Charles Darwin first book - Essay Example

Charles Darwin A. In the late 1800s a few theories of inheritance surfaced. Gregor Mendel proposed his rules of heredity now called laws of Mendelian inheritance. Jean Baptiste Lamarck also proposed Lamarckian inheritance or heritability of acquired characteristics. Charles Darwin’s pangenesis theory also came out in the late 1800s. August Weisman proposed the germ plasm which was a theory of heredity. B. Lamarckism is known as inheritance of acquired inheritance. He believed that an organism could pass characteristics that it acquired during its lifetime to its offspring.

His theory had two ideas. Use and disuse which meant an organism loses traits it does not require and develops new ones. He also believed individuals inherit from ancestors. A famous example was the neck of a giraffe which was long because they reach for leaves. This theory was replaced by Mendal’s laws. Mendelian inheritance laws were the manner by which genes and traits are passed from parents to children. The inheritance can be autosomal dominant, autosomal recessive, X-linked dominant and X- linked recessive.

His theory comprised of principle of segregation; two members of an allele segregate in gamete formation. Second law is of independent assortment; genes from different traits assort independently during gamete formation.C. Mendal’s theory of inheritance is compatible with Darwin’s natural selection theory. Mendal’s theory is actually the answer of Darwin’s shortcomings. Darwin proposed that with the natural variations that occur in populations, any characteristic that is beneficial would make the person likely to survive and transfer trait to next generation.

If various natural selections would occur a new specie would evolve but he could not answer how the traits could remain over the coming generations. The blending theory was famous which stated the blend of offspring and parent’s traits. This meant any beneficial trait would disappear after a few generations. Mendel answered Darwins problem. He proposed traits were not blended, but inherited. Mendel proposed a trait that might disappear in one generation might reappear in the following generation.

Mendels genetics was combined with Darwins original theory to give modern Neo-Darwinism.D. Evidence was the Particulate Inheritance theory. The theory showed that characteristics can be passed from one generation to generation through "discrete particles" known as genes. These particles can express while not always appearing in a descendant. He confirmed the theory by experimenting on pea plants. E. Yes, both theories are science because they describe evolution through time. Evolution in thinking of scientists.

The theories help us understand laws of inheritance in a better way. These theories have also explained to us the terms dominant and recessive. If the theories had not been proposed in the 1800s we would have still been confused on how traits transfer and how inheritance functions.