r-use existence,
being in bulk out of all proportion to the organ it is intended to
cover. Speculation as to its existence is as unprolific of results as
any we may indulge in regarding the nature, object, or uses of that
other evolutionary appendage, the appendix vermiformis, the recollection
of whose existence always adds an extra flavor to tomatoes, figs, or any
other small-seeded fruits.

We may well exclaim, as we behold this appendage to man,--now of no use
in health and of the most doubtful assistance to the very organ it was
intended to protect, when that organ, through its iniquitous tastes, has
got itself into trouble, and, Job-like, is lying repentant and sick in
its many wrappings of lint, with perhaps its companions in crime
imprisoned in a suspensory bandage,--what is this prepuce? Whence, why,
where, and whither? At times, Nature, as if impatient of the slow march
of gradual evolution, and exasperated at this persistent and useless as
well as dangerous relic of a far-distant prehistoric age, takes things
in her own hands and induces a sloughing to take place, which rids it of
its annoyance. In the far-off land of Ur, among the mountainous regions
of Kurdistan, something over six thousand years ago, the fathers of the
Hebrew race, inspired by a wisdom that could be nothing less than of
divine origin, forestalled the process of evolution by establishing the
rite of circumcision. Whether this has been beneficial or injurious to
the race will be, in a measure, the object of the discussion in this
book.

One object of this book is to furnish my professional brothers with some
embodied facts that they may use in convincing the laity in many cases
where they themselves are convinced that circumcision is absolutely
necessary; but, having nothing in their text-books to back up their
opinion with, their explanations are too apt to pass for their mere
unfounded personal view of the matter. If the patient, or the parents of
the patient, ask the physician for his authority, he is at a loss, as
there is nothing that deals with the subject in any extended manner; so
that this book has been written in as plain English as the
subject-matter could possibly allow, so that non-professionals could
easily read and understand it. I have often felt the need of such a
work; people can understand emergency or accident surgery, military
surgery, or reparative surgery, but such a thing as surgery to remedy a
seemingly medical dise