Page 24 - The Evolution Impasse 2

22 Lamarckism

LAMARCKISM ter nal con di tions' caus ing var i a tion
but sub se quent ly these con di tions are
Charles
de scribed as di rect ing var i a tion and
Darwin
co op er at ing with nat u ral se lec tion in
made use of
di rect ing it. . . Every year he at trib ut -
Lamarck's the sis
ed more and more to the agen cy of use
of the "trans mis sion
or dis use. . . By 1868, when he pub -
of ac quired traits" as a lished Varieties of Animals and Plants
fac tor giv ing rise to ev - un der Domestication, he gave a whole
o lu tion. (See Lamarck, se ries of ex am ples of sup posed
Jean B.) Lamarckian in her it ance: such as a man
Gordon Rattray los ing part of his lit tle fin ger and all
Taylor, a re search er and his sons be ing born with de formed lit -
pro po nent of ev o lu tion, tle fin gers and boys born with fore -
skins much re duced in length as a re -
de scribed Lamarckism in
sult of gen er a tions of cir cum ci sion. 15
his book The Great Evolution
Mystery, and ex plained why
Darwin was so heav i ly in flu -
enced by it: LAW OF BIOGENETICS, THE
Lamarckism is known as the in - —See Ontogeny Recapitulates
her it ance of ac quired char ac ter - Phylogeny
is tics . . . Darwin him self, as a
mat ter of fact, was in clined to
be lieve that such in her it ance LAWS OF INHERITANCE,
oc curred and cit ed the re port ed
THE
case of a man who had lost his
In the pe ri od dur ing which
fin gers and bred sons with out fin -
gers . . . [Darwin] had not, he said, Darwin de vel oped the the o ry of ev -
gained a sin gle idea from Lamarck. o lu tion, the ques tion of how liv ing
This was dou bly iron i cal, for Darwin things trans mit ted their char ac ter is -
re peat ed ly toy ed with the idea of the in - tics to lat er gen er a tions was un -
her it ance of ac quired char ac ter is tics known. Therefore, prim i tive con jec -
and, if it is so dread ful, it is Darwin tures such as traits be ing trans mit ted
who should be den i grat ed rath er than by way of the blood were wide ly ac -
Lamarck. . . In the 1859 edi tion of his
cept ed. This un cer tain ty about the
work, Darwin re fers to ‘chan ges of ex -
mech a nisms of he red i ty led Darwin

The Evolution Impasse II