Page 190 - The Cell in 40 Topics
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The Cell in 40 Topics
Lamarck
Lamarck believed that giraffes evolved from such animals as antelopes. In his
view, the necks of these grass-eating animals gradually grew longer, and they
eventually turned into giraffes. The laws of inheritance discovered by Mendel in
1865 proved that it was impossible for properties acquired during life to be
handed on to subsequent generations. Lamarck's giraffe fairy tale was thus con-
signed to the wastebin of history.
lated from one generation to another, caused new species to be
formed. For instance, he claimed that giraffes evolved from an-
telopes; 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. 37
However, the laws of inheritance discovered by Gregor Mendel
(1822-84) and verified by the science of genetics, which flourished in
the twentieth century, utterly demolished the legend that acquired
traits were passed on to subsequent generations. Thus, natural selec-
tion fell out of favor as an evolutionary mechanism.
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