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→Late nineteenth century: Add citation.
The late nineteenth century was characterized by various medical doctors advancing all sorts of absurd reasons for the performance of non-therapeutic circumcision.
The first recorded non-religious circumcision of a boy in the United States occurred in 1870 when [[Lewis Albert Sayre]], a prominent New York City doctor, circumcised a boy of five years of age for paralysis. <ref name="gollaher1994">{{REFjournal |last=Gollaher |first=David L. |init=DL |author-link= |title=From ritual to science: the medical transformation of circumcision in America |journal=Journal of Social History |date=1994-09 |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=5-36 |url=http://www.cirp.org/library/history/gollaher/ |accessdate=2021-10-26}}</ref> [[Lewis Albert Sayre|Sayre]] then continued to advocate circumcision for numerous reasons until his death in 1900. According to [[Lewis Albert Sayre|Sayre]], circumcision was recommended for paralysis, epilepsy, hernia, lunacy, curvature of the spine, and clubfoot.
M. J. Moses (1871) advocated circumcision to prevent [[masturbation]].<ref name="moses1871">{{REFjournal