Review: The Triumph of Evolution and the Failure of Creationism. By Niles
Eldredge. Freeman, 223pp, Pounds 18.99. IBSN 0 7 167 3638 1. THES Bookshop
Pounds 18.99. Tel 020 8324 5104.

     This book was written to defend the theory of evolution against the
powerful and influential anti-evolution lobby of creationists in the
United States who wish to ban the teaching of evolution in science
curricula in schools and colleges. It is an up-to-date examination of the
evolution-creation debate and provides a useful review of arguments on
both sides.

     After setting the scene (religious, scientific and political), Niles
Eldredge devotes three chapters to considering the evidence for evolution:
that all life has descended from a single, common ancestor, that there is
a record of that evolutionary history preserved in the rocks and that the
driving force behind evolution is natural selection combined with dramatic
ecological and physical catastrophes resulting in the extinction of large
groups of animal and plant species.

     Throughout, the author scathingly ridicules creationists and this
intensifies in chapters five and six where he tackles their views head-on
under the titles, "Scientific style and notion of time" and "The origin
and history of life". In the final chapter, "Can we afford a culture
war?", he adopts a more conciliatory approach, urging evolutionists and
creationists to drop their antagonisms and focus on the urgent need to
stem the tide of ecosystem destruction and species loss to preserve a long
and fruitful existence on this earth.

     Despite the conciliatory comments in the final chapter, the book's
title is essentially emotive and provocative. Since most theories, if
proven to be false, are rejected by scientists, Eldredge claims that,
after 150 years, science has failed to disprove the theory of evolution
and, therefore, "evolution has triumphed". In other words, the theory of
evolution rests on the failure of science to show that it is false.
Nevertheless, he believes the theory can be scientifically tested.

     But where is the experimental evidence? None exists in the literature
claiming that one species has been shown to evolve into another. Bacteria,
the simplest form of independent life, are ideal for this kind of study,
with generation times of 20 to 30 minutes, and populations achieved after
18 hours. But throughout 150 years of the science of bacteriology, there
is no evidence that one species of bacteria has changed into another, in
spite of the fact that populations have been exposed to potent chemical
and physical mutagens and that, uniquely, bacteria possess
extrachromosomal, transmissible plasmids. Since there is no evidence for
species changes between the simplest forms of unicellular life, it is not
surprising that there is no evidence for evolution from prokaryotic to
eukaryotic cells, let alone throughout the whole array of higher
multicellular organisms.

     The author rejects the creationists' arguments for order and design
in nature but the extreme complexity of structure and function in all
living things cannot be disregarded. The biochemical complexity of
cascades of enzymes required to perform a single function in the cell is
mind-boggling, and for a structure or function to be selected it must be
functionally complete. The formation of amino acids from ammonia and
methane under extremes of pressure and temperature is quoted, but this
synthesis is nothing compared with the complexity of a single protein
enzyme, let alone a series of highly specialised enzymes functioning in a
cascade sequence. Such irreducibly complex systems are of no selective
value unless they are complete. The author naively states that "all
biochemical steps leading to the formation of the first organism... have
yet to be deciphered".

     All creationists believe in a Creator but often hold divergent views
on biblical interpretation. They include leading research scientists, past
and present, who find the theory of evolution to be scientifically
untenable; the natural world bears the hallmarks of order and design by a
Great Intelligence. The astronomer Kepler confessed, "O God, I am thinking
Thy thoughts after Thee", and over the door of the Cavendish Laboratory in
Cambridge is written, "The works of the Lord are great, sought after by
all them that have pleasure therein" (Psalm 111.2). The natural world is
worthy of our finest investigations, and is in my view the expression of a
Master Mind.

     Evolutionists, creationists and educationalists planning curricula
for teaching science will read this book with interest. But they should
keep an open mind on whether the title is justified by the evidence
provided.

     Alan H. Linton is emeritus professor of bacteriology, University of Bristol.