 His original view , described in the paper " On the Origin of Genera " ( 1868 ) , held that while Darwin 's natural selection may affect the preservation of superficial characteristics in organisms , natural selection alone could not explain the formation of genera . Cope 's suggested mechanism for this action was a " steady progressive development of organization " through what Cope termed " a continual crowding backward of the successive steps of individual development " . In Cope 's view , during embryological development , an organism could complete its growth with a new stage of development beyond its parents , taking it to a higher level of organization . Later individuals would inherit this new level of development — thus evolution was a continuous advance of organization , sometimes slowly and other times suddenly ; this view is known as the law of acceleration . 
