Guidelines............................................................................. 73
8.3.1 Grab Sampling ................................................................................... 73
8.3.2 Composite Sampling .......................................................................... 74
8.3.3 Continuous Sampling ......................................................................... 74
8.3.4 Groundwater Monitoring Wells ......................................................... 75
8.3.5 Sample Documentation and Handling ............................................... 76
8.4 Gaseous Source Sampling............................................................................... 77
8.5 Gaseous Sampling Guidelines......................................................................... 77
8.6 Properties of Solid Waste ................................................................................80
8.6.1 Physical Composition .........................................................................80
8.6.2 Chemical Composition....................................................................... 81
8.7 Soil Sampling Methods ................................................................................... 81
8.7.1 Manual Soil Sampling........................................................................ 82
8.7.2 Direct Push Soil Sampling ................................................................. 82
8.7.3 Split Spoon/Drill Rig Sampling......................................................... 82
8.7.4 Shelby Tube/Thin-Walled Sampling .................................................. 83
8.7.5 Backhoe Sampling ............................................................................. 83
8.8 Sampling Statistical Analysis.......................................................................... 83
References ..................................................................................................................84

PART II Air

Chapter 9 Air Pollution Control Equipment ............................................................................... 87

Paul Farber
9.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 87
9.2 Air Pollution Control Equipment for Particulates........................................... 88
9.2.1 Gravity Settlers................................................................................... 88
9.2.2 Cyclones ............................................................................................. 88
9.2.3 Electrostatic Precipitators .................................................................. 89
9.2.4 Scrubbers............................................................................................ 89
9.2.5 Baghouses...........................................................................................90
9.3 Air Pollution Control Equipment for Gaseous Pollutants ............................... 91
9.3.1 Absorbers ........................................................................................... 91
9.3.2 Adsorbers ...........................................................................................92
9.3.3 Combustion Units...............................................................................92
9.3.4 Condensers ......................................................................................... 93
9.3.5 Catalytic and Non-Catalytic Reduction .............................................94
9.4 Hybrid Systems................................................................................................94
9.4.1 Ionizing Wet Scrubbers...................................................................... 95
9.4.2 Dry Scrubbers .................................................................................... 95
9.5 Factors in Control Equipment Selection..........................................................96
9.6 Comparing Control Equipment Alternatives...................................................97
9.7 Future Trends................................................................................................... 98
References .................................................................................................................. 98
Contents xi

Chapter 10 Atmospheric Dispersion Modeling ............................................................................99

10.1 Introduction .....................................................................................................99
10.2 Nature of Dispersion........................................................................................99
10.3 Meteorological Concerns............................................................................... 100
10.4 Plume Rise..................................................................................................... 101
10.5 Effective Stack Height ................................................................................... 101
10.6 Atmospheric Dispersion Models ................................................................... 102
10.7 Stack Design .................................................................................................. 103
References ................................................................................................................ 104

Chapter 11 Climate Change and Global Warming ..................................................................... 105

11.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 105
11.2 Global Carbon Cycle ..................................................................................... 105
11.3 Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies ........................................................ 106
11.4 Other Greenhouse Gases ............................................................................... 107
11.5 Kyoto Protocol............................................................................................... 107
11.6 The Early Greenhouse Debate ...................................................................... 109
11.7 Effects of Global Warming ........................................................................... 110
11.8 Future Trends................................................................................................. 111
11.9 Final Thoughts (of one of the authors) .......................................................... 112
References ................................................................................................................ 113

Chapter 12 Indoor Air Quality ................................................................................................... 115

12.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 115
12.2 Radon............................................................................................................. 116
12.3 Formaldehyde ................................................................................................ 118
12.4 Volatile Organic Compounds ........................................................................ 118
12.5 Combustion Gases ......................................................................................... 120
12.6 Particulates .................................................................................................... 121
12.7 Biological Contaminants ............................................................................... 123
12.8 Monitoring Methods...................................................................................... 124
References ................................................................................................................ 125

Chapter 13 Vapor Intrusion......................................................................................................... 127

13.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 127
13.2 Health Concerns ............................................................................................ 127
13.3 Property Environmental Due Diligence ....................................................... 128
13.4 Control Options ............................................................................................. 128
13.5 EPA, State, and ASTM VI Activity............................................................... 129
13.6 ASTM Task Group ....................................................................................... 129
13.7 Future Trends................................................................................................. 130
References ................................................................................................................ 132

Chapter 14 Air Toxics ................................................................................................................. 133

14.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 133
14.2 Classifcation of Air Toxics ........................................................................... 133
14.3 Causes of Toxic Air Pollution........................................................................ 135
14.4 Impacts of Toxic Air Pollution ...................................................................... 136
xii Contents

14.5 Response to Toxic Exposure.......................................................................... 136

14.6 Future Trends................................................................................................. 138
References ................................................................................................................ 139

PART III Water

Chapter 15 Water Chemistry ...................................................................................................... 143

15.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 143
15.2 Physical Properties of Water ......................................................................... 143
15.3 Chemical Properties of Water ....................................................................... 143
15.4 Chemical Composition of Natural Waters..................................................... 144
15.4.1 Dissolved Minerals........................................................................... 144
15.4.2 Dissolved Gases................................................................................ 145
15.4.3 Heavy Metals.................................................................................... 146
15.4.4 Organic Constituents........................................................................ 146
15.4.5 Nutrients ........................................................................................... 148
15.5 Chemical Reactions....................................................................................... 148
References ................................................................................................................ 149

Chapter 16 Safe Drinking Water ................................................................................................ 151

16.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 151
16.2 The Hydrologic Cycle.................................................................................... 151
16.3 Water Usage................................................................................................... 151
16.4 The Safe Drinking Water Act........................................................................ 152
16.5 Drinking Water Standards............................................................................. 153
16.5.1 National Primary Drinking Water Regulations ............................... 154
16.5.2 National Secondary Drinking Water Regulations ........................... 154
16.6 Clean Water Act ............................................................................................ 154
16.7 Water Security ............................................................................................... 157
References ................................................................................................................ 158

Chapter 17 Desalination.............................................................................................................. 159

R. Ryan Dupont
17.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 159
17.2 Introduction to Desalination.......................................................................... 159
17.3 Traditional Seawater Desalination Processes................................................ 161
17.3.1 Evaporation Processes...................................................................... 161
17.3.2 Reverse Osmosis............................................................................... 162
17.3.3 Crystallization Processes ................................................................. 162
17.4 New Options for Water Desalination ............................................................ 163
17.4.1 The GADUTH Solar Evaporation Process ...................................... 163
17.4.2 The GAniaris Crystallization Process ............................................. 164
17.4.3 The GADUTH Greenhouse Solar Evaporator ................................. 164
17.4.4 The Theodore Simple Still ............................................................... 166
17.4.5 The GADUTH Dewdrop Process .................................................... 166
17.4.6 The Heat Conduit Evaporator Process ............................................. 168
Contents xiii

17.4.7 The Geothermal Evaporator Process ............................................... 170

17.4.8 The GADUTH Freeze Desalination Process ................................... 171
17.4.9 The GADUTH Mangrove Process................................................... 172
17.4.10 The Theodore HUMidifcation Process ........................................... 172
17.4.11 Reverse Osmosis and Crystallization Hybrid (ROACH)
Desalination Process ........................................................................ 172
17.5 Future Prospects ............................................................................................ 174
References ................................................................................................................ 174

Chapter 18 Municipal Wastewater Management ........................................................................ 177

18.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 177
18.2 Regulations .................................................................................................... 178
18.3 Characteristics of Municipal Wastewater...................................................... 180
18.3.1 Physical Quality ............................................................................... 181
18.3.2 Chemical Quality ............................................................................. 181
18.3.3 Biological Quality ............................................................................ 182
18.4 Wastewater Treatment Processes................................................................... 183
18.5 Sludge Characteristics ................................................................................... 184
18.6 Advanced Wastewater Treatment .................................................................. 185
18.7 Wastewater Plant Design Considerations ...................................................... 185
18.8 Future Trends................................................................................................. 187
References ................................................................................................................ 187

Chapter 19 Industrial Wastewater Management ......................................................................... 189

19.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 189
19.2 Sources of Industrial Wastewater Pollution................................................... 190
19.3 Industrial Wastewater Characterization ........................................................ 191
19.4 Nonpoint Source Water Pollution.................................................................. 192
19.5 Wastewater Treatment Technologies ............................................................. 193
19.6 Solids Management ....................................................................................... 195
19.7 Future Trends................................................................................................. 195
References ................................................................................................................ 196

Chapter 20 Dispersion Modeling in Water Systems ................................................................... 197

20.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 197
20.2 Mathematical Models .................................................................................... 197
20.3 Microorganisms............................................................................................. 199
20.4 Dissolved Oxygen.......................................................................................... 199
20.5 Eutrophication ...............................................................................................200
20.6 Toxic Substances ........................................................................................... 201
References ................................................................................................................202

Chapter 21 Water Conservation .................................................................................................. 203

21.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 203
21.2 The International Conference on Water and the Environment ..................... 203
21.3 General Conservation Practices ....................................................................205
21.4 Wastewater Reuse Options ............................................................................205
21.5 Water Recycling.............................................................................................207
xiv Contents

