[85:3] Giles: Hebrew and Christian Records, vol. i. p. 251.
[85:4] Mr. Herbert Spencer shows (Principles of Sociology, pp. 290, 295) that the sacrificing of a part of the body as a religious offering to their deity, was, and is a common practice among savage tribes. Circumcision may have originated in this way. And Mr. Wake, speaking of it, says: "The origin of this custom has not yet, so far as I am aware, been satisfactorily explained. The idea that, under certain climatic conditions, circumcision is necessary for cleanliness and comfort, does not appear to be well founded, as the custom is not universal even within the tropics." (Phallism in Ancient Religs., p. 36.)
[85:5] "Other men leave their private parts as they are formed by nature, except those who have learned otherwise from them; but the Egyptians are circumcised. . . . They are circumcised for the sake of cleanliness, thinking it better to be clean than handsome." (Herodotus, Book ii. ch. 36.)
[86:1] We have it also on the authority of Sir J. G. Wilkinson, that: "this custom was established long before the arrival of Joseph in Egypt," and that "this is proved by the ancient monuments."
[86:2] Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, pp. 414, 415.
[86:3] Ibid. p. 415.
[86:4] Ibid. and Knight: Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 89.
[86:5] Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 415.
[86:6] Herodotus: Book ii. ch. 36.
[86:7] See Bonwick's Egyptian Belief, p. 114. Amberly: Analysis Religious Belief, p. 67, and Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 309.