| Cases | Gonorrœa | Syphilis | Proportion of gonorrhœa to syphilis |
| Not Jews 272 Jews 58 | 107 47 | 165 11 | 0·6 to 1 4·3 " 1 |
On these figures a plausible inference might perhaps be founded, that what the Jew saves in immunity from syphilis he, to a certain extent, loses in increased proclivity to gonorrhœa; certainly the least of the two evils.
Mr. Hutchinson goes on to state that of 252 children under the age of five years, 27 out of 179 Christians exhibited symptoms of congenital syphilis in a well-marked form; while only 3 out of 73 Jews were thus affected, the proportion thus being 1 in 6 among the Christians, while only 1 in 24 among the Jews. Again, of 97 women (two-thirds being married), of whom 92 were Christians and 5 Jews, 61 of the former were syphilised; against a blank return among the latter. Upon the evidence of these statistics, Mr. Hutchinson advocates a general adoption of the rite of circumcision by Western nations!
Upon his own showing, however, the benefit to be derived from such a sweeping innovation, supposing that this were practicable, is not so very large; for 11 syphilised Jews out of a total of 58 with venereal disease, is a tolerably respectable proportion. The inferences here drawn, moreover, do not appear to have been confirmed by careful statistical observation carried out by other medical practitioners; among whom those of Jewish birth should be able to give specially valuable testimony. The field of inquiry was comparatively small; statistics drawn from the out-patient department of a general hospital are, for obvious reasons, not always of the most reliable character; and the conclusions may be vitiated by the facts suggested in the text. Hence, although they refer to but one venereal malady, it is hardly possible to acquiesce in them implicitly, even in this limited respect; without some confirmation drawn from a much more extended field of research.
V DISADVANTAGES AND DANGERS OF CIRCUMCISION.
As a surgical operation, circumcision is commonly performed with so much impunity that many surgeons will probably not be disposed to admit the possibility of its being attended by any danger to life; and there can be no doubt that it is but seldom followed by a fatal result. Still, with any breach of surface whatever, there must be a chance of blood-poisoning and of the absorption of septic materials; and, in the case of a child liable to hæmophilia, it cannot be doubted that serious consequences might readily ensue.
Thus, in the third century it was enacted by the rabbins (Talmud, Treatise Jebamoth, 646) that, after two deaths in the same family from this cause, the ceremony was to be omitted; and the prohibition has continued in force ever since. Maimonides inculcates the utmost caution in the performance of the rite, and insists that 'in case of doubtful sickness, a child must not be circumcised; since danger to life overrides the whole ceremonial law.' (Maimonides on Circumcision, ch. i.). At the present date it is always effected by an expert (Mohel), who is not infrequently a qualified medical man; and accidents are guarded against with jealous care.[16]
The ancient plan, according to which the operator received in his mouth (previously filled with wine) the extremity of the lacerated member, is now wholly or in great part abolished among the Jewish community; it being found that both syphilis and tuberculosis were thus communicated to the infant.[17]
The Lancet of October 1, 1870, quotes from the Wiener Med. Presse the particulars of two cases, reported by Dr. Schwartz, of boys circumcised at the usual period; who subsequently died from phlegmonous inflammation and sloughing of the part, one five and the other twenty-five days subsequently to the operation. In the same periodical for December 5, 1874, may be found allusion to the experience of Dr. Kohn, himself a Jew; who stated at a medical society in Vienna, that during a practice of thirty-five years he had known six deaths from this source (Allg. Wiener Med. Zeit. November 17, 1874). He himself had thus lost a child of his own.