21.6 Treated Effuent Management .......................................................................208

21.6.1 In-Plant Wastewater Segregation .....................................................208
21.6.2 Stormwater Management..................................................................208
21.6.3 Effuent Disposal ..............................................................................209
References ................................................................................................................209

Chapter 22 Water Toxics ............................................................................................................. 211

22.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 211
22.2 Toxic-Related Terms...................................................................................... 212
22.3 Major Toxic Chemical Laws Administered by the EPA ............................... 212
22.4 Drinking Water Standards and Regulations.................................................. 213
22.5 Unregulated Contaminants............................................................................ 214
22.6 Regulated Chemicals Reference.................................................................... 215
22.7 Priority Water Pollutants ............................................................................... 216
References ................................................................................................................ 218

PART IV Solid Waste

Chapter 23 Municipal Waste Management................................................................................. 221

23.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 221
23.2 Regulations .................................................................................................... 221
23.3 Source Reduction and Recycle/Reuse ........................................................... 222
23.4 Incineration.................................................................................................... 223
23.5 Landflling ..................................................................................................... 223
23.5.1 Location............................................................................................224
23.5.2 Operation.......................................................................................... 225
23.5.3 Design............................................................................................... 225
23.5.4 Groundwater Monitoring and Corrective Action ............................. 225
23.5.5 Closure and Post Closure Care......................................................... 225
23.5.6 Financial Assurance ......................................................................... 226
23.6 Future Trends................................................................................................. 226
References ................................................................................................................ 226

Chapter 24 Industrial Waste Management.................................................................................. 227

24.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 227
24.2 Food Processing ............................................................................................ 227
24.3 Cannery Wastes ............................................................................................. 228
24.4 Dairy Wastes ................................................................................................. 229
24.5 Fermentation and Pharmaceutical Industries ................................................ 230
24.6 Meat Industry ................................................................................................ 230
24.7 Textile Industry.............................................................................................. 231
24.8 Future Trends................................................................................................. 231
References ................................................................................................................ 232

Chapter 25 Hospital Waste Management.................................................................................... 233

25.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 233
25.2 Medical Waste Regulations and Defnitions ................................................. 233
Contents xv

25.3 Waste Storage and Handling ......................................................................... 234

25.4 Waste Processing and Disposal ..................................................................... 235
25.5 Waste Management Programs....................................................................... 236
25.6 Infectious Waste Management Programs...................................................... 237
25.7 Future Trends................................................................................................. 238
References ................................................................................................................ 239

Chapter 26 Nuclear Waste Management..................................................................................... 241

26.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 241
26.2 Current Status of Nuclear Waste Management ............................................. 241
26.3 Ramifcations of Nuclear Accidents.............................................................. 242
26.3.1 Biological Effects of Radiation ........................................................ 242
26.3.2 Radioactive Transformations............................................................ 243
26.3.3 Dose–Response ................................................................................244
26.4 Sources of Nuclear Waste..............................................................................244
26.4.1 Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials.....................................244
26.4.2 Low-Level Radioactive Waste.......................................................... 245
26.4.3 High-Level Radioactive Waste.........................................................246
26.4.4 Transuranic Waste............................................................................246
26.5 Radioactive Waste Treatment and Disposal .................................................. 247
26.6 Future Trends................................................................................................. 247
References ................................................................................................................248

Chapter 27 Superfund ................................................................................................................. 249

27.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 249
27.2 The Funding of Superfund and Legal Considerations .................................. 250
27.3 Ranking of Hazardous Waste Sites ............................................................... 251
27.4 The Cleanup Process ..................................................................................... 253
27.5 The Role of the Private Sector....................................................................... 254
27.6 Progress to Date............................................................................................. 255
27.7 Future Trends................................................................................................. 255
References ................................................................................................................ 255

Chapter 28 Asbestos ................................................................................................................... 257

28.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 257
28.2 Regulatory Concerns ..................................................................................... 258
28.3 Sources .......................................................................................................... 259
28.4 Health Concerns ............................................................................................ 259
28.5 Control Measures........................................................................................... 259
28.6 Future Trends.................................................................................................260
References ................................................................................................................260

Chapter 29 Metals ....................................................................................................................... 261

29.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 261
29.2 Lead ............................................................................................................... 261
29.3 Mercury ......................................................................................................... 262
29.4 Mercury Removal from Coal-Fired Power Plants......................................... 263
29.5 Cadmium ....................................................................................................... 263
xvi Contents

29.6 Arsenic...........................................................................................................264
29.7 Future Trends.................................................................................................264
References ................................................................................................................264

PART V Pollution Prevention

Chapter 30 The Pollution Prevention Concept............................................................................ 267

30.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 267
30.2 Pollution Prevention Hierarchy ..................................................................... 268
30.3 Multimedia Analysis and Life Cycle Cost Analysis ..................................... 270
30.3.1 Multimedia Analysis ........................................................................ 270
30.3.2 Life Cycle Analysis .......................................................................... 270
30.4 Pollution Prevention Assessment Procedures................................................ 271
30.4.1 Planning and Organization............................................................... 271
30.4.2 Assessment Phase............................................................................. 272
30.4.3 Feasibility Analysis .......................................................................... 273
30.4.4 Implementation................................................................................. 274
30.5 Sources of Information.................................................................................. 274
30.5.1 Industry Programs............................................................................ 275
30.6 Future Trends................................................................................................. 275
References ................................................................................................................ 275

Chapter 31 Pollution Prevention Applications............................................................................ 277

31.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 277
31.2 Barriers to Pollution Prevention .................................................................... 278
31.3 Pollution Prevention Advantages .................................................................. 279
31.4 Economic Considerations Associated with Pollution Prevention Programs.... 281
31.5 Future Trends................................................................................................. 281
References ................................................................................................................ 282

Chapter 32 Sustainability............................................................................................................ 283

32.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 283
32.2 Historical Perspective.................................................................................... 283
32.3 Resource Limitations.....................................................................................284
32.4 Sustainable Development Considerations...................................................... 285
32.5 Sustainable Design Considerations ............................................................... 286
32.6 Economic Factors .......................................................................................... 287
32.7 Benchmarking Sustainability ........................................................................ 289
32.8 Resources for Sustainability.......................................................................... 290
32.9 Future Trends................................................................................................. 291
References ................................................................................................................ 291

Chapter 33 Green Chemistry and Green Engineering................................................................ 293

33.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 293
33.2 Green Chemistry ........................................................................................... 293
33.2.1 Green Chemistry Research Needs ................................................... 295
Contents xvii

33.3 Green Engineering ........................................................................................ 295

33.4 Green Chemistry versus Green Engineering ................................................ 297
33.5 Sustainability at the Domestic Level............................................................. 298
33.6 Additional Resources..................................................................................... 299
33.7 Future Trends................................................................................................. 299
References ................................................................................................................300

Chapter 34 Industrial Ecology .................................................................................................... 303

34.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 303
34.2 Industrial Ecology Defnitions ...................................................................... 303
34.3 The History and Development of the Industrial Ecology Approach............. 305
34.3.1 Belgium ............................................................................................ 305
34.3.2 Japan................................................................................................. 305
34.3.3 Recent History..................................................................................306
34.4 Concepts of Industrial Ecology .....................................................................306
34.4.1 Sustainable Systems and Systems Analysis .....................................307
34.4.2 Material Flows and Transformations ...............................................307
34.4.3 Natural Ecosystems..........................................................................308
34.5 Tools of Industrial Ecology ...........................................................................308
34.5.1 Life Cycle Assessment .....................................................................308
34.5.2 Life Cycle and Design for the Environment.....................................308
34.5.3 Green Chemistry and Green Engineering........................................309
34.6 The Future of Industrial Ecology ..................................................................309
References ................................................................................................................ 311

Chapter 35 Architecture in the Environment.............................................................................. 313

35.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 313
35.2 Historical Concerns ....................................................................................... 314
35.3 The Current Debate ....................................................................................... 315
35.4 Siting.............................................................................................................. 315
35.5 Design............................................................................................................ 316
35.6 Materials........................................................................................................ 318
35.7 Building Systems and Equipment ................................................................. 319
35.8 Construction .................................................................................................. 319
35.9 Future Trends................................................................................................. 319
References ................................................................................................................ 320

PART VI Environmental Risk

Chapter 36 Introduction to Environmental Risk Assessment..................................................... 323

Ann Marie Flynn
36.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 323
36.2 Risk Variables................................................................................................ 324
36.3 Exposure Concerns........................................................................................ 324
36.4 Why Use Risk-Based Decision Making? ...................................................... 326
36.5 The Risk-Based Corrective Action Approach ............................................... 327
xviii Contents

36.6 Communicating Risk..................................................................................... 328

36.7 Future Trends................................................................................................. 329
References ................................................................................................................ 330

Chapter 37 Health Risk Assessment ........................................................................................... 331

