[Jessica H (OP)]

I was just reading a book that claimed that Lamarck has been falsely given credit for the "inheritance of acquired traits" theory.  (In every introductory biology text, they tell the story of how he thought giraffes stretched their necks out reaching for leaves, and he comes across as the father of this type of thinking.)  But this source implies he was more of a philosopher/writer than a scientist and was just writing about the common belief at the time.