The Rabbinical law stands thus: “we may circumcise with anything, even with a flint, with crystal (glass) or with anything that cuts, _except with the sharp edge of a reed_, because the _enchanters_ make use of that, or it may bring on a disease.” Again we have the evidence of _Leutholf_ that the Æthopians used _stone knives_ for circumcision in his time, 1581. Speaking of the _Alnajah_, an Æthopian race, he says:—“Alnajah gens Æthiopum cultris lapideis circumcisionem peragit.” Mr. E. B. Tylor in his “Researches into the Early History of Mankind,” has suggested as the probable reason why stone was used as a cutting instrument, that it was less likely to cause inflammation than either bronze or iron. And _Pliny_ states that the mutilation of the priests of _Cybele_ was done with a sherd of Samian ware to avoid the same danger. ----- Some writers believe that the practice of circumcision existed for ages amongst the Heathens before the time of Abraham, whilst others have not hesitated to date its origin as far back as our first fathers, asserting that Adam was taught by the angel Gabriel to satisfy an oath he had made to cut off that flesh, which after his fall had rebelled against his spirit. Much has been written with regard to the comparative _antiquity_ of this custom among the Egyptians and Ethiopians; a point upon which the erudite Herodotus leaves us in doubt. Circumcision of _both_ sexes exists amongst the Abyssinians, Nubians, Egyptians (both ancient and modern), Hottentots, and probably many other nations. But in Turkey, Persia, and in the South Sea Islands, and those of the Indian Seas, the practice is confined to the _male_ sex. The Mohammedans adopt the rite of circumcision, and Mahomet himself was circumcised, although no mention is made of the fact in the Koran. Doubtless, the so-called circumcision of women, as it is practised in some countries, is a modification of what _we_ understand by the term, and involves structures other than the clitoris or nymphæ; and it is equally true that the custom is adopted by many races totally irrespective of any religious significance. Sonnini de Manoncourt, a distinguished traveller and naturalist of the eighteenth century “having examined a young girl of Egyptian origin, about eight years old, found a thick, flabby, and fleshy excrescence, covered with skin, which grew above the commissure of the labia, and hung down half an inch, resembling in size and shape the caruncle pendent from the bill of a turkey cock.” Conditions of a similar nature are said to exist among the women of the interior of Africa, and are probably due to climatic influences, but the more common forms of disease are those of simple hypertrophy of the external parts of generation; and it is not unreasonable to suppose that the surgical interference necessary for their removal has given rise to the general term of circumcision.