Revision souls
With revision souls, the male population of economic Russia is referred to, which was subject to poll tax and was therefore determined by special censuses ( revisions ). Such “revisions” had been carried out in Russia since 1718, and the tenth and last revision took place in 1858. According to the number of revision souls, the land was redistributed within the village parishes in a number of areas.
These revision souls became known as a literary motif through Gogol's novel The Dead Souls .