1700 - 1800

Question 1

What did most scientists accept about evolution before 1700?

Answer 1

• species were unrelated and remained unchanged
• i.e. they were fixed since they were created by a divine
• the earth was young, perhaps only 6000 years old, and static (unchanging)

Question 2

What allowed the original idea of evolution to be challenged?

Answer 2

• the study of fossil collections
• being aware of the huge diversity of living organisms

Question 3

Who were the creative thinkers that challenged the concept of evolution in the 1700s?

Answer 3

• Erasmus Darwin
• Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

Question 4

What did Erasmus Darwin and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck become convinced of in the 1700s?

Answer 4

• species had changed gradually over time
• the earth was millions of years old rather than only a few thousand

Question 5

Who was Erasmus Darwin?

Answer 5

• successful country doctor
• scientists
• philosopher
• poet
• author

Question 6

What idea did Erasmus Darwin put forward?

Answer 6

• that life on Earth descended from a common ancestor
• that species must have changed (or evolved) over time
• (but he offered no mechanism for what he termed ‘transformation’ (evolution))

Question 7

Who was Jean-Baptiste Lamarck?

Answer 7

• a French naturalist

Question 8

What idea did Lamarck put forward regarding evolution?

Answer 8

• like Erasmus Darwin, he proposed that species were not fixed

Question 9

Through what observations did Lamarck conclude that species are not fixed?

Answer 9

• living species are different to fossil types, so life forms must have changed over time
• domestication and selective breeding resulted in animals and plants changing
• cross-breeding of plant species often led to new characters appearing

Question 10

What did Lamarck suggest about evolutionary change?

Answer 10

• proposed that change was a natural phenomenon and not a result of divine intervention

Question 11

How did Lamarck suggest that species changed?

Answer 11

• that organisms changed during their lifetime so that they could survive in new environments
• and that these acquired changes were then passed on to offspring

Question 12

What did Lamarck hypothesise regarding the use and disuse of body parts?

Answer 12

• when the environment changes, the organism actively responds by changing
• so it could adapt to the new environment

Question 13

What did Lamarck hypothesise regarding the inheritance of acquired characteristics?

Answer 13

• the physical (phenotypic) changes or characteristics acquired by parents during their lifetime were then passed on to their offspring
• in this way, populations changed and new species were formed