Hence many German authorities cited in Keil's _Biblical Archæology_ (vol. i. p. 415) consider circumcision as a relic of ancient sacrifice: the consecration of a part of the body for the whole. The different grades in the process of humanisation may be assumed to have been successively attained as follows. In the earliest periods, human sacrifice was probably universal; in the Bible, we have the episode of Jephthah's daughter, above referred to; and in the narrative of Abraham's purpose to offer Isaac there is not the slightest indication of surprise on the part of the patriarch when he received Jahve's commands; whence may be argued evident acquaintance with such deeds. Besides which, we hear of human sacrifice among the tribes contiguous to the Israelites, until a much later date. Even the Greeks and Romans occasionally resorted to this during the historical period; in the Homeric age, it appears to have been a not infrequent practice. As, however, men progressed in culture and in humanity, such barbarity became impossible. Instead of putting their firstborn children (often by cruel methods, as in the sacrifices to Molech) to death, they propitiated the deity by an offer of the most precious member. Indeed, in the Genesis account of Abraham's circumcision, Mr. Moncure Conway considers (_Demonology and Devil Lore_, ii. 83) that the legend, subsequently obscured by later traditions, originally points to the performance of a much more severe operation. And when still more advanced, even this became impossible; the excision of a very small portion of the organ, not of indispensable necessity to the fulfilment of its functions, being substituted. After many generations had then passed over, the custom had become so firmly implanted in the mind and habits of the people, that its eradication was rendered a matter of extreme difficulty; even by new religious dispensations and more elevated modes of thought. Hence we find the rite among the Israelites made an exception to the fierce denunciation of mutilations in general, uttered by Jahve or by his messengers; and hence also, we see it (though not prescribed in the Koran) an ordinary modern custom throughout the whole of Islam, as well as among the Christian Abyssinians.