THE SIMIAN ORIGIN OF MAN. 347 



which is held by materialists generally regarding the 

 origin of the human soul. 



Spiritual Traducianism, or Generationism, like 

 corporeal Traducianism, teaches that the soul of the 

 son proceeds from the soul of the father, not indeed 

 through the agency of any corporeal action, but 

 through a special superior and spiritual kind of pro- 

 creation. 1 



This form of Traducianism was favorably consid- 

 ered by such a light of the Church as St. Augustine, 

 and even in his " Retractationes " he hesitates be- 

 tween this opinion and that which declares, that God 

 creates directly and immediately each and every in- 

 dividual soul. In his " De Libero Arbitrio," in his 

 " De Anima et ejus Origine," and in a letter to St. 

 Jerome, he speaks of no fewer than four theories 

 regarding the soul, and declares himself unable to 

 say which one should be accepted. * 



Among the more prominent modern traducian- 

 ists may be mentioned Leibnitz, Rosmini, and the 

 Austrian priest, Froschammer. Their theories, it is 

 true, varied considerably in detail, but fundamentally 

 they were to all intents and purposes identical. 3 



1 " Incorporeum semen animae, sua quadam occulta et in- 

 visibili via seorsum ex patre currat in matrem," as St. Augustine 

 writes to Optatus, chap. iv. 



2 In his " De Libero Arbitrio" the saint writes: " Harum 

 autem quatuor de anima sententiarum, utrumne de propagine 

 veniant, an in singulis quibusque nascentibus novae fiant, an in 

 corpora nascentium jam alicubi existentes vel mittantur divini- 

 tus, vel sua sponte labantur, nullam temere affirmare oportebtt." 

 Lib. Ill, cap. xxi. 



3 A brief note will give the gist of the teachings of these three 

 philosophers. In his " Essais de Theodicee," part. I, num. 91, 

 the German philosopher thus expresses his belief, "Je croirais 



