<P> One of the most emotionally compelling arguments used by the neo-Lamarckians of the late nineteenth century was the claim that Darwinism was a mechanistic theory which reduced living things to puppets driven by heredity . The selection theory made life into a game of Russian roulette, where life or death was predetermined by the genes one inherited . The individual could do nothing to mitigate bad heredity . Lamarckism, in contrast, allowed the individual to choose a new habit when faced with an environmental challenge and shape the whole future course of evolution . </P> <P> Scientists from the 1860s onwards conducted numerous experiments that purported to show Lamarckian inheritance . Some examples are described in the table . </P> <Table> 19th century experiments attempting to demonstrate Lamarckian inheritance <Tr> <Th> Scientist </Th> <Th> Date </Th> <Th> Experiment </Th> <Th> Claimed result </Th> <Th> Rebuttal </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Charles - Édouard Brown - Séquard </Td> <Td> 1869 to 1891 </Td> <Td> Cut sciatic nerve and dorsal spinal cord of guinea pigs, causing abnormal nervous condition resembling epilepsy </Td> <Td> Epileptic offspring </Td> <Td> Not Lamarckism, as no use and disuse in response to environment; results could not be replicated; cause possibly a transmitted disease . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Gaston Bonnier </Td> <Td> 1884, 1886 </Td> <Td> Transplant plants at different altitudes in Alps, Pyrenees </Td> <Td> Acquired adaptations </Td> <Td> Not controlled from weeds; likely cause genetic contamination </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Joseph Thomas Cunningham </Td> <Td> 1891, 1893, 1895 </Td> <Td> Shine light on underside of flatfish </Td> <Td> Inherited production of pigment </Td> <Td> Disputed cause </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Max Standfuss </Td> <Td> 1892 to 1917 </Td> <Td> Raise butterflies at low temperature </Td> <Td> Variations in offspring even without low temperature </Td> <Td> Richard Goldschmidt agreed; Ernst Mayr "difficult to interpret". </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Th> Scientist </Th> <Th> Date </Th> <Th> Experiment </Th> <Th> Claimed result </Th> <Th> Rebuttal </Th> </Tr>

Who proposed the theory of inheritance of acquired characters