Ann Marie Flynn
37.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 331
37.2 The Health Risk Evaluation Process ............................................................. 331
37.3 Health Problem Identifcation........................................................................ 333
37.4 Dose–Response ............................................................................................. 334
37.5 Exposure Assessment .................................................................................... 335
37.6 Risk Characterization.................................................................................... 336
37.7 Future Trends................................................................................................. 337
References ................................................................................................................ 337

Chapter 38 Hazard Risk Assessment .......................................................................................... 339

Ann Marie Flynn
38.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 339
38.2 Emergency Planning and Response .............................................................. 339
38.3 Regulations ....................................................................................................340
38.4 Training ......................................................................................................... 342
38.5 Risk Evaluation Process for Accidents.......................................................... 343
38.6 Hazard Identifcation .....................................................................................344
38.7 Causes of Accidents....................................................................................... 345
38.8 Consequences of Accidents ...........................................................................346
38.8.1 Cause–Consequence Analysis ......................................................... 347
38.9 Advances in Safety Features .........................................................................348
38.10 Future Trends.................................................................................................348
References ................................................................................................................348

Chapter 39 Non-Technical Risk .................................................................................................. 351

Ann Marie Flynn
39.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 351
39.2 NTR Solutions ............................................................................................... 352
39.3 Risk Uncertainties/Limitations ..................................................................... 353
39.4 Uncertainty and Variability........................................................................... 353
39.5 Assessment and Presentation of Uncertainty ................................................ 355
References ................................................................................................................ 355

Chapter 40 Public Perception of Risk ......................................................................................... 357

Ann Marie Flynn
40.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 357
40.2 Everyday Risks .............................................................................................. 357
40.3 Environmental Risks ..................................................................................... 358
40.4 Outrage Factors ............................................................................................. 361
40.5 Future Trends................................................................................................. 362
References ................................................................................................................ 362
Contents xix

Chapter 41 Risk Communication................................................................................................ 363

Ann Marie Flynn
41.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 363
41.2 Seven Cardinal Rules of Risk Communication.............................................364
41.3 Communicating Risk to the Public: Getting the Message Across ................ 366
41.3.1 Emergency Response........................................................................ 367
41.3.2 Remediation ..................................................................................... 367
41.3.3 Facility Siting ................................................................................... 368
41.3.4 Ongoing Plant Operations ................................................................ 368
41.4 Specifc Methods of Communicating Risk ................................................... 368
41.5 The Citizen’s Role in Environmental Enforcement....................................... 370
41.6 Accessibility in Environmental Communication .......................................... 371
41.7 Future Trends................................................................................................. 372
References ................................................................................................................ 372

PART VII Energy Considerations

Chapter 42 Energy Resources..................................................................................................... 377

42.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 377
42.2 Coal................................................................................................................ 377
42.3 Oil.................................................................................................................. 378
42.4 Natural Gas.................................................................................................... 378
42.5 Shale Oil and Tar Sands ................................................................................ 379
42.5.1 Shale Oil........................................................................................... 379
42.5.2 Tar Sands .......................................................................................... 380
42.6 Other Energy Sources.................................................................................... 380
42.6.1 Solar Energy..................................................................................... 381
42.6.2 Nuclear Energy................................................................................. 381
42.6.3 Geothermal Energy .......................................................................... 382
42.7 Future Potential Energy Sources ................................................................... 383
References ................................................................................................................ 383

Chapter 43 Energy Conservation ................................................................................................ 385

43.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 385
43.2 Environmental Concerns............................................................................... 385
43.3 Defning Terms.............................................................................................. 386
43.4 Conservation of Energy................................................................................. 386
43.5 Energy Balances ............................................................................................ 387
43.6 Future Trends................................................................................................. 388
References ................................................................................................................ 388

Chapter 44 Energy Conservation Applications........................................................................... 389

44.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 389
44.2 Environmental Implications of Alternate Energy Sources ........................... 389
44.3 Equipment Applications ................................................................................ 390
44.3.1 Heat Exchangers............................................................................... 390
44.3.2 Ovens and Furnaces ......................................................................... 390
xx Contents

44.3.3 Insulation.......................................................................................... 391

44.3.4 Boilers .............................................................................................. 391
44.3.5 Chillers and Cooling Towers............................................................ 392
44.3.6 Compressed Air Systems ................................................................. 392
44.3.7 Lighting ............................................................................................ 393
44.3.8 Motors and Drives............................................................................ 393
44.3.9 Power Factor Issues .......................................................................... 394
44.4 Plant Applications.......................................................................................... 394
44.5 Process/Operations Applications................................................................... 395
44.6 Applications at Home .................................................................................... 395
44.7 Future Trends................................................................................................. 397
References ................................................................................................................ 398

Chapter 45 Heat Transfer and Heat Exchanger Principles.......................................................... 399

45.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 399
45.2 Heat Exchanger Equipment Classifcation .................................................... 399
45.3 Double-Pipe Heat Exchangers....................................................................... 401
45.4 Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchangers................................................................... 401
45.5 Extended Surface/Finned Heat Exchangers ..................................................402
45.6 Key Heat Transfer Principles.........................................................................402
45.7 Heat Exchanger Design Considerations ........................................................403
References ................................................................................................................404

Chapter 46 Thermodynamics: Energy, Entropy, and Exergy .....................................................405

Francesco Ricci
46.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................405
46.2 The First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics..........................................405
46.3 Energy Transformations ................................................................................406
46.4 Heat, Work, and the “Quality” of Energy .....................................................407
46.5 Exergy............................................................................................................407
46.6 Energy Effciency, Exergy, and Environmental Impact ................................409
46.6.1 Order Destruction (i.e., Chaos Creation).......................................... 410
46.6.2 Resource Degradation ...................................................................... 410
46.6.3 Waste Exergy Emissions .................................................................. 411
References ................................................................................................................ 412

Chapter 47 Energy–Environmental Interactions ........................................................................ 413

47.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 413
47.2 U.S. Energy–Environmental Policy Issues.................................................... 414
47.3 General Overview/Comments ....................................................................... 415
47.4 Net Energy Concepts..................................................................................... 415
47.5 Interaction with Other Goals......................................................................... 416
47.6 Environmental Concerns: A Technological Mandate ................................... 417
47.7 Individual State Energy Policies ................................................................... 418
47.8 Global Energy Policies .................................................................................. 418
47.9 Future Trends................................................................................................. 419
References ................................................................................................................ 420
Contents xxi

PART VIII Other Areas of Interest

Chapter 48 The EPA Dilemma ................................................................................................... 423

48.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 423
48.2 Early History of the EPA............................................................................... 423
48.3 Is the EPA Cost Effective?............................................................................. 424
48.4 Are EPA’s Decisions Justifed and Consistent? ............................................. 426
48.5 Can the EPA Be Eliminated? ........................................................................ 428
48.6 Future Trends................................................................................................. 429
References ................................................................................................................ 429

Chapter 49 Electromagnetic Fields ............................................................................................. 431

Adrian Calderone
49.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 431
49.2 Exposure Comments...................................................................................... 431
49.3 Health Effects ................................................................................................ 432
49.4 Management/Control Procedures.................................................................. 434
49.5 New Wireless Technologies........................................................................... 436
49.6 Future Trends................................................................................................. 437
References ................................................................................................................ 438

Chapter 50 Noise Pollution ......................................................................................................... 439

50.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 439
50.2 Noise Legislation ........................................................................................... 439
50.3 Effects of Noise ............................................................................................. 442
50.4 Sources of Noise............................................................................................ 443
50.5 Noise Abatement ........................................................................................... 443
50.6 Future Trends................................................................................................. 445
References ................................................................................................................ 445

Chapter 51 Used Oil.................................................................................................................... 447

51.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 447
51.2 Used Oil Industry .......................................................................................... 447
51.3 Used Oil Recycling and Reuse ......................................................................449
51.3.1 Refning ............................................................................................449
51.3.2 Reprocessing .................................................................................... 450
51.4 Early Regulations Governing Used Oil......................................................... 450
51.5 Facts about Used Oil ..................................................................................... 452
References ................................................................................................................ 452

Chapter 52 Underground Storage Tanks..................................................................................... 453

52.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 453
52.2 Early Regulations .......................................................................................... 453
52.3 Federal Regulations....................................................................................... 454
52.4 Release Response and Corrective Action ...................................................... 456
xxii Contents

52.5 Cleanup Procedures and Economic Considerations...................................... 456

52.6 Future Trends................................................................................................. 458
References ................................................................................................................ 459

Chapter 53 Environmental Audits .............................................................................................. 461

53.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 461
53.2 Defnition of Environmental Auditing .......................................................... 461
53.3 Why Conduct an Environmental Audit? ....................................................... 462
53.4 Elements of an Effective Auditing Program ................................................. 462
53.5 EPA’s Audit Policy: Incentives for Self-Policing...........................................464
53.6 Future Trends.................................................................................................464
References ................................................................................................................464

Chapter 54 Economics ................................................................................................................465

54.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 465
54.2 Capital Costs..................................................................................................465
54.3 Operating Costs ............................................................................................. 467
54.4 Hidden Economic Factors ............................................................................. 467
54.5 Project Evaluation and Optimization ............................................................468
54.6 Future Trends.................................................................................................469
References ................................................................................................................469

