Page 185 - Not by Chance

The Evolution Deceit 183

of science at that time. According to the

French biologist Chevalier de Lamarck
(1744-1829), who lived before Darwin,
living creatures passed on the traits

they acquired during their lifetime to
the next generation. He asserted that
these traits, which accumulated from
one generation to another, caused new

species to be formed. For instance, he
The French biologist Lamarck
claimed that giraffes evolved from an-
telopes; as they struggled to eat the

leaves of high trees, their necks were extended from generation to gener-
ation.

Lamarck thought that or-
ganisms could pass on
to their offspring traits
acquired during their
lifetimes. As an example
to this line of reasoning,
he suggested that the
long neck of the giraffe
evolved when a short-
necked ancestor took to
browsing on the leaves
of trees instead of grass.
With the discovery of the
laws of genetics, it was
seen that acquired traits
could not actually be in-
herited at all. As a result,
Lamarckism had been
invalidated by science
by the beginning of the
twentieth century.