Page 221 - The Miracle of Hormones
P. 221

The Deception of Evolution



            Selection…
                 Natural selection holds that those living things that are stronger and
            more suited to the natural conditions of their habitats will survive in the
            struggle for life. For example, in a deer herd under the threat of attack by
            wild animals, those that can run faster will survive. Therefore, the deer
            herd will be comprised of faster and stronger individuals. However,
            unquestionably, this mechanism will not cause deer to evolve and trans-
            form themselves into another living species, for instance, horses.
                 Therefore, the mechanism of natural selection has no evolutionary
            power. Darwin was also aware of this fact and had to state this in his
            book The Origin of Species:
                 Natural selection can do nothing until favourable individual differ-
                 ences or variations occur. 88




                 Lamarck's Impact

                 So, how could these "favorable varia-
            tions" occur? Darwin tried to answer this
            question from the standpoint of the prim-
            itive understanding of science at that
            time. According to the French biolo-
            gist Chevalier de Lamarck (1744-1829),
            who lived before Darwin, living crea-
            tures passed on the traits they ac-
            quired during their lifetime to the
            next generation. He asserted that
            these traits, which accumulat-
            ed from one generation to
            another, caused new species to
            be formed. For instance, he
                                                      French biologist Lamarck
            claimed that giraffes evolved from






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