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A Critique of the Theory of Evolution
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- GenresNonfictionScience
210 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
About the author
Thomas Hunt Morgan
138 books6 followersThomas Hunt Morgan Ph.D. (Zoology, Johns Hopkins University, 1890) was an evolutionary biologist, geneticist, embryologist, and science author who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933 for discoveries relating the role the chromosome plays in heredity.
Morgan researched embryology during his tenure at Bryn Mawr College, the sister school of his alma mater. Following the rediscovery of Mendelian inheritance in 1900, Morgan's research moved to the study of mutation in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. In his famous Fly Room at Columbia University, Morgan was able to demonstrate that genes are carried on chromosomes and are the mechanical basis of heredity. These discoveries formed the basis of the modern science of genetics. He was the first person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in genetics.
During his distinguished career, Morgan wrote 22 books and 370 scientific papers, and, as a result of his work, Drosophila became a major model organism in contemporary genetics. The Division of Biology he established at the California Institute of Technology has produced seven Nobel Prize winners.
Morgan researched embryology during his tenure at Bryn Mawr College, the sister school of his alma mater. Following the rediscovery of Mendelian inheritance in 1900, Morgan's research moved to the study of mutation in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. In his famous Fly Room at Columbia University, Morgan was able to demonstrate that genes are carried on chromosomes and are the mechanical basis of heredity. These discoveries formed the basis of the modern science of genetics. He was the first person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in genetics.
During his distinguished career, Morgan wrote 22 books and 370 scientific papers, and, as a result of his work, Drosophila became a major model organism in contemporary genetics. The Division of Biology he established at the California Institute of Technology has produced seven Nobel Prize winners.
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September 28, 2024
A NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING GENETICIST LOOKS CRITICALLY AT SOME ASPECTS OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORY
Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866-1945) was an American evolutionary biologist, geneticist and embryologist and science author who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933 for discoveries elucidating the role that the chromosome plays in heredity. This book represents the Louis Clark Vanuxem Foundation Lectures for 1915-1916. [NOTE: page numbers refer to the 197-page 1916 hardcover edition.]
He wrote in the Preface, "Occasionally one hears today the statement that we have come to realize that we know nothing about evolution. This point of view is a healthy reaction to the over-confident belief that we knew everything about evolution. But there are those rash enough to think that in the last few years we have learned more about evolution than we might have hopes to know a few years ago. A critique therefore not only becomes a criticism of the older evidence but an appreciation of the newer evidence. IN the first lecture an attempt is made to put a new valuation on the traditional evidence for evolution. In the second lecture the most recent work on heredity is dealt with... In the third lecture the physical basis of heredity and the composition of the germ plasm are examined in the light of new observations; while in the fourth lecture the thesis is developed that chance variation combined with a property of living things to manifold themselves is the key note of modern evolutionary thought."
He observes, "Mutations have occurred involving the pigmentation of the body and wings [of Drosophila]... If put in line a series may be made from the darkest flies at one end to the light yellow flies at the other. These types... furnish a complete series of gradations; yet historically they have arisen independently of each other... But such a serial arrangement would give a totally false idea of the way the different types have arisen; and any conclusion based on the existence of such a series might very well be entirely erroneous, for the fact that such a series exists bears no relation to the order in which its members have appeared." (Pg. 12-13)
He points out, "Darwin based many of his conclusions concerning variation and heredity on the evidence derived from the garden and from the stock farm. Here he was handicapped to some extent, for he had at times to rely on information much of which was uncritical, and some of which was worthless." (Pg. 59)
He admits, "It is, of course, hardly to be expected that ANY random change in as complex a mechanism as an insect would improve the mechanism, and as a matter of fact it is doubtful whether any of the mutant types so far discovered are better adapted to those conditions to which a fly of this structure and habitat is already adjusted." (Pg. 86)
He also states, "Any one who repeats for himself this kind of selection experiment will find that while his average class experiment will find that while his average class will often change in the direction of his selection, the process slows down as a rule rather suddenly. He finds, moreover, that the limits of variability are not necessarily transcended as the process continues even although the average may for a while be increased. More tall men may be produced by selection of this kind, but the tallest men are not necessarily any taller than the tallest in the original population. Selection, then, has not produced anything new, but only more of certain kinds of individuals. Evolution, however, means producing more new things, not more of what already exists." (Pg. 153-154)
Though more than a hundred years old, this book may still interest those studying the development of evolutionary theory.
Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866-1945) was an American evolutionary biologist, geneticist and embryologist and science author who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933 for discoveries elucidating the role that the chromosome plays in heredity. This book represents the Louis Clark Vanuxem Foundation Lectures for 1915-1916. [NOTE: page numbers refer to the 197-page 1916 hardcover edition.]
He wrote in the Preface, "Occasionally one hears today the statement that we have come to realize that we know nothing about evolution. This point of view is a healthy reaction to the over-confident belief that we knew everything about evolution. But there are those rash enough to think that in the last few years we have learned more about evolution than we might have hopes to know a few years ago. A critique therefore not only becomes a criticism of the older evidence but an appreciation of the newer evidence. IN the first lecture an attempt is made to put a new valuation on the traditional evidence for evolution. In the second lecture the most recent work on heredity is dealt with... In the third lecture the physical basis of heredity and the composition of the germ plasm are examined in the light of new observations; while in the fourth lecture the thesis is developed that chance variation combined with a property of living things to manifold themselves is the key note of modern evolutionary thought."
He observes, "Mutations have occurred involving the pigmentation of the body and wings [of Drosophila]... If put in line a series may be made from the darkest flies at one end to the light yellow flies at the other. These types... furnish a complete series of gradations; yet historically they have arisen independently of each other... But such a serial arrangement would give a totally false idea of the way the different types have arisen; and any conclusion based on the existence of such a series might very well be entirely erroneous, for the fact that such a series exists bears no relation to the order in which its members have appeared." (Pg. 12-13)
He points out, "Darwin based many of his conclusions concerning variation and heredity on the evidence derived from the garden and from the stock farm. Here he was handicapped to some extent, for he had at times to rely on information much of which was uncritical, and some of which was worthless." (Pg. 59)
He admits, "It is, of course, hardly to be expected that ANY random change in as complex a mechanism as an insect would improve the mechanism, and as a matter of fact it is doubtful whether any of the mutant types so far discovered are better adapted to those conditions to which a fly of this structure and habitat is already adjusted." (Pg. 86)
He also states, "Any one who repeats for himself this kind of selection experiment will find that while his average class experiment will find that while his average class will often change in the direction of his selection, the process slows down as a rule rather suddenly. He finds, moreover, that the limits of variability are not necessarily transcended as the process continues even although the average may for a while be increased. More tall men may be produced by selection of this kind, but the tallest men are not necessarily any taller than the tallest in the original population. Selection, then, has not produced anything new, but only more of certain kinds of individuals. Evolution, however, means producing more new things, not more of what already exists." (Pg. 153-154)
Though more than a hundred years old, this book may still interest those studying the development of evolutionary theory.
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