33 



universal observation which can not be relegated to the domain 

 of hypothesis or theory, and which can not be successfully denied. 

 If we admit the fact of the development of the entire individual, 

 surely it matters little to our philosophical or religious beliefs to 

 admit the development or evolution of the race. 



Ancient Speculations. The origin of the mind, or rather of the 

 soul, is a topic upon which there has been much speculation by 

 philosophers and theologians. One of the earliest hypotheses was 

 that which is known as transmigration or metempsychosis. This 

 doctrine probably reached its greatest development in ancient 

 India, where it formed an important part of Buddhistic belief; it 

 was also a part of the religion of ancient Egypt ; it was embodied 

 in the philosophies of Pythagoras and Plato. According to these 

 teachings, the number of souls is a constant one ; souls are neither 

 made nor destroyed, but at birth a soul which had once tenanted 

 another body enters into the new body. This doctrine was gener- 

 ally repudiated by the Fathers of the Christian Church. Jerome 

 and others adopted the view that God creates a new soul for each 

 body that is generated, and that every soul is thus a special divine 

 creation. This has become the prevailing view of the Christian 

 Church and is known as creationism. On the other hand Tertul- 

 lian taught that souls of children are generated from the souls of 

 parents as bodies are from bodies. This doctrine, which is known 

 as traducianism, has been defended by certain modern theolo- 

 gians, but has been formally condemned by the Roman Catholic 

 Church. 



Traducianism undoubtedly comes nearer the scientific teachings 

 as to the development of the mind than does either of the other 

 doctrines named, but it is based upon the prevalent but erroneous 

 belief that the bodies of the parents generate the body of the child, 

 and that correspondingly the souls of the parents generate the soul 

 of the child. Now we know that the child comes from germ cells 

 and not from the highly differentiated bodies of the parents, and 

 furthermore that these cells are not made by the parents' bodies 

 but have arisen by the division of antecedent germ cells (see 