Chapter 55 Nanotechnology Concerns ....................................................................................... 471

George Morgano
55.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 471
55.2 Introduction to Nanotechnology.................................................................... 471
55.3 Environmental Implications .......................................................................... 472
55.4 Health Risk Assessment ................................................................................ 473
55.5 Hazard Risk Assessment ............................................................................... 475
55.6 Environmental Regulations ........................................................................... 477
55.7 Future Trends................................................................................................. 478
References ................................................................................................................480

Chapter 56 Acid Rain.................................................................................................................. 481

56.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 481
56.2 Emissions Reduction: Before Combustion .................................................... 482
56.2.1 Coal Switching ................................................................................. 482
56.2.2 Coal Cleaning................................................................................... 482
56.3 Emissions Reduction: During Combustion ................................................... 483
56.4 Emissions Reduction: After Combustion ......................................................484
56.5 National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program ........................................484
56.5.1 Aquatic Effects.................................................................................484
56.5.2 Forest Effects.................................................................................... 485
56.5.3 Crop Effects...................................................................................... 485
56.5.4 Materials Effects .............................................................................. 485
56.5.5 Human Health Effects...................................................................... 485
56.6 Future Trends................................................................................................. 486
References ................................................................................................................ 486
Contents xxiii

Chapter 57 Legal Considerations................................................................................................ 487

Emma Parente
57.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 487
57.2 Intellectual Property Law.............................................................................. 488
57.3 Contract Law ................................................................................................. 488
57.4 Tort Law ........................................................................................................ 488
57.5 Patents............................................................................................................ 489
57.6 Infringement and Interferences ..................................................................... 490
57.7 Copyrights ..................................................................................................... 491
57.8 Trademarks .................................................................................................... 491
57.9 The Engineering Professional Licensing Process ......................................... 492
References ................................................................................................................ 492

Chapter 58 Training Options ...................................................................................................... 493

58.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 493
58.2 Academic Training ........................................................................................ 493
58.3 Employee Exchange Programs...................................................................... 494
58.4 Summer Employment and Cooperative Training.......................................... 495
58.5 Short-Term Training ...................................................................................... 495
58.6 Self-Study Training ....................................................................................... 496
58.7 Future Trends................................................................................................. 497
References ................................................................................................................ 498

Chapter 59 Ethical Considerations ............................................................................................. 499

59.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 499
59.2 Moral Issues...................................................................................................500
59.3 Modern Day Mainstream Environmentalism................................................ 501
59.4 Technology and Environmentalism............................................................... 503
59.5 Engineering Ethics ........................................................................................504
59.5.1 Preamble...........................................................................................504
59.5.2 Pledge ............................................................................................... 505
59.5.3 A&WMA Bylaws ............................................................................. 505
59.6 Future Trends.................................................................................................506
References ................................................................................................................506

Chapter 60 Environmental Justice ..............................................................................................509

60.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................509
60.2 History and Scientifc Research .................................................................... 510
60.3 Federal Action to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations ....511
60.4 The Case for Environmental Justice.............................................................. 512
60.5 The Case against Environmental Justice....................................................... 513
60.5.1 Environmental Racism ..................................................................... 513
60.5.2 Environmental Equity ...................................................................... 513
60.5.3 Environmental Health ...................................................................... 514
60.6 Future Trends................................................................................................. 514
References ................................................................................................................ 514

Index.............................................................................................................................................. 517
Preface
In the last fve decades, there has been an increased awareness of a wide range of environmental
issues covering all sources: air, land, and water. More and more people are becoming aware of these
environmental concerns, and it is important that professional people, many of whom do not possess
an understanding of environmental problems, have the proper information available when involved
with environmental issues. All professionals should have a basic understanding of the technical and
scientifc terms related to these issues as well as the regulations involved. Hopefully, this book will
serve the needs of the professional by increasing his or her awareness of (and help solve) the envi-
ronmental problems that society is facing now.
This book is primarily intended for individuals who have a limited environmental technical
background. It is presented in simple, understandable terms for students, practicing engineers and
scientists, lawyers, news media executives, business personnel, and even the consumers who need to
know the fundamentals and principles of the many environmental issues that exist and will continue
to exist in the future. The authors’ objective is also to provide both background material on numer-
ous environmental issues and information on what each individual can do to help alleviate some of
these problems. The authors believe that the book will serve as the defnitive nontechnical source of
technical twenty-frst century environmental issues.
This book is divided into eight parts. Part I provides an overview that includes an introduction
to environmental issues, regulations, and types of pollutants. Part II deals with issues related to air
pollution. It includes material on how air pollution can be controlled and on the quality of indoor
air which is an issue in many offce buildings today. Part III discusses the problems of pollution in
water and methods to control this problem. Part IV focuses on solid waste management. It exam-
ines the different types of solid waste, such as hazardous, medical, and nuclear, and treatment
techniques for each. This part also includes material on the Superfund program and the result of
its effort to clean up waste sites. Part V focuses on several pollution prevention topic areas that
include sustainability, green chemistry and engineering, and industrial ecology. Since the concern
with many of the environmental issues arises because of the risks involved, Part VI examines how
risks, including nontechnical ones, are perceived and communicated, and how individuals can
be educated about these risks. Part VII is concerned with energy considerations; topics reviewed
include energy resources, energy conservation, heat transfer and heat exchanger principles, the
role of entropy, and energy–environmental interactions. Finally, Part VIII provides information
on other areas of interest in the environmental arena. These include many popular topics such as
electromagnetic felds, environmental implications of nanotechnology, and ethical issues as they
relate to the environment.
This edition is the result of two years of effort by the authors. The frst rough draft was prepared
during the years of 2018 through 2020. The manuscript underwent signifcant revisions during this
past year, some of it based on the experiences gained from earlier written material that appeared in
the previous edition.
The authors are also indebted to Drs. Ryan Dupont, Kumar Ganesan, Johnny Jeris, Wally
Matystik, and Ronnie Zaglin for their technical support that provided invaluable assistance in the
preparation of this edition. Finally, the authors’ sincere gratitude is due to all those who patiently
assisted with the typing and proofreading of this manuscript.

Mary K. Theodore
Louis Theodore
East Williston, NY
August 2021

xxv
xxvi Preface

Note: This book also provides a useful resource in the form of a CRC Press website
http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9780367758103, which contains nearly 150 chapter prob-
lems plus an exams manual of four semesters of tests; solutions for both these manuals are available
for those who adopt the book for training and/or academic purposes.
Acknowledgment
Writing, when properly managed (as you may be sure I think mine is)
Is but a different name for conversation …
We could manage this matter to a T.
Laurence Sterne
(1713–1768)
Book II

