A similar state of things exists also in connection with the male genital organs. The surface of the _glans penis_, where it lies contiguous to the external skin, exhibits along with the latter an increased secretion from the sebaceous follicles[150], the discharge from which, if it is allowed to remain any length of time between the prepuce and the _glans_[151], likewise acquires an acrid quality; then re-acting on these parts, sets up an inflammatory condition of the aforesaid sebaceous follicles. “In fact”, says _Niebuhr_[152] “the Medical Officer of the English at Haleb (Russel) ascertained that in hot countries more copious humours collect about the _glans penis_ than in cold; and a friend of mine in India, who in that hot climate had employed only the ordinary European precautions to ensure cleanliness, got a sort of ulcers on the _glans_, an inconvenience he would have been much more likely to escape, had he been circumcised. Subsequently he always washed this part of his person very carefully, and from that time forth experienced no trace of a recurrence of the trouble. Washing the whole body and particularly the privates is an absolute necessity in hot countries; and it is perhaps for this reason that the religious founders of the Jews, the Mohammedans, the Fire-Worshippers, the Heathen in India, etc., have commanded the observation of this practice.” In close accord with this is the story _Flavius Josephus_[153] relates of _Apion_ the Egyptian: “Wherefore it appears to me Apion deservedly paid a fitting penalty for his scorn of ancestral customs; for only when forced by necessity was he circumcised, ulceration having been set up about his privates (his _glans penis_); and as a matter of fact the circumcision proved vain, for gangrene supervened, and he died in terrible pain.” Again the passage just quoted will also afford a clear understanding of the following from _Philo_[154]: