Page 84 - Slanders on Muslims in History

82 SLANDERS ON MUSLIMS IN HISTORY

Therefore, tthe mechanism of natural selection has no
evolutionary 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 indi-
vidual differences or variations occur. 7

Lamarck's Impact

So, how could these "favorable variations" occur?
Darwin tried to answer this question from the standpoint
of the primitive understanding 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 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. 8
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
selection fell out of favor as an evolutionary mechanism.