at in case of a white man it would not do to
use skin of any other color besides his own. We have no data to base any
assertion as to the relative action of skin-grafts taken from Mongolians
or Indians, but we have very reliable data in relation to the
proliferating action of those of the negro,[82] which induces a growth
of epidermis of its own kind; so that preputial grafts from the negro,
combining the extra vitality and proliferation of the preputial tissue
with the strong animal vitality of the negro, if applied to a white man,
might not produce the most desirable cosmetic effects, especially if on
one side of the countenance.

But, taken as a whole, when considered in its relation to onanism,
nocturnal enuresis, preputial calculus, syphilis, cancer, and a lot of
nervous and other ailments, or induced abnormal physical conditions, we
can really conclude that the days of the prepuce are past and gone, that
it has outlived its usefulness, and that those whom a religious or civil
ordinance or custom happily makes them rid of it are people to be
greatly envied. As Sancho Panza remarked, "God bless the man who
invented sleep," so we may well join in blessing the inventor of
circumcision, as an event that has saved some parts of the human family
from much ill and suffering.

Phimosis is an ancient attendant on our inheritance of the prepuce, we
being, in fact, born with it; this is the rule. There are, however,
exceptions to this rule, which, singularly enough, are found to be
hereditary. The writer has met with a number of such instances, and they
have always been found to have been family traits. Within the past year,
after attending a confinement, his attention was called to the child by
the nurse, who thought that the child was deformed; the nurse,
singularly enough, never having seen a natural-looking glans penis in
all her life, was astonished at the size and appearance of the member.
On examination, the organ showed a complete absence of prepuce. On
inquiry, the father and another son, born more than twenty years
previously,--this comprising every male member of the family,--were
found to have been thus born, with the glans fully exposed. The family
is now residing in San Diego, and is naturally one of more than superior
physical health and intelligence. I saw another family similarly
affected in the north of France, and of individual cases, without
knowing the history of the rest of the family, I have seen a lar