69 
SOU L-CELLS AND CELL-SOULS. 
(Translated from the German of Heeckel.) 
By THE REv. C. H. PAREZ, 
(Read at Carlisle.) 
INTRODUCTORY. 
A LITTLE more than a year ago, my attention was directed 
accidentally to the Essay of Heeckel’s, from which I am to read 
some extracts to-night, as containing a theory which he regarded 
as offering a ground of mediation between old and new philosophies. 
Knowing that Hzeckel was one who carried Darwinism to its 
extreme conclusions, and being well aware of his eminence as a 
scientific man, I felt my curiosity excited, and procured the Essay. 
It contains probably nothing very novel as regards its facts, and 
perhaps the theory insisted on is not altogether new,* but the 
essay is I think a very interesting one itself, and the theory of the 
cell-soul has so far attracted notice as to have become the subject 
of some remarks in the Address of the last Meeting of the British 
Association, to which I propose briefly to refer presently. I do 
not pretend to decide, where doctors disagree, but I propose to lay 
- before you the points in dispute. 
It may be as well at the outset to explain the use of the term 
“soul” in the title of the essay. The theory of the cell-soul is that 
each cell of the most highly organised bodies is a separate psyche 
or individual; that it not only grows by receiving nourishment, 
* It is indicated in a little work by Jean Macé, which has been translated 
into English by Mrs. Gatty under the title of A Bit of Bread. 
