United States of America

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Flag of the United States of America (USA)

The United States of America are also known as the United States or simply America or by acronyms such as USA or US or U.S.A. or U.S.. The United States are predominantly an English-speaking nation. As in other English-speaking nations, non-therapeutic circumcision of boys was popularized in the nineteenth century, however, the practice of non-therapeutic circumcision of boys is now in decline.

Contents

History

Jews have lived in America since before the Revolutionary War. They have always practiced ritual circumcision (Brit Milah) of boys on the eighth day of life in accordance with the Abrahamic covenant, however this was only for a very small percentage of the population.

One may be certain that the eighteenth century Founding Fathers of the United States of America were men with intact foreskins as were the foreskinned men who fought the American Civil War (1861-1865).

Non-therapeutic circumcision of males for non-religious reasons originated with Claude-Francois Lallemand in 1832 in France but soon spread to the United Kingdom in the early nineteenth century, from which it eventually spread to other English-speaking nations.

Late nineteenth century

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. Sayre then continued to advocate circumcision for numerous reasons until his death in 1900. According to Sayre, circumcision was recommended for paralysis, epilepsy, hernia, lunacy, curvature of the spine, and clubfoot.

M. J. Moses (1871) advocated circumcision to prevent masturbation.[1]

H. H. Kane (1879) 'discovers' that circumcision cures nocturnal emissions and abdominal neuralgia.[2]

Seventh-day Adventist John Harvey Kellogg, M.D.[a 1], of Battle Creek, Michigan, was an important 19th century promoter of male circumcision. Although masturbation is never mentioned in the Bible, Dr. Kellogg believed that masturbation was immoral, sinful, and caused one to dream "impure dreams", which he believed was harmful to the mental faculties, resuling in mental disorders, such as feeblemindness.[3] He believed that the urge to masturbate could be prevented by eating bland foods, for which purpose, he and his brother invented corn flakes.

Dr. Kellogg also recommended circumcision in cases "in which irritation is produced by retained secretions".[3]

Dr. Kellogg perhaps is most famous for his book, Plain facts for young and old (1879), in which he advocated circumcision of boys as punishment for masturbation.[3]

Elizabeth Blackwell, ̣̻M.D.[a 1], (1821 – 1910), born in England, but attended medical school in the United States. She was the first woman to become a medical doctor in the United States. Blackwell thought masturbation was immoral but that circumcision was not the way to correct it. She wrote against it in her 1894 book:

Appeals to the fears of uninstructed parents on the grounds of cleanliness or of hardening the part are entirely fallacious and unsupported by evidence. It is a physiological fact that the natural lubricating secretion of every healthy part is beneficial, not injurious to the part thus protected, and that no attempt to render a sensitive part insensitive is either practicable or justifiable. The protection which nature affords to these parts is an aid to physical purity by affording necessary protection against constant external contact of a part which necessarily remains keenly sensitive; and bad habits in boys and girls cannot by prevented by surgical operations. Where no malformation exists, bad habits can only be forestalled by healthy moral and physical education.[4]

Peter Charles Remondino, M.D.[a 1], was a San Diego, California physician, who was born in Turin (Torino) in 1846, but migrated with his family to the United States at the age of eight. There is some reason to believe that he was of Sephardic Jewish descent and had been circumcised while still in Turin, however this is uncertain.

Remondino clearly was highly intelligent. He mastered English, started medical school at age 17, treated wounded soldiers during the Civil War, and later moved to San Diego for his health.

After moving to San Diego, he practiced medicine, served as an officer of several medical societies, and other regulatory agencies.

Remondino is famous for his 346 page book, The History of Circumcision.[5]

When Remondino described the foreskin, he used the most horrific, derogatory,and disparaging language. He devoted several chapters to the alleged evils of the foreskin. It is not clear why he had such an extreme dislike for a natural and functional body part. His recommendation, of course, was for circumcision.

By the end of the nineteenth century, America, had at least one prominent physician and surgeon on the east coast promoting circumcision and another prominent physician and surgeon on the west coast promoting circumcision. There was no real medical science with which to dispute and discredit their false claims. Non-therapeutic circumcision of males was now well-established in the United States.

Early twentieth century

Ernest G. Mark (1901) notes that the "pleasurable sensations that are elicited from the extremely sensitive" inner lining of the foreskin may encourage a child to masturbate, which is why he recommends circumcision since it "lessens the sensitiveness of the organ".[6]

Roswell Park (1902) publishes paper 'proving' that foreskin causes epilepsy and that circumcision cures it.[7]

L. Emmet Holt (1913) reported that tubercular mohels were infecting infant Jewish boys with tuberculosis during ritual circumcision.[8]

Abraham L. Wolbarst, M.D.[a 1], a Jewish New York doctor, apparently considered Holt's paper to be an attack on ritual circumcision or perhaps Judaism. He collected opinions from other doctors of the alleged value of circumcision for health and published those opinions as scientific fact in a 1914 JAMA article.[9]

Reuben (1916) (1917) reported additional cases of tuberculosis after ritual circumcision.[10][11]

Brennermann (1921) reported that meatal disease occurs only in circumcised boys who lack the protection of the foreskin.[12]

Wolbarst (1926) made his claim for the first time that male circumcision prevents penile cancer.[13]

References

  1. ↑   Moses MJ. The value of circumcision as a hygienic and therapeutic measure. New York Medical Journal. November 1871; 14(4): 368-74.
  2. ↑   Kane HH. Seminal emissions, abdominal neuralgia: circumcision: cure. Southern Clinic. October 1879; 2(1): 8-11.
  3. ↑ a b c   Kellogg, John Harvey (1888): Plain Facts for Old and Young: Natural History and Hygiene of Organic Life (Sex, Marriage & Society Series). Ayer Publishing. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
  4. ↑   Blackwell, Elizabeth (1894): The Human Element in Sex; being a Medical Inquiry into the Relation of Sexual Physiology to Christian Morality. Edition: 2. London: J.& A. Churchill. Pp. 35-36.
  5. ↑   Remondino, Peter Charles (1891): History of Circumcision. Philadelphia: F. A. Davis. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  6. ↑   Mark EG. Circumcision. American Practitioner and News. 15 February 1901; 31(4): 122-126.
  7. ↑   Park R. The surgical treatment of epilepsy. American Medicine. 22 November 1902; 4(21): 807-9.
  8. ↑   Holt LE. Tuberculosis acquired through ritual circumcision. JAMA. 12 July 1913; LXI(2): 99-102. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  9. ↑   Wolbarst AL. Universal circumcision as a sanitary measure. JAMA. 10 January 1914; 62(2): 92-97. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  10. ↑   Reuben MS. Tuberculosis from ritual circumcision. Proceedings of the New York Academy of Medicine. 15 December 1916; : 333-4. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  11. ↑   Reuben MS. Tuberculosis following ritual circumcision. Arch Pediatr. March 1917; XXXIV: 186-90. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  12. ↑   Brennermann J. The ulcerated meatus in the circumcised child. Am J Dis Child. 1921; 21: 38-47. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  13. ↑   Wolbarst AL. Is circumcision a prophylactic against penis cancer?. Cancer. July 1926; 3(4): 301-10.


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