CHAPTER XXXVII 



PROGRESSIVE 

 DEVELOPMENT 



V.I 



Jean Lamarck. 



isruwn Bros. 

 Charles Darwin. 



How has organic evolution of plants and animals taken place ? How 

 old is the earth? How old is man? What are some of the evidences 

 of evolution ? 



All plants and animals of to-day are thought to be descendants 

 of earlier and more primitive types. Organic evolution is the 

 science that deals with the origins of species and the changes in 

 them from generation to generation. Evolutionists believe two 

 things: (1) that individuals of the same species always vary; 

 and, (2) that many of these new characteristics or variations are 

 transmitted to succeeding generations. Heredity is, therefore, one 

 of the cornerstones of evolution. 



History of evolution. Aristotle had an idea that there had been 

 a gradual succession of living things from the simplest animal to 

 man, but this supposition was unsupported by evidence or fact. 

 He had seen the remains or parts of plants and animals in rock. 

 To-day these are called fossils. He thought they were examples of 

 spontaneous generation taking place in the depths of the earth 

 and that such forms never had a chance to live on the surface. 

 Nearly two thousand years later (1510), Leonardo da Vinci stated 

 that fossils were the remains of former living animals. 



The Lamarckian theory of evolution. Jean de Lamarck (1744- 



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