Only birds have feathers. They come in all shapes and sizes - and colours! Apart from being intrinsically beautiful in aesthetic appearance and detailed microstructure, they are intensely utilitarian. Hear the words of Gordon Rattray Taylor, in his book The Great Evolution Mystery (Abacus, 1984):

`What an extraordinary thing is a feather! So light and yet so strong. Under the microscope it is seen to be even more remarkable. The vane is divided into innumerable hollow "barbs" each fringed with "barbules". Under higher magnification, each barbule is found to be equipped with hooks. These catch in the barbules forward of them, so that the whole structure is linked into a single vane, resistant to the air. Actually, feathers come in two models. The downy feathers which are designed to conserve heat (Designed? Perish the thought: let us say "which by pure chance serve to conserve heat") lack the hooks.' (pp.67-68) 

The word `design' comes to mind so naturally and all evolutionists must correct themselves - as Rattray Taylor has done. Their understanding of origins excludes any possibility of purposeful design in the construction of complex components of animals and plants. Evolution has no direction, no goal, no intelligence and no meaning.

How is it possible that such exquisite structures can be viewed as possessing only an appearance of design? The change came with Darwin, as he testified himself in his autobiography: `The old argument of design in nature . . . fails, now that the law of natural selection has been discovered'. Two comments can be made on this. First, Darwin himself recognised that God's creative design is not compatible with the idea of evolution by natural selection - because evolution is wasteful and undirected.

Second, Darwinism has completely failed to trace a viable evolutionary path from scales to feathers! Evolutionists who have made detailed studies of the matter conclude that it `defies analysis'. Consequently, the evolutionary claims are dogmatic, deductive and philosophical. They should not be accepted as the result of scientific investigation.

Design in the living world which has been rediscovered and used by man is always of interest. Michael Denton (Evolution: a theory in crisis, 1985, pages 202-203) draws our attention to a nice example.

`In addition to its lightness and strength the feather has also permitted the exploitation of a number of sophisticated aerodynamic principles in the design of the bird's wing. One problem common to all aerofoils is turbulence, which reduces lift and causes stalling. Turbulence can be greatly cut down by the provision of slots in the aerofoil which let through part of the air stream and tend to smooth down the flow. Aeroengineers have used this principle by placing a small subsidiary aerofoil in front of the main wing, creating the so-called Handley Page slot. The use of feathers in the design of an aerofoil lends itself admirably to the provision of slots, and most birds' wings exploit this technique.'

Denton goes on to remind his readers of the various sorts of flight (flapping, gliding, soaring), their landing and take-off behaviour, and the intricate system of tendons attached to the feathers that enable birds to exercise apparently precise control of their movements though the air. The feather is an organic form with a perfected structure, and the only viable explanation of its origin yet suggested is that of creation by God.

David J. Tyler (1992) 

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