xxvii
Another random document with
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embryological process as an abridged repetition of the various states
through which the species has passed in its evolutionary career must
be definitively abandoned, and that, as a general law of organic
development, the biogenetic principle has been thoroughly
discredited. “This law,” says Karl Vogt of Geneva, “which I long held
as well-founded, is absolutely and radically false. Attentive study of
embryology shows us, in fact, that embryos have their own
conditions suitable to themselves, and very different from those of
adults.” (Quoted by Quatrefages De Breau, in his “Les Emules de
Darwin,” vol. II, p. 13.) “There can no longer be question,” says Prof.
M. Caullery of the Sorbonne, “of systematically regarding individual
development as a repetition of the history of the stock. This
conclusion results from the very progress made under the inspiration
received from this imaginary law, the law of biogenesis.” (Smithson.
Inst. Rpt. for 1916, p. 325.)
This collapse of the biogenetic law has tumbled into ruins the
elaborate superstructure of genealogy which Haeckel had reared
upon it. His series of thirty stages extending from the fictitious
“cytodes” up to man, inclusively, is even more worthless today than it
was when Du Bois-Reymond made his ironic comment: “Man’s
pedigree, as drawn up by Haeckel, is worth about as much as is that
of Homer’s heroes for critical historians.” (Revue Scientifique, 1877,
I, p. 1101.) Haeckel tried in vain to save his discredited law by
means of the expedient of cænogenesis, that is, “the falsification of
the ancestral record (palingenesis).” That Nature should be guilty of
“falsification” is an hypothesis not to be lightly entertained, and it is
more credible, as Wasmann remarks, to assume that Haeckel, and
not Nature, is the real falsifier, inasmuch as he has misrepresented
Nature in his “fundamental biogenetic law.” Cænogenesis is a very
convenient device. One can alternate at will between cænogenesis
and palingenesis, just as, in comparative anatomy, one can alternate
capriciously between convergence and homology, on the general
understanding of its being a case of: “Heads, I win; tails, you lose”—
certainly, there is no objective consideration to restrain us in such
procedure. “Such weapons as Cænogenesis and Convergence,”
says Kohlbrugge (in his “Die Morphologische Abstammung des
Menschen,” 1908) “are unfortunately so shaped that anyone can use
them when they suit him, or throw them aside when they do not.
They show, therefore, in the prettiest way the uncertainty even now
of the construction of the theory of descent. As soon as we go into
details it leaves us in the lurch; it was only while our knowledge was
small that everything seemed to fit together in most beautiful order.”
(Quoted by Dwight in “Thoughts of a Catholic Anatomist,” p. 187.)
It is undeniable, indeed, that in many cases the young of higher
animals pass through stages in which they bear at least a superficial
resemblance to adult stages in inferior and less complex organisms.
Obviously, however, there cannot be any direct derivation of the
embryonic features of one organism from the adult characters of
another organism. This preposterous implication of the Müller-
Haeckel Law must, as Morgan points out, be entirely eliminated,
before it can merit serious consideration. Referring to the spiral
cleavage exhibited by annelid, planarian and molluscan eggs,
Morgan says: “It has been found that the cleavage pattern has the
same general arrangement in the early stages of flat worms,
annelids and molluscs. Obviously these stages have never been
adult ancestors, and obviously if their resemblance has any meaning
at all, it is that each group has retained the same general plan of
cleavage possessed by their common ancestor.... Perhaps someone
will say, ‘Well! is not this all that we have contended for! Have you
not reached the old conclusion in a roundabout way?’ I think not. To
my mind there is a wide difference between the old statement that
the higher animals living today have the original adult stages
telescoped into their embryos, and the statement that the
resemblance between certain characters in the embryos of higher
animals and corresponding stages in the embryos of lower animals
is most plausibly explained by the assumption that they have
descended from the same ancestors, and that their common
structures are embryonic survivals.” (Op. cit., pp. 22, 23.)
After this admission, however, nothing remains of the law of
“recapitulation” except simple embryological homology comparable,
in every sense, to adult homology, and adding nothing essentially
new to the latter argument for evolution. It is, therefore, ridiculous for
evolutionists to speak of branchial (gill) arches and clefts in man.
The visceral or pharyngeal arches and grooves appearing in the
human embryo are unquestionably homologous with the genuine
branchial arches and clefts in a fish embryo. In the latter, however,
the grooves become real clefts through perforation, while the arches
become the lamellæ of the permanent gills, thus adapting the animal
to aquatic respiration. It is, accordingly, perfectly legitimate to refer to
these embryonic structures in the young fish as gill arches and gill
clefts. In man, however, the corresponding embryonic structures
develop into the oral cavity, auditory meatus, ossicles of the ear, the
mandible, the lower lip, the tongue, the cheek, the hyoid bone, the
styloid process, the thymus, the thyroid and tracheal cartilages, etc.
There is no perforation of the grooves, and the arches develop into
something quite different than branchial lamellæ. Hence the correct
name for these structures in the human embryo is pharyngeal
(visceral) arches and grooves, their superficial resemblance to the
embryonic structures in the fish embryo being no justification for
calling them branchial. In short, the mere fact that certain embryonic
structures in the young fish (homologous to the pharyngeal arches
and grooves in the human embryo) develop into the permanent gills
of the adult fish, is no more significant than the association of
homology with divergent preadaptations, which is of quite general
occurrence among adult vertebrate types. In all such cases, we have
instances of fundamentally identical structures, diverted, as it were,
to entirely different purposes or functions (e.g. the arm of a man and
the flipper of a whale). Hence the argument drawn from
embryological homology is no more cogent than the argument drawn
from the homologies of comparative anatomy, which we have
already discussed in a previous chapter. The misuse of the term
branchial, to prejudge matters in their own favor, is in keeping with
the customary policy of evolutionists. It is intended, naturally, to
convey the impression that man, in the course of his evolution, has
passed through a fish-like stage. At bottom, however, it is nothing
more than a verbal subterfuge, that need not detain us further.
The theory of embryological recapitulation is often applied to man,
with a view to establishing the doctrine of his bestial ancestry. We
have seen one instance of this application, and we shall consider
one other, for the purpose of illustrating more fully the principles
involved. The claim is made by evolutionists, that man must have
passed through a fish or amphibian stage, because, in common with
all other mammals, he exhibits, during his embryological
development, a typical fish (or, if you prefer, amphibian) kidney,
which subsequently atrophies, only to be replaced by the
characteristic mammalian kidney. The human embryo, therefore,
repeats the history of our race, which must have passed through a
fish-like stage in the remote past. In consequence of this
phenomenon, therefore, it is inferred that man must have had fish-
like ancestors. Let us pause, however, to analyze the facts upon
which this inference is based.
In annelids, like the earthworm, the nephridia or excretory tubules
are arranged segmentally, one pair to each somite. In vertebrates,
however, the nephridial tubules, instead of developing in regular
sequence from before backwards, develop in three batches, one
behind the other, the anterior batch being called the pronephros, the
middle one, the mesonephros and the posterior one, the
metanephros. This, according to J. Graham Kerr, holds true not only
of the amniotic vertebrates (reptiles, birds, and mammals) but also,
with a certain reservation, of the anamniotic vertebrates (fishes and
amphibians). “In many of the lower Vertebrates,” says this author,
“there is no separation between the mesonephros and metanephros,
the two forming one continuous structure which acts as the
functional kidney. Such a type of renal organ consisting of the series
of tubules corresponding to mesonephros together with metanephros
may conveniently be termed the opisthonephros.” (“Textbook of
Embryology,” II—Vertebrata, p. 221.) If we accept this view, it is not
quite accurate to regard the mesonephros in man as a homologue of
the opisthonephros of a fish, seeing that the latter is composed not
only of mesonephridia (mesonephric tubules), but also of
metanephridia (metanephric tubules). A brief description of the three
nephridial systems of vertebrate embryos will serve to further clarify
their interrelationship.
 (1) The pronephric system: This consists of a collection of tubules
called the pronephros, and a pronephric duct leading to the cloaca,
or terminal portion of the alimentary canal. The pronephros is a
functional organ in the frog tadpole and other larval amphibia. It is
also found in a few teleosts, where it is said to persist as a functional
organ in the adult. In other fishes, however, and in all higher forms
the pronephros atrophies and becomes reduced to a few
rudiments.[17]
(2) The mesonephric system: This consists of a collection of
nephridial tubules called the mesonephros (Wolffian body). The
tubules of the mesonephros do not develop any duct of their own,
