[226] J. Gumilla, “Histoire de l’Oronoque,” (Hist. of Oronoko), Avignon 1708. Vol. I. p. 183. Veigl in Murr’s “Sammlung der Reisen einiger Missionare,” (Collection of Travels of Various Missionaries), p. 67.—de Pauw, “Reflections sur les Américains,” (Reflections on the Natives of America), Vol. II. p. 148. Spizelius, Theoph., Elevatio revelationis Montezinianae de repertis in America tribubus Israeliticis, (Confutation of the Montezinian revelation as to the Finding of the lost Tribes of Israel in America.) Bâle 1661. 8vo. Burdach, Physiology. Vol. III. p. 386.
[227] Gospel of St. John, Ch. VII. v. 23., Εἰ περιτομὴν λαμβάνει ἄνθρωπος ἐν σαββάτῳ, ἵνα μὴ λυθῇ ὁ νόμος Μωσέως, ἐμοὶ χολᾶτε ὅτι ὅλον ἄνθρωπον ὑγιῆ ἐποίησα ἐν σαββάτῳ. (for translation see text above).
[228] I Samuel, Ch. XVII. v. 14. It is true we find even in Genesis the covenant with Jehovah celebrated by Abraham by means of circumcision; but it was in later times only in each case that this custom was referred back to him as being racial father of the Nation. For the same reason in the case of Joshua the matter is so represented as if the Jews had been already circumcised at their expulsion from Egypt. If this had really and truly been the case, it is impossible to see why circumcision was not carried out on those born on the march to Canaan. They were perfectly able to keep other laws, and they could have observed this too, if it had been given them at the time!
[229] Leviticus, Ch. XIX. v. 6.
[230] Leviticus, Ch. XII. v. 3.
[231] J. G. Hofmann, De causa foecunditatis gentis circumcisae in circumcisione quaerenda, (On the Reason for the Fertility of the Circumcised Race to be sought in the fact of their Circumcision), Leipzig 1739. 4to.—S. B. Wolfsheimer, De causis fecunditatis Hebraeorum nonnullis sacr. cod. praeceptibus nitentibus, (On the Causes of the Fertility of the Jews as dependent upon certain Precepts of the Sacred Volumes), Halle 1742.—Bauer, loco citato Vol. I. p. 63.
[232] The Talmud says: Quicunque Israelita liberis operam non dat, est velut homicida. (An Israelite, whoever he be, that fails to give heed to the procreation of children, is a kind of murderer). Selden, Uxor. Hebraic. Bk. I. ch. 9.
[233] Stoll, Praelectiones in diversos morbos chronicos, (Lectures on certain Chronic Diseases), Vol. I. p. 96, writes as follows: Antiquissimum cum Henslero pronuntiavi, atque inter Aegyptios, Judaeos, Graecos dein et Romanos perfrequentem ut quasdam harum gentium consuetudines, mores, leges ac statuta forte inde possis repertere.... Sic praeceptum circumcisionis, antiquissima plane consuetudo, idcirco fortassis instituta fuerat, atque tanquam ritus sacer, tanquam praeceptum quoddam, de quo dispensari nemo queat, introducebatur, quod circumcisus videatur difficilius morbum urethrae contrahere, rariusque ablato scilicet praeputio, intra quod virus haeret, rodit, cancros facit, quod et ipsum efficitur pessime in phymosi, paraphymosi. Glans ipsa in homine minus facile virus resorbere videtur, occallescens nempe.... Nota viriginitatis sedulo examinata est in neonuptis puellis; custodia foeminarum per totum orientem; adulterii crimen, maxime foeminarum, morte expiatum videntur docere, scivisse antiquitatem remotissimam, morbum quendam gravem, immundum volgivaga Venere dari et communicari. (With Hensler I pronounce it—Venereal disease—to be of most ancient origin, and to have been of such frequency among the Egyptians, Jews, as well as the Greeks and Romans, that it may well be possible to discover in it the cause of sundry habits, customs, laws and enactments of these Peoples.... For instance the precept of circumcision, evidently an extremely ancient custom, was very possibly first instituted for this reason, and was introduced in the guise of a sacred rite, a ceremonial precept from which there can be no dispensation, because the circumcised man would seem less readily to contract disease of the urethra, and in cases where the prepuce has been removed, inside which the poison remains adherent and corrodes, less frequently suffers from chancres, an effect that follows in its worst form in phymosis and paraphymosis. The glans penis itself in a man thus treated seems to absorb the poison less easily, being in fact grown partially callous.... The fact that the sign of virginity was scrupulously examined in newly married virgins, the careful guard kept over women throughout the East, the penalty of death attached to the crime of adultery, especially in women, all seem to show that the remotest Antiquity was aware of some serious, foul disease being given and communicated by indiscriminate Love.
[234] Strabo, Geograph. Bk. XVII. ch. 11. § 5.—Reland, De religione Muhamedan., (On the Mohammedan Religion), p. 75. Niebuhr, Description of Arabia, p. 70.
[235] Seezen, in a letter to von Hammer on the Mines of the East. Vol. I. p. 65.