Page 20 - Atlas of Creation Volume 2

DARWIN WAS MISTAKEN:

SPECIES HAVE NEVER

CHANGED

Perhaps the greatest problem that he (Darwin) had to tackle
was the means by which adaptive characteristics were
passed on from generation to generation, for the principles
of genetics were still to be discovered at the time of Darwin's

death. A second problem he could not resolve related to the
nature of the fossil record. 1

Darwin gave the name of the "theory of evolution" to the
hypothesis he developed, on the two expectations described by
Douglas Ward in the extract cited above.
His first assumption was that the genes that give rise to dif-
ferent characteristics could be transmitted, in some imaginary

manner, to subsequent generations, thus resulting in changes
between species. His other surmise was that this series of imag-
inary changes would be preserved in the fossil record.
It was easy for Darwin to claim that changes occurred in a
living thing's anatomical features that were then transmitted to

subsequent generations, eventually resulting in a new species.
The mid-1800s, when Darwin produced his ideas, were a rela-
tively "primitive" time scientifically. The study of genetics had
not yet come into existence. The complexity of the cell and its
chromosomes, let alone DNA, had yet to be discovered. The
glorious structure of the genes that determine all of a living

thing's characteristics, the data contained by those genes and
the sensitivity within them were all still completely unknown.
It was also easy for Darwin to trust that fossil record exist-
ing somewhere in the world would eventually confirm these

hypothetical changes among species. According to his claims,
intermediate form fossils did exist in the geologic layers, but
had simply not yet been unearthed. At his time, the number of
fossil specimens extracted from rocks was still very limited.
Since no intermediate forms had as yet appeared, Darwin ex-
Charles Darwin pected that one day in the future, people would start discover-

ing these imaginary "missing links." All that was required was
enough time and detailed studies to be carried out.
Darwin founded his theory on these two basic assumptions,
but close inspection reveals no evidence or observation—be-
cause essentially, the theory of evolution was advanced for to-

18 Atlas of Creation Vol. 2