but utilize the posterior portion of the pronephric duct, the said
tubules becoming secondarily connected with this duct in a region
posterior to the pronephridia (tubules of the pronephros). The
pronephric tubules together with the anterior portion of the
pronephric duct then atrophy, while the persisting posterior portion of
this duct receives the name of mesonephric or Wolffian duct. The
duct in question still terminates in the cloaca, and serves, in the
male, the combined function of a urinary and spermatic duct; but, in
the female, a special oviduct (the Müllerian duct) is superadded
because of the large size of the eggs to be transmitted, the Wolffian
or mesonephric duct subserving only the urinary function. The
mesonephros is functional in mammalian embryos, but atrophies and
disappears coincidently with the development of the permanent
kidney. The same is true of amniotic vertebrates generally, except
that in the case of reptiles the mesonephros persists for a few
months after hatching in the adult, the definitive kidney of the adult
being reinforced during that interval by the still functional
mesonephros. In anamniotic vertebrates, however, no separation
exists between the mesonephros and the metanephros, the two
forming one continuous structure, the opisthonephros, which acts as
the functional kidney of the adult.
(3) The metanephric system: In the amniotic vertebrates the
mesonephros and metanephros are distinct, the former being
functional in embryos and in adult reptiles (for a few months after
hatching), while the metanephros becomes the definitive kidney of
the adult. The metanephros is a collection of nephridial tubules
provided with a special urinary duct called the ureter, which empties
into the bladder (not the cloaca). The Wolffian or mesonephric duct is
retained as a sperm duct in the male (of amniotic vertebrates), but
becomes vestigial in the female. Only a certain number of the
nephridial tubules of the embryonic metanephros are taken over to
form part of the permanent or adult kidney (in mammals, birds, and
reptiles).
If, then, as we have previously observed, we follow Kerr in
regarding the fish kidney, not as a simple mesonephros, but as an
opisthonephros (i.e. a combination of mesonephros and
metanephros), there is no warrant for interpreting the embryonic
mesonephros of man and mammals generally as the fish-kidney
stage. But waiving this consideration, and assuming, for the sake of
argument, that the fish kidney is a perfect homologue of the human
mesonephros, the mere fact of the adoption by the human embryo of
a temporary solution of its excretory problem similar to the
permanent solution of that problem adopted by the fish, would not, of
itself, imply the common ancestry of men and fishes. Such a
coincidence would be fully explicable as a case of convergent
adaptation occurring in the interest of embryonic economy.
It is, indeed, a well-known fact that larval and embryonic
organisms are often obliged to defer temporarily the construction of
the more complex structures of adult life, and to improvise simpler
substitutes for use until such a time as they have accumulated a
sufficient reserve of energy and materials to complete the work of
their more elaborate adult organization. The young starfish, for
example, arising as it does from an egg but scantily supplied with
yolk, is forced, from the very outset, to shift for itself, in coping with
the food-getting problem. Under stress of this necessity, it
economizes its slender resources by constructing the extremely
simple digestive and motor apparatus characteristic of the larva in its
bilaterally-symmetrical Bipinnaria stage, and postponing the
development of the radially-symmetrical structure characteristic of
the adult stage, until it has stored up the wherewithal to complete its
metamorphosis.
 From this viewpoint, there is no difficulty in understanding why
temporary solutions of the excretory problem should precede the
definitive solution of this problem in mammalian embryos. The
problem of excretion is urgent from the outset, and its demands
increase with the growth of the embryo. It is only natural, then, that a
series of improvised structures should be resorted to, in a case of
this kind; and, since these temporary solutions of the excretory
problem must, of necessity, be as simple as possible, it should not
be in the least surprising to find them coinciding with the permanent
solutions adopted by inferior organisms less complexly organized
than the mammals. Hence the bare fact of resemblance between the
transitory embryonic kidney of a mammal and the permanent adult
kidney of a fish would have no atavistic significance. We know of
innumerable cases in which an identical adaptation occurs in
genetically unrelated organisms. The cephalopod mollusc Nautilus,
for example, solves the problem of light-perception in the identical
manner in which it is solved by the vertebrates. This mollusc has the
perfect vertebrate type of eye, including the lens and all other parts
down to the minutest detail. The fact, however, that the mollusc
solves its problem by using the stereotyped solution found in
vertebrates rather than by developing a compound eye analogous to
the type found among arthropods, is wholly destitute of genetic
significance. In fact, the genetic interpretation is positively rejected
by the evolutionists, who interpret the occurrence of similar eyes in
molluscs and vertebrates as an instance of “accidental
convergence.” Even assuming, then, what Kerr denies, namely, a
perfect parallelism between the mesonephros of the human embryo
and the permanent kidney of an adult fish, the alleged fact that the
human embryo temporarily adopts the same type of solution for its
excretory problem as the one permanently employed by the fish
would not in itself be a proof of our descent from a fish-like ancestor.
In fact, not only is embryological homology of no greater value
than adult homology as an argument for evolution, but it is, on the
contrary, considerably inferior to the latter, as regards cogency.
Differentiation pertains to the final or adult stage of organisms.
Embryonic structures, inasmuch as they are undeveloped and
undifferentiated, present for that very reason an appearance of crude
and superficial similarity. “Most of what is generally ascribed to the
action of the so-called biogenetic law,” says T. Garbowski, “is
erroneously ascribed to it, since all things that are undeveloped and
incomplete must be more or less alike.” (“Morphogenetische
Studien,” Jena, 1903.) When we consider the fact that the metazoa
have all a similar unicellular origin, are subject to uniform
morphogenetic laws, and are frequently exposed to analogous
environmental conditions demanding similar adaptations, it is not at
all surprising that they should present many points of resemblance
(both in their embryonic and their adult morphology) which are not
referable to any particular line of descent. At all events, these
resemblances are far too general in their extension to enable us to
specify the type of ancestor responsible therefor. More especially is
this true of embryological homologies, which are practically valueless
as basis for reconstructing the phylogeny of any type. “That certain
phenomena,” says Oskar Hertwig, “recur with great regularity and
uniformity in the development of different species of animals, is due
chiefly to the fact that under all circumstances they supply the
necessary condition under which alone the next higher stage in
ontogeny (embryological development) can be produced.”
(“Allgemeine Biologie,” 1906, p. 595.) The same author, therefore,
proposes to revamp Haeckel’s “biogenetisches Grundgesetz” as
follows: “We must leave out the words ‘recapitulation of forms of
extinct ancestors’ and substitute for them ‘repetition of forms
regularly occurring in organic development, and advancing from the
simple to the more complex.’” (Op. cit., p. 593.)
Finally, when applied to the problem of man’s alleged genetic
connection with the ape, the biogenetic principle proves the exact
reverse of what the Darwinians desire; for as a matter of fact the
young apes resemble man much more closely in the shape of the
skull and facial features than do the adult animals. Inasmuch,
therefore, as the ape, in its earlier development, reveals a more
marked resemblance to man than is present in its later stages, it
follows, according to the “biogenetic law,” that man is the ancestor of
the ape. This, however, is inadmissible, seeing that the ape is by no
means a more recent type than man. Consequently, as applied to
man, the Haeckelian principle leads to a preposterous conclusion,
and thereby manifests its worthlessness as a clue to phylogeny.
Julius Kollmann, it is true, gives serious attention to this likeness
between young apes and men, and makes it the basis of his scheme
of human evolution. “Kollmann,” says Dwight, “starts from the fact
that the head of a young ape is very much more like that of a child
than the head of an old ape is like that of a man. He holds that the
likeness of the skull of a very young ape is so great that there must
be a family relationship. He believes that some differentiation, some
favorable variation, must occur in the body of the mother and so a
somewhat higher skull is transmitted to the offspring and is
perpetuated. Concerning which Kohlbrugge remarks that ‘thus the
first men were developed, not from the adult, but from the embryonic
forms of the anthropoids whose more favorable form of skull they
managed to preserve in further growth.’ ... Schwalbe makes the
telling criticism of these views of Kollmann that much the same thing
might be said of the heads of embryonic animals in general that is
said of those of apes, and that thus mammals might be said to have
come from a more man-like ancestor.” (Op. cit., pp. 186, 187.) All of
which goes to show that the “biogenetic law” is more misleading than
helpful in settling the question of human phylogeny.

