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Quote by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

“One must believe that every living thing whatsoever must change insensibly in its organization and in its form... One must therefore never expect to find among living species all those which are found in the fossil state, and yet one may not assume that any species has really been lost or rendered extinct.”

Quote by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

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Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck was a French naturalist and biologist, a key figure in the history of science. Born on August 1, 1744, in Bazentin, Oise, France, and died on December 18, 1829, in Paris, France. He is known for his contributions to the theory of evolution, particularly his theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics, which suggested that an organism could pass on traits acquired during its lifetime to its offspring. Although his theories are now considered outdated, they laid the groundwork for the modern understanding of evolution. more

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“All the acquisitions or losses wrought by nature on individuals, through the influence of the environment in which their race has long been placed, and hence through the influence of the predominant use or permanent disuse of any organ; all these are preserved by reproduction to the new individuals which arise, provided that the acquired modifications are common to both sexes, or at least to the individuals which produce the young.”

Long Use Young Science Individual Sex Loss Common Race Environment Influence Produce Evolution Arise Permanent Organs Acquisition Reproduction Modification

Author:Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

“So says the most ancient book of the Earth; thus it is written on its leaves of marble, lime, sand, slate, and clay: ... that our Earth has fashioned itself, from its chaos of substances and powers, through the animating warmth of the creative spirit, to a peculiar and original whole, by a series of preparatory revolutions, till at last the crown of its creation, the exquisite and tender creature man, was enabled to appear.”

Source: Outlines of a Philosophy of the History of Man

“The chemical differences among various species and genera of animals and plants are certainly as significant for the history of their origins as the differences in form. If we could define clearly the differences in molecular constitution and functions of different kinds of organisms, there would be possible a more illuminating and deeper understanding of question of the evolutionary reactions of organisms than could ever be expected from morphological considerations.”

“The decisive step in evolution, the first step toward macroevolution, the step from one species to another, requires another evolutionary method than that of sheer accumulation of micromutations.”

Firsts Science Steps Evolution Method Species First Steps Sheer Accumulation

Author:Richard Goldschmidt

“The distinguishing of the strata, or layers, in the embryonic membrane was a turning-point in the study of the history of evolution, and placed later researches in their proper light. A division of the (disc-shaped) embryo into an animal and a plastic part first takes place. In the lower part (the plastic or vegetative layer) are a serous and a vascular layer, each of peculiar organization. In the upper part also (the animal or serous germ-layer) two layers are clearly distinguishable, a flesh-layer and a skin-layer. (1828)”

Firsts Two Light Animal Study Evolution Research Skins Organization Flesh Division Peculiar Layers Plastic Germs Turning Points Embryos Discs Membranes

Author:Karl Ernst von Baer

“The doctrine of evolution implies the passage from the most organised to the least organised, or, in other terms, from the most general to the most special. Roughly, we say that there is a gradual 'adding on' of the more and more special, a continual adding on of new organisations. But this 'adding on' is at the same time a 'keeping down'. The higher nervous arrangements evolved out of the lower keep down those lower, just as a government evolved out of a nation controls as well as directs that nation.”

Wells Government Science Nations Term Special Evolution Higher Doctrine Nervous Passages Arrangements Organisation Organised

Book:Selected Writings of John Hughlings Jackson: Evaluation and dissolution of the nervous system. Speech. Various papers, addresses and lectures

Source: Selected Writings of John Hughlings Jackson: Evaluation and dissolution of the nervous system. Speech. Various papers, addresses and lectures

“The evolution of the human race will not be accomplished in the ten thousand years of tame animals, but in the million years of wild animals, because man is, and always will be, a wild animal.”

Men Years Humans Science Animal Race Millions Evolution Thousand Ten Human Race Accomplished Thousand Years Wild Animal

Author:Charles Galton Darwin

“The great age of the earth will appear greater to man when he understands the origin of living organisms and the reasons for the gradual development and improvement of their organization. This antiquity will appear even greater when he realizes the length of time and the particular conditions which were necessary to bring all the living species into existence. This is particularly true since man is the latest result and present climax of this development, the ultimate limit of which, if it is ever reached, cannot be known.”

“The History of Evolution is the real source of light in the investigation of organic bodies. It is applicable at every step, and all our ideas of the correlation of organic bodies will be swayed by our knowledge of the history of evolution. To carry the proof of it into all branches of research would be an almost endless task. (1828)”

Ideas Real Body Light Would Be Science Steps Source Evolution Research Tasks Proof Endless Branches Investigation Every Step Correlation

Author:Karl Ernst von Baer

“The meaning that we are seeking in evolution is its meaning to us, to man. The ethics of evolution must be human ethics. It is one of the many unique qualities of man, the new sort of animal, that he is the only ethical animal. The ethical need and its fulfillment are also products of evolution, but they have been produced in man alone.”

Men Needs Humans Has Beens Science Animal Quality He Man Products Evolution Unique Ethics Seeking Fulfillment Ethical

Book:The Meaning of Evolution

Source: The Meaning of Evolution