the act of cutting off the prepuce or foreskin; a Jewish and Mohammedan rite.

Circumcision was the seal of a covenant between God and Abraham. 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, although it originated with them. Herodotus and Philo Judeus observe, that it obtained also among the Egyptians and Ethiopians. Herodotus says that the custom was very ancient among each people; so that it was impossible to determine which of them borrowed it from the other. The same historian relates, that the inhabitants of Colchis also practised circumcision; and hence he concludes that they were originally Egyptians. He adds, that the Phoenicians and Syrians were likewise circumcised; that they borrowed the practice from the Egyptians; and, lastly, that a little before the time when he wrote, circumcision had passed from Colchis to the people living near Thermodon and Parthenius. (Herodot., ii. 104.)

Marsham is of opinion that the Hebrews borrowed circumcision from the Egyptians, and did not introduce the rite in compliance with the direct command of Heaven. Diodorus Siculus and Herodotus are cited by him as evidences on his side. This latter proposition seems directly contrary to the testimony of Moses, who tells us that Abraham, though ninety-nine years of age, was not circumcised till he had received the express command of God for the performance of the rite. The arguments on both sides may be seen in one view in Spencer de Legibus Hebræorum.

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 performed; the instrument however was generally a knife of stone. The child was usually circumcised at home, where the father or godfather held him in his arms, while the operator, taking hold of the prepuce with one hand, cut it off with the other; a third person held a bowl, filled with sand, to catch the blood; then the operator applied his mouth to the part, and, having sucked the blood, spat it into a bowl of wine, and threw a styptic powder upon the wound (Othon, Lex Rabb. p. 133.) This ceremony was usually accompanied with great rejoicings and feasting; and at this time the child received his name in presence of the company. The Jews invented several superstitions customs at this ceremony, one of which consisted in placing three stools—one for the operator, the second for the person who held the child, and the third for Elijah, who, as they supposed, assisted invisibly at the ceremony.

The Jews distinguished their proselytes into two sorts, according as they were 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 Noachides.

A sort of circumcision has also been found to exist in various parts of the Indian Seas and Pacific Ocean.