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}}</ref> So great was his reputation and influence that his views were accepted without question, even though empirical studies had not been carried out. Surgical operations were carried out on infants without pain medication.

It was not until a century that medical science started to question his views. Talbert et al. (1976) measured the rise in cortisol and cortisone in [[circumcised]] infants and found an increase in "stress".<ref>{{REFjournal

}}</ref>

</blockquote>

==Conclusion==

Flechsig's error condemned millions of infant girls and boys to acute [[pain]] and [[trauma]] for more than a century. Open heart surgery on infants was done without anesthesia. Boys may have suffered more than girls because of the practice of non-therapeutic neonatal [[circumcision]], including the after effects of behavior changes and [[PTSD]].