§ 3. Rudimentary Organs
Darwin attached great importance to the existence in man of so-
called rudimentary organs, which he regarded as convincing
evidence of man’s descent from the lower forms of animal life.
Nineteenth century science, being ignorant of the functional purpose
served by many organs, arbitrarily pronounced them to be useless
organs, and chose, in consequence, to regard them all as the
atrophied and (wholly or partially) functionless remnants of organs
that were formerly developed and fully functional in remote ancestors
of the race. Darwin borrowed this argument from Lamarck. It may be
stated thus: Undeveloped and functionless organs are atrophied
organs. But atrophy is the result of disuse. Now disuse presupposes
former use. Consequently, rudimentary organs were at one time
developed and functioning, viz. in the remote ancestors of the race.
Since, therefore, these selfsame organs are developed and
functional in the lower forms of life, it follows that the higher forms, in
which these organs are reduced and functionless, are descended
from forms similar to those in which said organs are developed and
fully functional.
This argument, however, fairly bristles with assumptions that are
not only wholly unwarranted, but utterly at variance with actual facts.
In the first place, it wrongly assumes that all reduced organs are
functionless, and, conversely, that all functionless organs are
atrophied or reduced. Facts, however, prove the contrary; for we find
frequent instances of reduced organs which function, and, vice
versa, of well-developed organs which are functionless. The tail, for
example, in cats, dogs, and certain Catarrhine monkeys, though it
discharges neither the prehensile function that makes it useful in the
Platyrrhine monkey, nor the protective function that makes it useful
to horses and cattle in warding off flies, is, nevertheless, despite its
inutility or absence of function, a quite fully developed organ.
Conversely, the reduced or undeveloped fin-like wings of the
penguin are by no means functionless, since they enable this bird to
swim through the water with great facility.
To save his argument from this antagonism of the facts, Darwin
resorts to the ingenious expedient of distinguishing between
rudimentary organs and nascent organs. Rudimentary organs are
undeveloped organs, which are wholly, or partially, useless. They
have had a past, but have no future. Nascent organs, on the
contrary, are undeveloped organs, which “are of high service to their
possessors” (“Descent of Man,” ch. I, p. 28, 2nd ed.). They “are
capable of further development” (ibidem), and have, therefore, a
future before them. He gives the following examples of rudimentary
organs: “Rudimentary organs ... are either quite useless, such as
teeth which never cut through the gums, or almost useless, such as
the wings of an ostrich, which serve merely as sails.” (“Origin of
Species,” 6th ed., ch. XIV, p. 469.) As an example of a nascent
organ, he gives the mammary glands of the oviparous Duckbill: “The
mammary glands of the Ornithorhynchus may be considered, in
comparison with the udders of a cow, as in a nascent condition.”
(Op. cit., ch. XIV, p. 470.)
Darwin admits that it is hard to apply this distinction in the
concrete: “It is, however, often difficult to distinguish between
rudimentary and nascent organs; for we can judge only by analogy
whether a part is capable of further development, in which case
alone it deserves to be called nascent.” (Op. cit., ch. XIV, p. 469.) For
Darwin “judging by analogy” meant judging on the assumption that
evolution has really taken place; for he describes rudimentary organs
as being “of such slight service that we can hardly suppose that they
were developed under the conditions which now exist.” (“Descent of
Man,” ch. I, p. 29.)
He is somewhat perplexed about applying this distinction to the
penguin: “The wing of the penguin,” he admits, “is of high service,
acting as a fin; it may, therefore, represent the nascent state: not that
I believe this to be the case; it is more probably a reduced organ,
modified for a new function.” (“Origin of Species,” 6th ed., ch. XIV,
pp. 469, 470.) In other words, there is scarcely any objective
consideration by which the validity of this distinction can be checked
up in practice. Like homology and convergence, like palingenesis
and cænogensis, the distinction between rudimentary and nascent
organs is a convenient device, which can be arbitrarily manipulated
according to the necessities of a preconceived theory. It is “scientific”
sanction for the privilege of blowing hot and cold with the same
breath.
The assumption that atrophy and reduction are the inevitable
consequence of disuse, or diminution of use, in so far as this
decreases the flow of nourishing blood to unexercised parts, is
certainly erroneous. Yet Darwin made it the premise of his argument
from so-called rudimentary organs. “The term ‘disuse’ does not
relate,” he informs us, “merely to lessened action of muscles, but
includes a diminished flow of blood to the part or organ, from being
subjected to fewer alternations of pressure, or from being in any way
less habitually active.” (“Origin of Species,” 6th ed., p. 469.) As a
matter of fact, however, we have many instances in which use has
failed to develop and disuse to reduce organs in certain types of
animals. As an example in point, we may cite the case of right-
handedness among human beings. From time immemorial, the
generality of mankind have consistently used the right hand in
preference to the left, without any atrophy or reduction of the left
hand, or over-development of the right hand, resulting from this
racial practice. “The superiority of one hand,” says G. Elliot Smith, “is
as old as mankind.” (Smithson. Inst. Rpt. for 1912, p. 570.) It is true
that only about 6,000 years of human existence are known to history,
but, if one accepts the most conservative estimates of glaciologists,
man has had a much longer prehistory, the lowest estimates for the
age of man being approximately 30,000 years. Thus W. J. Sollas
tells us that the Glacial period, in which man first appeared, came to
an end about 7,000 years ago, and that the men buried at Chapelle-
aux-Saints in France lived about 25,000 years ago. His figures agree
with those of C. F. Wright, who bases his calculations on the Niagara
Gorge. The Niagara River is one of the postglacial streams, and the
time required to cut its gorge has been calculated as 7,000 years.
Gerard De Geer, the Swedish scientist, gives 20,000 years ago as
the end of glacial and the commencement of recent or postglacial
time. He bases his estimates on the sediments of the Yoldia Sea in
Sweden. His method consists in the actual counting of certain
seasonally-laminated clay layers, presumably left behind by the
receding ice sheet of the continental glacier. The melting is
registered by annual deposition, in which the thinner layers of finer
sand from the winter flows alternate with thicker layers of coarser
material from the summer flows. In warm years, the layers are
thicker, in colder years they are thinner, so that these laminated
Pleistocene clays constitute a thermographic as well as a
chronological record. De Geer began his study of Pleistocene clays
in 1878, and in 1920 he led an expedition to the United States, for
the purpose of extending his researches. (Cf. Science, Sept. 24,
1920, pp. 284-286.) At that time, he claimed to have worked out the
chronology of the past 12,000 years. His figure of 20,000 years for
postglacial time, while very displeasing to that reckless foe of
scientific caution and conservatism, Henry Fairfield Osborn, tallies
very well with the estimates of Sollas and Wright. H. Obermaier,
basing his computation on Croll’s theory that glaciation is caused by
variations in the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit about the sun, which
would bring about protracted winters in the hemisphere having
winter, when the earth was farthest from the sun (with consequent
accumulation of ice), gives 30,000 years ago as the date of the first
appearance of man on earth. Father Hugues Obermaier, it may be
noted, like Abbé Henri Breuil, is one of the foremost authorities on
the subject of prehistoric Man. Both are Catholic priests.
All such computations of the age of man are, of course, uncertain
and theoretical. Evolutionists calculate it in hundreds of thousands,
and even millions, of years. After giving such a table of recklessly
tremendous figures, Osborn has the hypocritical meticulosity to add
that, for the sake of precision (save the mark!) the nineteen hundred
and some odd years of the Christian era should be added to his
figures. But, even according to the most conservative scientific
estimates, as we have seen, man is said to have been in existence
for 30,000 years, and the prevalence of right-handedness among
men is as old as the human race. One would expect, then, to find
modern man equipped with a gigantic right arm and a dwarfed left
arm. In other words, man should exhibit a condition comparable to
that of a lobster, which has one large and one small chela. Yet, in
spite of the fact that the comparative inaction of the human left hand
is supposed to have endured throughout a period of, at least, 30,000
years, this state of affairs has not resulted in the faintest trace of
atrophy or retrogression. Bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments,
nerves, blood vessels, and all parts are of equal size in both arms
and both hands. Excessive exercise may overdevelop the
musculature of the right arm, but this is an individual and acquired
adaptation, which is never transmitted to the offspring, e.g. the child
of a blacksmith does not inherit the muscular hypertrophy of his
father. Disuse, therefore, has not the efficacy which Lamarck and
Darwin ascribed to it.
In fine, it must be recognized, once for all, that organisms are not-
molded on a Lamarckian basis of use, nor yet on a Darwinian basis
of selected utility. Expediency, in other words, is not the sole
governing principle of the organic world. Neither instinctive habitude
nor the struggle for existence succeeds in forcing structural
adaptation of a predictable nature. Animals with different organic
structure have the same instincts, e.g. monkeys with, and without,
prehensile tails alike dwell in trees; while animals having the same
organic structure may have different instincts, e.g. the rabbit, which
burrows, and the hare, which does not, are practically identical in
anatomical structure. Again, some animals are highly specialized for
a function, which other animals perform without specialized organs,
as is instanced in the case of moles, which possess a special
burrowing apparatus, and prairie-dogs, which burrow without a
specialized apparatus. Any system of evolution, which ignores the
internal or hereditary factors of organic life and strives to explain all
in terms of the environmental factors, encounters an insuperable
obstacle in this remorseless resistance of conflicting facts.
Another flaw in the Darwinian argument from rudimentary organs
is that it confounds, in many cases, apparent, with real inutility (or
absence of function). Darwin and his followers frequently argued out
of their ignorance, and falsely concluded that an organ was destitute
of a function, merely because they had failed to discover its utility.
Large numbers, accordingly, of highly serviceable organs were
catalogued as vestigial or rudimentary, simply because nineteenth
century science did not comprehend their indubitable utility. With the
advance of present-day physiology, this list of “useless organs” is
being rapidly depleted, so that the scientific days of the rudimentary
organ appear to be numbered. At any rate, in arbitrarily pronouncing
many important and functioning organs to be useless vestiges of a
former stage in the history of the race, the Darwinians were not the
friends of Science, but rather its reactionary enemies, inasmuch as
they sought to discourage further investigation by their dogmatic
decision that there was no function to be found. In so doing,
however, they were merely exploiting the ignorance of their times in
the interest of a preconceived theory, which whetted their appetite for
discovering, at all costs, the presence in man of functionless organs.
Their anxiety in this direction led them to consider the whole group
of organs constituting a most important regulatory and coördinative
system in man and other vertebrates as so many useless vestigial
organs. This system is called the cryptorhetic system and is made of
internally-secreting, ductless glands, now called endocrine glands.
These glands generate and instill into the blood stream certain
chemical substances called hormones, which, diffusing in the blood,
produce immediate stimulatory, and remote metabolic effects on
special organs distant from the endocrine gland, in which the
particular hormone is elaborated. As examples of such endocrine
glands, we may mention the pineal gland (epiphysis), the pituitary
body (hypophysis), the thyroid glands, the parathyroids, the islelets
