Although less severe measures have been from time to time brought forward and advocated, the operation of circumcision is, to all intents and purposes, the only procedure in general use for remedying congenital phimosis; and as the latter is very common, so also is the performance of this ancient sacrificial rite among that large majority of the population who are otherwise in no way committed to it. There is a simplicity and thoroughness about the little amputation which may perhaps commend it to the surgical mind; and there are unquestionably certain superficial advantages of a hygienic nature about the patient's subsequent condition; though it may be doubted whether these are by any means so considerable as has been made to appear. However this may be, it goes without saying that no other curative proceeding has so far met with any wide favour in the medical profession; and, if one may judge from their published opinions, the leading exponents of medical practice and opinion, in this country at least, are so pleased with circumcision and its results that they would willingly see the Mosaic Laws in this particular extended to the whole Christian population, whether affected by phimosis or not. Witness Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson: It is surely not needful to seek any recondite motive for the origin of the practice of circumcision. No one who has seen the superior cleanliness of a Hebrew penis can have avoided a very strong impression in favour of the removal of the foreskin. It constitutes a harbour for filth, and is a constant source of irritation. It conduces to masturbation, and adds to the difficulties of sexual continence. It increases the risk of syphilis in early life, and of cancer in the aged. I have never seen cancer of the penis in a Jew, and chancres are rare.--_Archives of Surgery._ Arguments by this distinguished surgeon, in favour of extension of the custom as a matter of ordinary routine to every male Gentile, are to be found in the _Medical Times and Gazette_, December 1, 1855; together with a reference to previous utterances in an identical sense. Erichsen (_Surgery_, Ninth Edition, 1888, vol. ii. p. 1188) says: Every child who has a congenital phimosis ought to be circumcised; and even those who, without having phimosis, have an abnormally long and lax prepuce, would be improved greatly in cleanliness, health, and morals by being subjected to the same operation. It would be well if the custom of Eastern nations, whether it be regarded as a religious rite or only as a time-honoured observance, were introduced amongst us. In Holmes's _System of Surgery_, 1883, we read: Circumcision is the operation required in children; and it is best adapted for adults also when the skin is redundant, and the margins of the preputial opening are thickened. Mr. W. H. Jacobson (_Operations of Surgery_, 1889) says: