Foreskin

“ Sometimes, in other cases, the foreskin becomes inflamed, offensive secretions may form about the end of the penis, etc. All such disorders should be submitted to a judicious physician at once, to avoid irritations which might result in a tendency to sexual excitement—a calamity truly deplorable to the young. The idea which some writers advance—that a long prepuce (or foreskin) often proves an exciting cause of troublesome sensations to the boy, is certainly erroneous. ”

“ The extremity of the foreskin being seized with forceps is drawn well forwards; the whole prepuce is embraced with the blades of dressing-forceps, immediately anterior to the glans penis, and cut off in front of the latter instrument. As soon as the forceps are removed, the skin will become retracted, leaving the mucous membrane still about the glans ”

“ It is worthy of note that many eminent physicians now advocate the custom of circumcision, claiming that the removal of a little of the foreskin induces cleanliness, thus preventing the irritation and excitement which come from the gathering of the whiteish matter under the foreskin at the beginning of the glands. This irritation being removed, the boy is less apt to tamper with his sexual organs. The argument seems a good one, especially when we call to mind the high physical state of those people who have practiced the custom. ”

“ The more muscular, primitive and healthy the woman the tougher and less sensitive the hymen, and the less likely to break or bleed. I think one great function of the foreskin also is to moisten the glans, so that it can be lubricated for entrance, and then to retract, moist side out, to make entrance still easier. ”

“ The skin of the penis is continuous on the upper surface with the skin of the abdomen, and on the under surface with that of the scrotum. On drawing forward the prepuce or foreskin it is very easy to include the skin of the scrotum in the grasp of the fingers unless due care is taken. If the traction on the foreskin is too forcible and the skin of the scrotum is therefore pulled up tightly, there is a danger of the scrotal skin being slit up to some extent. The intimate connection of the skin of the penis and scrotum must always be kept well in mind. ”

“ Treatment.—In the case of a disorder depending upon one of so many conditions it will be realized that it would be folly for the layman to attempt to treat it. Children who are weak need building up in every possible way, as by an outdoor life, cold sponging daily, etc. If there is in boys a long foreskin, or tight foreskin, hindering the escape of urine and natural secretions of this part, circumcision may be performed to advantage by the surgeon, even in the infant a few months old. ”

“ A long or tight foreskin in the male child favors the accumulation of secretions which not only occasion itching sensations but oftentimes are the cause of convulsions in early422 infancy. In the case of the female, a tight foreskin over the clitoris will retain secretions which also cause an itching sensation. ”

“ If the gonorrhœal discharge be suffered to remain on particular parts of the person, such as around the glans of the penis, or on the outside of the foreskin, excoriations, chaps, and warts, spring up speedily and plentifully, and protrude before the prepuce, or sometimes become adherent to it, as here drawn: it therefore only shows how necessary cleanliness is in these disagreeable complaints, to escape the vexations alluded to. ”

“ The incisions which were made in the long axis of the penis after retraction become linear in a vertical direction, and almost imperceptible in the circular folds of retracted foreskin. In the after-treatment the prepuce should be kept back, or frequently retracted. In children retraction once daily for a week or ten days, till the wounds have healed, is quite sufficient. The extent of the incisions should, of course, be a little less in children, a little greater in the adult. ”

“ Again, if the wife is slow, and the man is quick, in this play for "getting together," it will enable the man to greatly extend and protract what might be called the time of his possible retention, if he can keep the foreskin over the glans penis. Some men cannot do this. If they have been circumcised, of course they cannot! But if the glans penis can be covered with the foreskin during all this playing together, it will enable the husband to prolong his "retentional time" far beyond what he otherwise could. ”

“ It is surely not needful to seek any recondite motive for the origin of the practice of circumcision. No one who has seen the superior cleanliness of a Hebrew penis can have avoided a very strong impression in favour of the removal of the foreskin. It constitutes a harbour for filth, and is a constant source of irritation. ”

“ First he makes a shallow cut, severing only the skin across the belly immediately below the navel, and similar incisions down each groin; then he tears off the epidermis from the cuts downwards and flays the testicles and the penis, ending with amputation of the foreskin. Meanwhile the spear must not tremble and in some clans the lad holds a dagger over the back of the stooping barber, crying, “Cut and fear not!” ”

“ In the tribe at Fowler’s Bay, who practise both circumcision and subincision, the severed foreskin is swallowed by the operator,​ [313] perhaps in order to strengthen the lad sympathetically. In some tribes of North-West Australia it is the lad himself who swallows his own foreskin mixed with kangaroo flesh ”

“ At all events medical aid should be sought at once, because some functional derangement is at work which might, if not arrested and cured, give rise to masturbation. Owing to unknown causes such morbid conditions induce some little boys to pull frequently at the foreskin of the penis until their health is seriously impaired; they pine away, lose flesh, and still continue to worry at the foreskin, till death has been known to result. ”

