R. S. Lull

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Richard Swann Lull was an American paleontologist from the early 20th century, who is largely remembered now for championing a Pre-Neo-Darwinian Synthesis view of evolution, whereby mutation(s) could unlock mysterious genetic drives that, over time, would lead populations to increasingly extreme phenotypes (and perhaps, ultimately, to extinction).

One famous example he used to support this theory concerned the enormous antlers of the Irish Elk: he argued that these could not possibly be the result of natural selection, and instead reflected one of his "unlocked genetic drives" towards ever increasing antler size. The poor elk, coping in each generation with ever bigger antlers were eventually driven extinct.

This forms an example of orthogenesis that clearly distinguishes the concept of mysterious, non-Darwinian evolutionary driving forces from the concept of teleology (purpose of goal oriented evolution). Both ideas are rejected by modern science, but each contionues to resurface in one form or another as the years go by.