the act of cutting off the prepuce; a ceremony in the Jewish and Mahometan religions, wherein they cut off the foreskin of their males, who are to profess the one or the other law.

Circumcision commenced in the time of Abraham; and was, as it were, the seal of a covenant stipulated between God and him. It was in the year of the world 2178, that Abraham, by divine appointment, circumcised himself, and all the males of his family; from which time it became an hereditary practice among his descendants.

The ceremony, however, was not confined to the Jews: Herodotus and Philo Judaeus observe, that it obtained also among the Egyptians and Ethiopians. Herodotus says, that the custom was very ancient among each people; so that there was no determining which of them borrowed it from the other. The same historian relates, that the inhabitants of Colchis also used circumcision; whence he concludes, that they were originally Egyptians. He adds, that the Phoenicians and Syrians were likewise circumcised; but that they borrowed the practice from the Egyptians. And lately, that a little before the time when he wrote, circumcision had passed from Colchis, to the people inhabiting near Thermopylae and Parthenius.

Marham is of opinion, that the Hebrews borrowed circumcision from the Egyptians; and that God was not the first author thereof; citing Diodorus Siculus, and Herodotus, as evidences on his side. This latter proposition seems directly contrary to the testimony of Moses, who assures, Gen. xvii., that Abraham, though 99 years of age, was not circumcised till he had the express command of God for it. But as to the former position of Marham, it will admit of more debate. The arguments on both sides may be seen in one view in Spencer de Legibus Hebraeorum, l. 2. c. 4.

Be this as it will, it is certain the practice of circumcision among the Hebrews differed very considerably from that of the Egyptians. Among the first it was a ceremony of religion, and was performed on the eighth day after the birth of the child. Among the latter, a point of mere decency and cleanliness; and, as some will have it, of physical necessity; and was not performed till the 13th year, and then on girls as well as boys.

Among the Jews, the time for performing this rite was the eighth day, that is, six full days, after the child was born: the law of Moses ordained nothing with respect to the person by whom, the instrument with which, or the manner how, the ceremony was to be perform- Circumcision; the instrument was generally a knife of stone. The child is usually circumcised at home, where the father, or godfather, holds him in his arms; while the operator takes hold of the prepuce with one hand, and with the other cuts it off; a third person holds a por- ringer, with sand in it, to catch the blood; then the operator applies his mouth to the part, and, having sucked the blood, spits it into a bowl of wine, and throws a styptic powder upon the wound. This ceremony was usually accompanied with great rejoicings and feasting; and it was at this time that the child was named in presence of the company. The Jews invented several superstitious customs at this ceremony, such as placing three stools, one for the circumcisor, the second for the person who holds the child, and the third for Elijah, who, they say, affixes invisibly at the ceremony, &c.

The Jews distinguished their proselytes into two sorts, according as they became circumcised or not: those who submitted to this rite were looked upon as children of Abraham, and obliged to keep the laws of Moses; the uncircumcised were only bound to observe the precepts of Noah, and were called noachidae.

The Turks never circumcise till the seventh or eighth year, as having no notion of its being necessary to salvation. The Persians circumcise their boys at 13, and their girls from 9 to 15. Those of Madagascar cut the flesh at three several times; and the most zealous of the relations present, catches hold of the preputium and swallows it.

Circumcision is practised on women by cutting off the foreskin of the clitoris, which bears a near resemblance and analogy to the prepuce of the male penis. We are told that the Egyptian captive women were circumcised; and also the subjects of Pretter John.

Circumcision is also the name of a feast, celebrated on the first of January, in commemoration of the circumcision of our Saviour.