Page 160 - Ever Thought About The Truth ?

EVER THOUGHT ABOUT THE TRUTH?

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 transform them-
selves into another living species, for instance, horses.
Therefore, the mechanism of natural selection has no evolu-
tionary 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. 14

Lamarck's Impact
So, how could these "favorable variations" occur? Darwin tried
to answer this question from the standpoint of the primitive un-
derstanding of science at that time. According to the French biolo-
gist 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 claimed that giraffes evolved from
antelopes; as they struggled to eat the leaves of high trees, their
necks were extended from generation 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. 15
However, the laws of inheritance discovered by Gregor Mendel

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