say what its original distribution was,
and whether or not there was a single center of distribution. As to its
origin many theories have been advanced. Its character as initiatory is
not an explanation--all customs of initiation need to have their origins
explained. It may be said at the outset that a usage prevalent in low
tribes and clearly beginning under savage conditions of life must,
probably, have sprung from some simple physical need, not from advanced
scientific or religious conceptions. We may briefly examine the
principal explanations of its origin that have been offered.

+154+. It cannot be regarded as a test of endurance, for it involves no
great suffering, and neither it nor the severer operation of
subincision[304] (practiced in Australia) is ever spoken of as an
official test.

+155+. A hygienic ground is out of the question for early society. The
requisite medical observation is then lacking, and there is no hint of
such a motive in the material bearing on the subject. Circumcision is
employed in modern surgery for certain diseases and as a generally
helpful operation, but such employment appears to be modern and of
limited extent. The exact meaning of Herodotus's statement that the
Egyptians were circumcised for the sake of cleanliness, preferring it to
beauty,[305] is not clear; but in any case so late an idea throws no
light on the beginnings.

+156+. Somewhat more to the point is Crawley's view that the object of
the removal of the prepuce is to get rid of the dangerous emanation from
the physical secretion therewith connected.[306] Such an object would
issue from savage ideas of magic, the secretions of the human body (as
urine and dung) being often supposed to contain the power resident in
all life. But this view, though conceivably correct, is without support
from known facts. There is no trace of fear of the secretion in
question, and the belief in power, when such a belief appears, attaches
rather to the oblated prepuce (which is sometimes preserved as a sort of
charm, or hidden, or swallowed by the boy or by some other person) than
to the secretion. Nor does this theory account for the custom of
subincision.

+157+. As circumcision is often performed shortly before marriage it has
been suggested that its object is to increase procreative power by
preventing phimosis.[307] The opinion that such is its effect, though it
has no scientific support, has been and is held by not a few persons.