Lamarckian, a. and n.
(ləˈmɑːkɪən)
[f. Lamarck, the name of a French botanist and zoologist (1744–1829) + -ian.]
A. adj. Of or pertaining to Lamarck or to his theory respecting the cause of organic evolution, which he ascribed to inheritable modifications produced in the individual by habit, appetency, and the direct action of the environment. B. n. One who holds Lamarckian views.
| 1846 Dana Zooph. vii. §106 (1848) 107 These remarks are intended to support no monad or Lamarckian theory. 1858 Darwin Life & Lett. II. 121 To talk of climate or Lamarckian habit producing such adaptations to other organic beings, is futile. 1893 Athenæum 12 Aug. 220/2 Hegel was a keen enough scientific critic to see the defects of the Lamarckian theory. 1928 G. H. Carpenter Biol. Insects xii. 365 To sum up this brief discussion on the Lamarckian factor in evolution, it must be admitted that belief in it is encouraged on account of the simple manner in which it explains—if it be a true cause—many observed facts of life. 1953 E. Mayr et al. Methods & Princ. Syst. Zool. i. 11 Most of them [sc. late nineteenth-century taxonomists]..were Lamarckians. 1972 Science 12 May 623/1 The Lamarckian postulate that characters acquired by parents during their own lives can be passed on to their offspring. 1972 National Observer (U.S.) 27 May 21/3 The controversy between Darwinians and Lamarckians has raged for nearly a century. |
So Laˈmarckianism, Laˈmarckism, the doctrine of the origin of species as laid down by Lamarck. Laˈmarckite = Lamarckian n.
| 1884 Stand. Nat. Hist. (1888) I. p. lvi, These views essentially agree with what is known as Lamarckianism. 1884 Ray Lankester in Athenæum 29 Mar. 412/2 Lamarckism looks very well on paper, but..when put to the test of observation and experiment it collapses absolutely. 1890 Times (weekly ed.) 10 Jan. 7/3 There are [in biology] pure Darwinists, Wallaceists, Weissmannists, Lamarckites, and Romanesists. |