The contagiousness of Leprosy was held in universal belief up to the seventeenth century, when certain writers on the subject began to question the validity of a doctrine which had been handed down to them through successive ages, by all the early observers of the Jewish, Egyptian, Arabian, Grecian, and Hindoo countries, and the view then advanced has been confirmed by the report of the Committee recently appointed by the College of Physicians, who state that:—“The all but unanimous conviction of the most experienced observers in different parts of the world, is quite opposed to the belief that leprosy is _contagious_ or _communicable_ by _proximity_ or _contact_.” On the other hand we have to consider the testimony afforded us by the shrewd and intelligent teachers of ancient times. Thus, Aretæus believed it to be as contagious as the _plague_, and like _it_ communicable by respiration; and _Œtius_, following _Archigenes_, thought that “the air became contaminated through the effluvia of the sores.” _Avicenna_ believed leprosy to be contagious in the _general_ sense of that term; _Avenzoar_ by contact; _Haly Abbas_ and _Alsaharavius_ through the respiration; and _Rogerius_ “_per coitum_.” [These interesting facts are taken from an able article in the Lancet, February 9, 1867.] ----- The initiatory rite of circumcision was, by Divine command, first performed by Abraham in the year of the world 2107, or about 1897 years before Christ:—At the age of 99 years, Abraham, together with his son Ishmael and all his dependents were circumcised. Ishmael at this time was thirteen years old, and, as we are informed by Josephus, was the founder of the Arabian nation, who to this day do not circumcise until after the thirteenth year. Isaac, the child of promise, the heir who was to carry on the race of the patriarch, was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth, and this, among the Hebrews, became a law, and a statute for ever. One of the tapestries at Hampton Court, in the time of Holbein, represents the operation being performed upon Isaac, with what appears to be a knife made of stone, which was the instrument used for many ages for this purpose. By the kindness of my friend, the Rev. William Sparrow Simpson, the learned Librarian and Minor Canon of St. Paul’s Cathedral, I am enabled to show you some of these knives of stone; and further evidence of the employment of such implements will be found in Exodus 4th chapter and 25th verse, where it is written—“Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at his (Moses) feet.”[3] ----- Footnote 3: _Pliny_ tells us that the priests of _Cybele_, the mother of the gods had sharp stones with which they cut themselves in their extasies. _Catullus_ says, that _Atys_ emasculated himself with such an instrument.