Lamarck and de Candolle

Here is another interesting science book in my collection: Synopsis plantarum in flora Gallica descriptarum by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) and Augustin Pyramus de Candolle (1778-1841). The authors are very important in science history.

In my reading, I kept encountering the phrase "Lamarckian evolution," as a rejected idea but which did hypothesize species variation.

Looking it up, I discovered that Lamarck believed that creatures adapt to surroundings and pass on changes to offspring. His famous example is a giraffe, which stretches his neck to reach leaves. (Of course, neither he nor Darwin knew of genes and genetics.) Darwin, on the other hand, said that organisms that better adapt to their environments have a better chance at reproducing; thus, the giraffes with longer necks survive and pass on that trait to offspring. To put it another way: for Lamarck, organisms acquire a trait or habit and pass it along, but for Darwin, organisms with certain traits mad them more suitable for survival--and survival meant that those traits were passed to offspring. The views of both men were unpopular for a time, but Darwin was able to provide exhaustive evidence for his theory.

https://necsi.edu/lamarck-vs-darwin

http://sciencenetlinks.com/student-teacher-sheets/lamarck-and-darwin-summary-theories/

As for de Candolle: he offered the idea of "nature's war"--the struggle for existence--which was so influential for Darwin's theory of natural selection. He also experimented with the way plant's leaf movements suggest an "internal biological clock." Darwin, too, studied this quality of plants and published two botany books on the subject.

Missouri Botanical Gardens