ory according to Moses (Genesis III),
we have an unmistakable allusion to phallic worship in the use of the
serpent in the myth of man's temptation and fall. The serpent was an
almost universal symbol of priapic adoration throughout Egypt and
Assyria; it achieved this distinction, in all probability, from its
resemblance to the _instrumentum masculinum generationis_.[U] In a
beautiful bronze plaque, representing Nergal, the Chaldean god of Hades,
the _glans penis_ of the god is distinctly the head of the snake. A
splendid drawing of this plaque by Faucher-Gudin is given in Maspero's
_Dawn of Civilization_.[62] It may be stated here that the uraeus, or
asp, which was so prominently in evidence as one of the principle signs
of Egyptian royalty, was also the symbol of the life-giving principle of
Ra, the sun-god.

[U] The author is fully aware of the fact that writers on phallic
worship ascribe other reasons for the adoption of the snake as one
of the chief symbols of the worship of the generative principle. He
believes, however, that the primitive originators of this cult
were, psychically, too immature to evolve any other than simple and
objective ideas in regard to this subject; hence he considers the
above as the true origin of this symbol. Furthermore, this belief
is strengthened by the appearance of the snake in the myths and
folklore tales of race-preservation in all peoples where the
serpent was a familiar object.

[62] _Op. cit._, p. 691.

Abraham, in all probability, instituted the rite of circumcision in
remembrance of the Chaldean genital worship.[V] This sexual fetichism
was eminently religious in character from its very inception among the
ancient Hebrews; yet Westermarck, in his _History of Human Marriage_,
considers this custom as being of ornamental origin.[63] Now, it is
known beyond question of doubt that the Hebrews and Abyssinians, who
practiced this rite, covered their nakedness, hence, it is folly to
suppose that they ornamented a portion of their bodies which always
remained carefully hidden. Moreover, since it has been in use from very
ancient times "among most of the tribes inhabiting the African West
Coast, among all the Mohammedan peoples, among the Kaffirs, among nearly
all the peoples of Eastern Africa, among the Christian Abyssinians,
Bogos, and Copts, throughout all the various tribes inhabiting
Madagascar, and, in the heart of the Bl