of Langerhans, the adrenal bodies (suprarenal capsules), and the
interstitial cells of the gonads. The importance of these alleged
useless organs is now known to be paramount. Death, for instance,
will immediately ensue in man and other animals, upon extirpation of
the adrenal bodies.
The late Robert Wiedersheim, it will be remembered, declared the
pineal gland or epiphysis to be the surviving vestige of a “third eye”
inherited from a former ancestor, in whom it opened between the
parietal bones of the skull, like the median or pineal eye of certain
lizards, the socket of which is the parietal foramen formed in the
interparietal suture. If the argument is based on homology alone,
then the coincidence in position between the human epiphysis and
the median optic nerve of the lizards in question has the ordinary
force of the evolutionary argument from homology. But when one
attempts to reduce the epiphysis to the status of a useless vestigial
rudiment, he is in open conflict with facts; for the pineal body is, in
reality, an endocrine gland generating and dispersing a hormone,
which is very important for the regulation of growth in general and of
sexual development in particular. Hence this tiny organ in the
diencephalic roof, no larger than a grain of wheat, is not a
functionless rudiment, but an important functioning organ of the
cryptorhetic system. We have no ground, therefore, on this score for
inferring that our pineal gland functioned in former ancestors as a
median eye comparable to that of the cyclops Polyphemus of
Homeric fame.
 In like manner, the pituitary body or hypophysis, which in man is a
small organ about the size of a cherry, situated at the base of the
brain, buried in the floor of the skull, and lying just behind the optic
chiasma, was formerly rated as a rudimentary organ. It was, in fact,
regarded as the vestigial remnant of a former connection between
the neural and alimentary canals, reminiscent of the invertebrate
stage. “The phylogenetic explanation of this organ generally
accepted,” says Albert P. Mathews, “is that formerly the neural canal
connected at this point with the alimentary canal. A probable and
almost the only explanation of this, though an explanation almost
universally rejected by zoölogists, is that of Gaskell, who has
maintained that the vertebrate alimentary canal is a new structure,
and that the old invertebrate canal is the present neural canal. The
infundibulum, on this view, would correspond to the old invertebrate
œsophagus, the ventricle of the thalamus to the invertebrate
stomach, and the canal originally connected posteriorly with the
anus. The anterior lobe of the pituitary body could then correspond
to some glandular adjunct of the invertebrate canal, and the nervous
part to a portion of the original circumœsophageal nervous ring of
the invertebrates.” (“Physiological Chemistry,” 2nd ed., 1916, pp.
641, 642.)
This elaborate piece of evolutionary contortion calls for no
comment here. We are only interested in the fact that this wild and
weird speculation was originally inspired by the false assumption that
the hypophysis was a functionless organ. As a matter of fact, it is the
source of two important hormones. The one generated in its anterior
lobe is tethelin, a metabolic hormone, which promotes the growth of
the body in general and of the bony tissue in particular. Hypertrophy
and overfunction of this gland produces giantism, or acromegaly
(enlargement of hands, feet, and skull), while atrophy and
underfunction of the anterior lobe results in infantilism, acromikria
(diminution of extremities, i. e. hands, feet, head), obesity, and
genital dystrophy (i. e. suppression of secondary sexual characters).
The posterior lobe of the pituitary body constitutes, with the pars
intermedia, a second endocrine gland, which generates a stimulatory
hormone called pituitrin. This hormone stimulates unstriated muscle
to contract, and thereby regulates the discharge of secretions from
various glands of the body, e. g. the mammary glands, bladder, etc.
Hence the hypophysis, far from being a useless organ, is an
indispensable one. Moreover, it is an integral and important part of
the cryptorhetic system.
The same story may be repeated of the thyroid glands. These
consist of two lobes located on either side of the windpipe, just below
the larynx (Adam’s apple), and joined together across the windpipe
by a narrow band or isthmus of their own substance. Gaskell
homologized them with a gland in scorpions, and Mathew says that,
if his surmise is correct, “the thyroid represents an accessory sexual
organ of the invertebrate.” (Op. cit., p. 654.) They are, however,
endocrine glands, that generate a hormone known as thyroxin, which
regulates the body-temperature, growth of the body in general, and
of the nervous system in particular, etc., etc. Atrophy or extirpation of
these glands causes cretinism in the young and myxoedema in
adults. Without a sufficient supply of this hormone, the normal
exercise of mental powers in human beings is impossible. The
organ, therefore, is far from being a useless vestige of what was
formerly useful.
George Howard Parker, the Zoölogist of Harvard, sums up the
case against the Darwinian interpretation of the endocrine glands as
follows: “The extent to which hormones control the body is only just
beginning to be appreciated. For a long time anatomists have
recognized in the higher animals, including man, a number of so-
called ductless glands, such as the thyroid gland, the pineal gland,
the hypophysis, the adrenal bodies, and so forth. These have often
been passed over as unimportant functionless organs whose
presence was to be explained as an inheritance from some remote
ancestor. But such a conception is far from correct. If the thyroids are
removed from a dog, death follows in from one to four weeks. If the
adrenal bodies are excised, the animal dies in from two to three
days. Such results show beyond doubt that at least some of these
organs are of vital importance, and more recent studies have
demonstrated that most of them produce substances which have all
the properties of hormones.” (“Biology and Social Problems,” 1914,
pp. 43, 44.)
Even the vermiform appendix of the cæcum, which since Darwin’s
time has served as a classic example of a rudimentary organ in man,
is, in reality, not a functionless organ. Darwin, however, was of
opinion that it was not only useless, but positively harmful. “With
respect to the alimentary canal,” he says, “I have met with an
account of only a single rudiment, namely, the vermiform appendage
of the cæcum. ... Not only is it useless, but it is sometimes the cause
of death, of which fact I have lately heard two instances. This is due
to small hard bodies, such as seeds, entering the passage and
causing inflammation.” (“Descent of Man,” 2nd ed., ch. I, pp. 39, 40.)
The idea that seeds cause appendicitis is, of course, an exploded
superstition, the hard bodies sometimes found in the appendix being
fecal concretions and not seeds—“The old idea,” says Dr. John B.
Deaver, “that foreign bodies, such as grape seeds, are the cause of
the disease, has been disproved.” (Encycl. Americana, vol. 2, p. 76.)
What is more germane to the point at issue, however, is that Darwin
erred in denying the utility of the vermiform appendix. For, although
this organ does not discharge in man the important function which its
homologue discharges in grain-eating birds and also in herbivorous
mammals, it subserves the secondary function of lubricating the
intestines by means of a secretion from its muciparous glands.
Darwin gives the semilunar fold as another instance of a vestigial
organ, claiming that it is a persistent rudiment of a former third eyelid
or membrana nictitans, such as we find in birds. “The nictitating
membrane, or third eyelid,” he says, “with its accessory muscles and
other structures, is especially well developed in birds, and is of much
functional importance to them, as it can be rapidly drawn across the
whole eyeball. It is found in some reptiles and amphibians, and in
certain fishes as in sharks. It is fairly well developed in the two lower
divisions of the mammalian series, namely, in the monotremata and
marsupials, and in some higher mammals, as in the walrus. But in
man, the quadrumana, and most other mammals, it exists, as is
admitted by all anatomists, as a mere rudiment, called the semilunar
fold.” (Op. cit., ch. I, pp. 35, 36.) Here Darwin is certainly wrong
about his facts; for the so-called third eyelid is not well developed in
the two lower divisions of the mammalian series (i.e. the
monotremes and the marsupials) nor in any other mammalian type.
“With but few exceptions,” says Remy Perrier, “the third eyelid is not
so complete as among the birds; (in the mammals) it never covers
the entire eye. For the rest, it is not really perceptible except in
certain types, like the dog, the ruminants, and, still more so, the
horse. In the rest (of the mammals) it is less developed.” (“Elements
d’anatomie comparée,” Paris, 1893, p. 1137.) Moreover, Darwin’s
suggestion leaves us at sea as to the ancestor, from whom our
“rudimentary third eyelid” has been inherited. His mention of birds as
having a well developed third eyelid is not very helpful, because all
evolutionists agree in excluding the birds from our line of descent.
The reptiles are more promising candidates for the position of
ancestors, but, as no trace of a third eyelid could possibly be left
behind in the imperfect record of the fossiliferous rocks (soft parts
like this having but slight chance of preservation), we do not really
know whether the palæozoic reptiles possessed this particular
feature, or not. Nor can we argue from analogy and induction,
because not all modern reptiles are equipped with third eyelids.
Hence the particular group of palæozoic reptiles, which are
supposed to have been our progenitors, may not have possessed
any third eyelid to bequeath to us in the reduced and rudimentary
form of the plica semilunaris. If it be replied, that they must have had
this feature, because otherwise we would have no ancestor from
whom we could inherit our semilunar fold, it is obvious that such
argumentation assumes the very point which it ought to prove,
namely: the actuality of evolution. Rudiments are supposed to be a
proof for evolution, and not, vice versa, evolution a proof for
rudiments.
Finally, the basic assumption of Darwin that the semilunar fold is
destitute of function is incorrect; for this crescent-shaped fold
situated in the inner or nasal corner of the eye of man and other
mammals serves to regulate the flow of the lubricating lacrimal fluid
(which we call tears). True this function is secondary compared with
the more important function discharged by the nictitating membrane
in birds. In the latter, the third eyelid is a pearly-white (sometimes
transparent) membrane placed internal to the real eyelids, on the
inner side of the eye, over whose surface it can be drawn like a
curtain to shield the organ from excessive light, or irritating dust;
nevertheless, the regulation of the flow of lacrimal humor is a real
function, and it is therefore entirely false to speak of the semilunar
fold as a functionless rudiment.
The coccyx is likewise cited by Darwin as an example of an
inherited rudiment in man. “In man,” he says, “the os coccyx,
together with certain other vertebræ hereafter to be described,
though functionless as a tail, plainly represents this part in other
vertebrate animals.” (Op. cit., ch. I, p. 42.) That it serves no purpose
as a tail, may be readily admitted, but that it serves no purpose
whatever, is quite another matter. As a matter of fact, it serves for the
attachment of several small muscles, whose functioning would be
impossible in the absence of this bone. Darwin himself concedes
this; for he confesses that the four vertebræ of the coccyx “are
furnished with some small muscles.” (Ibidem.) We may, therefore,
admit the homology between the human coccyx and the tails of other
vertebrates, without being forced to regard the latter as a useless
vestigial organ. It may be objected that the attachment of these
muscles might have been provided for in a manner more in harmony
with our ideas of symmetry. To this we reply that Helmholtz criticized
the human eye for similar reasons, when he said that he would
remand to his workshop for correction an optical instrument so
flawed with defects as the human eye. But, after all, it was by the
use of these selfsame imperfect eyes that Helmholtz was enabled to
detect the flaws of which he complained. When man shall have fully
fathomed the difficulties and obstructions with which organic
morphogeny has to contend in performing its wonderful work, and
shall have arrived at an elementary knowledge of the general laws of
morphogenetic mechanics, he will be more inclined to admire than to
criticize. It is a mistake to imagine that the finite works of the Creator
must be perfect from every viewpoint. It suffices that they are perfect
with respect to the particular purpose which they serve, and this
purpose must not be narrowly estimated from the standpoint of the