Evolution of Darwinism. The classical stage: 1859 — 1926 years

Abstract

The development of the theory of Darwin from 1859 to 1926 is considered. The «cohesive ephemeral» theory of heredity, dominant at this stage, was destroying the nucleus of the Darwinian concept — the notion of natural selection as the leading factor in evolution. The results of studies of geneticists of the first decades of the 20th century also pointed to the futility of the theory of natural selection as a factor directing the process of biological evolution. Keywords: «Origin of Species»; «indefinite» hereditary variability; «certain» hereditary variability; natural selection; «conjointly ephemeral» theory of heredity; «constant-corpuscular» theory of heredity.