44 HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT 



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 Pytha- 

 goras and Plato. According to these teach- 

 ings, 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 generally 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 Tertullian taught that souls of 

 children are generated from the souls of par- 

 ents as bodies are from bodies. This doctrine, 

 which is known as traducianism, has been de- 



