erence in the ages, already mentioned, at which the rite was
practiced--that of Phoenicia and Israel being at one time
identical--shows that the testimony of Herodotus in this one particular
was the result of faulty judgment, as we find the people who have
borrowed the practice from the Egyptians, as well as their descendants,
closely follow their practice in regard to the age at which the
operation should be performed. Another evidence of the strictly
religious nature of the rite, as far as the Hebrews are concerned, lies
in the fact that, with all their skill in surgery and medical
sciences,--they being at one time the only intelligent exponents of our
science,--they never made any alteration or improvement in the manner of
performing the operation. It is evident that even Maimonides, a
celebrated Jewish physician of the twelfth century, who furnished some
rules in regard to the operation, was held under some constraint by the
religious aspect of the rite. As a summary of this part of the subject,
it may be stated that the Old Testament furnished the only reliable and
authentic relation prior to Pythagoras and Herodotus. From its evidence,
Abraham was the first to perform the operation, which he seems to have
performed on himself, his son, and servants,--in all, numbering nearly
four hundred males; he then dwelt in Chaldea. In absence of other as
reliable evidence we must accept this testimony in regard to its origin,
causes, and antiquity.

Voltaire, in his article on circumcision in his "Philosophical
Dictionary," seems more intent on breaking down any testimony that might
favor belief in any religion than to impart any useful light or
information. He bases all his arguments on the book "Euterpe," of
Herodotus, wherein he relates that the Colchis appear to come from
Egypt, as they remembered the ancient Egyptians and their customs more
than the Egyptians remembered either the Colchis or their customs; the
Colchis claimed to be an Egyptian colony settled there by Sesostris and
resembled the Egyptians. Voltaire claims that, as the Jews were then in
a small nook of Arabia Petrea, it is hardly likely that, they being then
an insignificant people, the Egyptians would have borrowed any of their
customs. To read Voltaire's "Herodotus" is somewhat convincing, but
Voltaire's "Herodotus" and Herodotus writing himself are two different
things, and the book "Euterpe" says quite another thing from what M.
Voltaire makes it say.