Page 129 - The Miracle In The Seed

The Deception of Evolution

Natural selection can do nothing until favourable individual differ-
ences or variations occur. 66

Lamarck's Impact

So, how could these "favorable variations" occur? Darwin tried to
answer this question from the standpoint of the primitive understand-
ing 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 gen-
eration. He asserted that these traits, which accumulated from one
generation to another, caused new species to be formed. For instance,
he claimed that giraffes evolved from antelopes; as they struggled to
eat the leaves of high trees, their necks were extended from genera-
tion to generation.
Darwin also gave similar examples. In his book The

Origin of Species, for instance, he said that some bears going
into water to find food transformed themselves into whales
over time. 67