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{{Citation
| Text=… neither of these [figures >10,000 and >20,000] is anywhere near the truth, because they are an order of magnitude too high. | Author=[[Ken McGrath]] | ref=<ref name="footnote2">see footnotes 27 and 31</ref>
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{{Citation
| Text=In orders of magnitude, the number has to be >1,000 and <10,000. | Author=[[Ken McGrath]] | ref=<ref name="footnote2" />
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I wish to thank [[Ulf Dunkel]] and [[Lindsay R. Watson]] for support and advice in the preparation of this article and [[Ken McGrath]] for giving his consent and information about anatomy and innervation of the [[foreskin]].<ref name="Approvals">Approvals to the first publication by e-mail to the author: see below</ref>
In '''2017''', [[Ken McGrath]] confirms his estimate from 1998<ref>McGrath’s statement in a contribution to a yet unpublished book (emphasis from author), made available to the author by forwarded email from L.R. Watson to [[Ulf Dunkel]] on May 31, 2017.</ref>:
{{Citation
| Text=The following method has been used to estimate the number of corpuscular nerve endings in the [[foreskin]]. The frenular delta and frenular band are more sensitive than a fingertip; one square centimetre of fingertip has about 30-40 ridges with approximately three [[Meissner's corpuscles]] in every millimetre of ridge. For each centimetre of ridge there would be thirty [[Meissner's corpuscles]] and thus 900-1200 per cm2 of tip. The area of the frenular delta is equivalent to or greater than three fingertip areas, i.e. about 3-4 cm2. Therefore, at a minimum, the most sensitive area of the prepuce would have at least 3000 corpuscular endings. In orders of magnitude, the number has to be more than 1000 and less than 10,000. Some writers have erroneously inflated this estimate to 20,000 or more. More research is needed to clarify the actual number and distribution. | Author=[[Ken McGrath]]
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And in a further actual statement about the 20,000 figure [[Ken McGrath|McGrath]] writes:
{{Citation
| Text=[…] it is impossible for the [[foreskin]] to support such a huge number: there is not enough surface area to mount so many receptors (they would nearly outnumber the epithelial cells!) and the known number of axons ranging into the prepuce could not connect to that number. Furthermore, such a vast number is totally unnecessary to achieve the known high sensitivity of the prepuce. | Author=[[Ken McGrath]] | <ref>a.) quoted after [[Ken McGrath|McGrath]], Fn 27a; b.)</ref>
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{{Citation
| Text=I made my estimate at the Symposium held in Oxford UK, Summer 1998. … I made my informal ‘back of the envelope’ estimation in response to a question during discussion outside the meeting. … Paul Fleiss did not differentiate between the types [of nerve endings] either and simply took Bazett's total number for his estimate.
In my estimation, I extrapolated the numbers of [[[[Meissner's corpuscles|Meissner corpuscular endings]] from the finger tip to the prepuce as these are the principal mediators of fine touch (and, therefore, of sexual sensation). All skin appears to have many free nerve endings evenly distributed over their surfaces regardless of the local function; two epithelia, however, have virtually no fine touch—the cornea of the eye and the [[Glans penis|glans penis]]—having almost nothing but free nerve endings. The prepuce is no exception to this general pattern of having FNE over its entire surface, but like most other skin (except the two exceptions above) it has varying numbers and distribution of corpuscular endings which are in lower numbers than the FNE. From teaching skin enervation to medical students using sections of an index finger, I knew the numbers of [[Meissner's corpuscles]] in that skin. Observation and personal experience told me that the prepuce was more sensitive than the finger tips which suggested there are more of those fine touch endings in the prepuce. But I could not be definite about the numbers in the prepuce having only looked at some general sections. So I made an estimate in orders of magnitude: not less than 1000 nor more than 10,000 with the view that the numbers were probably at the lower end; i.e. between 1000 and 2000. Some recent work seems to confirm a figure around 1500.
| Author=[[Ken McGrath]]
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{{Citation
| Text=If you make a mistake and do not correct it, this is called a mistake. | Author=Confucius
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* [[Viola Schäfer]] (chairwoman [[intaktiv]] e.V. – a voice for genital self-determination)
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