ABSTRACT
In 1940, Richard Goldschmidt gave the name of micromutations to the genetic changes that produce new varieties within a species, and macromutations to those that produce new species altogether. There are two distinct types of genetic change, according to Goldschmidt, and therefore two distinct types of historical change which he called microevolution and macroevolution. The idea of macroevolution is supported by an increasing number of biologists, and in particular by paleontologists. In 1744, Albrecht von Haller coined the word evolution to indicate the unfolding of an embryo, but later the word came to be used for the development of life as a whole. ‘Evolution by Internal Drive’ was the mechanism proposed by J. P. B. A. Lamarck as ‘Evolution by Natural Selection’ was the mechanism proposed by C. R. Darwin. Evolution is a law of derivation of forms from previous forms, a law of continuity, a universal law of becoming.
