Charles Darwin and Evolution

Charles Darwin had great respect for Jean-Baptiste Lamark, even though he is one of few scientists that did. I believe that Lamark had the most influence in Darwin’s development of natural selection and this is why Darwin shows such support for Lamark despite his unpopularity with their peers. Darwin’s theory is very different than Lamark’s, but there is a fundamental similarity that Darwin built his natural theory. This similarity is the change in traits of animals through lineages by environmental factors. The how is what Lamark was wrong but in his time genetics did not exist and how traits were passed from parent to offspring was anyone’s guess.

Lamark might have been incorrect with his theory inheritance of acquired characteristics, but he was a great zoologist that contributed great ideas to the scientific community. Lamark did extensive studies on insects and worms which lead to him being the first to coin “invertebrates”. He was also the first to coin the term “biology”. Though, this was not one of his biggest points, Lamark argued that the earth was much older than believed in his time. Lamark also had a perfection theory. This theory is not completely accurate; however it did support his theory of evolution caused by environment. Again these theories are not correct but with the perfection theory we are better able to understand his thought process. This perfect theory is that nature is constantly improving, trying to create the perfect world. Over time everything is changing and evolving. In this theory extinction did not exist. These “extinct” species were less than perfect, so they simply evolved into a better species. [http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/lamarck.html]

Like I stated above, Lamark and Darwin both stated in their theories that environment affected the characteristics of the animals, they differ with the how and when.  Lamark used a giraffe as his example of his theory. Resources being limited, in his example, giraffes ate all the leaves on the bottom of the trees and could not access the higher leaves. This is the premise of his theory; a change in the environment will cause traits of the animal to change. Lamark believed that the need to consume the leaves at the top of the trees would create fluids and forces to target the area that needed to evolve for survival. In the example of the giraffe, the neck would need to elongate to reach the higher leaves. Due to these animals’ evolution they were able to get resources providing them a better chance at reproducing. Lamark believed that “a trait acquired by an animal in its lifetime can be passed on to offspring”. Looking at this theory in retrospect it seems silly. However, if you were not aware of genetics or sex-link, this theory is not so far out there. Later, we are able to say that this is not possible due to the advances in science and technology. The only way offspring can inherit traits from their parents are from genetic information within the sex cells. This means that the giraffe isn’t somehow forcing his neck to grow. Simply, the giraffes that are born with longer necks will be able to access the leaves and then pass their long neck trait to their offspring. The giraffes that have shorter necks will not be able to access the tops of the trees and therefore will not as likely to reproduce, meaning they will not be able to pass the short neck gene on to offspring. So the only giraffe offspring will be a product of tall neck giraffes, and the cycle continues showing evolution over generations.

Darwin could not have developed his theory without Lamark. Lamark’s theories have the same basic principles as Darwins. Lamark was missing a vital piece of information causing his theory to not be accurate. This was a good starting point for Darwin, and he already knew which part of the theory was not accurate. Reading other people’s views can open your mind and finding more possible outcomes is easier than if you are the one in the work. What I mean by this, is Lamark could have tunnel vision and not able to come to any other explanation. Someone like Darwin, who is on the outside looking in, could more easily come to other conclusions.

The church in Darwin’s time did not have an open mind, even though Galileo changed the view of the universe by proving the earth not being at the center of it. The church was not about to hear questions or views of how we came to be if it was not as described in the bible. This type of thinking was considered heresy. Darwin knew in stating his findings publicly would mean severe criticism to his name and his family. His life, his wife’s life, his whole family’s life, would change forever in the worst possible way.