“ At the end of the penis is a fold or cap of skin, the prepuce, which the doctor often removes for the sake of the boy's health, a process called circumcision, and it is a great relief to boys whose prepuce or foreskin is too tight as to make difficulty in keeping clean. ”

“ This possesses a skin or mucous membrane which is extremely delicate and is protected against external irritation by a fold of skin called the prepuce, or foreskin. The prepuce is often too narrow so that it cannot be withdrawn behind the glans. ”

“ The circulation of the blood in the glans is checked; the nut puts on a black appearance, and if the ligature be not removed or divided, mortification takes place, and the tip or more of the penis sloughs off or dies away. This state of the prepuce is called paraphymosis: it sometimes happens to young lads, who, having an indicated opening of the foreskin, endeavor to uncover the glans: they succeed, but are unable to pull the prepuce back again. ”

“ That the fulness of the Gentiles is come in is another reason, if you will attend to it carefully, why the circumcision of the foreskin ought to cease. For it was not upon the Gentiles but upon the seed of Abraham that circumcision was enjoined, for this is the first Divine promise, Gen. xvii. 9. sqq. And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep My covenant therefore, thou and thy seed after in their generations. This is My covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised, and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin ”

“ The foreskin is tied up to a band of cotton twine, which is wound tight round the hips and under part of the belly. All wear their hair long, and cut square off in front. In large holes in their ears, they carry pieces of bone, or a stick of wood. Through the hole in the nose a quill is pushed, the cavity being filled up with different colored feathers, gives them a moustached appearance. ”

“ The Dieri also imagine that the foreskins taken from lads at circumcision have a great power of producing rain. Hence the Great Council of the tribe always keeps a small stock of foreskins ready for use. They are carefully concealed, being wrapt up in feathers with the fat of the wild dog and of the carpet snake. A woman may not see such a parcel opened on any account. When the ceremony is over, the foreskin is buried, its virtue being exhausted. ”

“ Doubtless anything which might tend to enhance the chastity of many modern nations would be well worthy of serious consideration; with a view to its universal adoption. Strange to say, however, certain of those medical men who have investigated the question with opportunities of special experience, largely base their opposition to the practice of ritual circumcision upon the ground that removal of the foreskin in early life leads to premature sexual excitement, and a corresponding disposition to onanism. ”

“ The following is the usual method of performing this manipulation—'operation' is much too grave a word: The only instrument needed is an ordinary dressing-forceps of average size in the case of an adult or boy of age above indicated; proportionately smaller with young infants, in whom, indeed, a probe will sometimes effect all that is requisite.
[Pg 48]
The patient being well anæsthetised, the surgeon, taking the organ in his left hand, retracts as far as possible the foreskin. ”

“ All our external parts were made just as they should be and they work in harmony so long as we are perfectly healthy inwardly. Every blemish upon the skin, even to a wart, has a corresponding morbid influence within, which can be removed by proper treatment. Let it be remembered then for all coming time that a little boy's penis is never to be meddled or trifled with, nor his foreskin, nor the parts about the generative organs. All unnatural conditions, appearances or sensations require prompt and proper medical aid. ”

“ The young man who is trying to break this habit will do well to follow very closely the rather strenuous regime outlined under hygiene in the body of the book. If his condition is complicated because of the presence of a very long loose foreskin, he will be wise to have this removed by the simple operation of circumcision. If he should awake in the night and feel the temptation to resort to his old habit, he should resist the temptation in its first stage and instantly put his mind on some subject quite foreign to his sexual apparatus. ”

“ It is not uncommon for girl babies to have a slight bloody discharge from the vagina. Although this is unimportant and soon disappears, your doctor should be told of any discharge, however slight. The doctor often wishes to have the foreskin of boy babies retracted every morning at the time of the bath, by gently rubbing it back with gauze or cotton, taking pains that it is pulled forward to the original position after the part underneath has been thoroughly bathed with boracic acid solution. If retraction is impossible after several daily attempts, the baby is not infrequently circumcised. ”

“ It also happens that the [22] prepuce from inflammation assumes a dropsical appearance, that is to say, the edges or point swell, and appear like a bladder filled with water; thus, the size which the penis then arrives at is enormous, and to the patient very alarming; it usually, however, subsides in a day or two, if rest and proper measures be employed.
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The glans with some people, is always bare, and the foreskin drawn up around it. ”

“ This gap will necessarily be very small when the reflection of the mucous membrane has been complete. Where approximation of the two edges occurs union is rapid and healing by “first intention” results. Where some loss of substance occurs the gap becomes gradually filled by what is called granulation tissue, and the term “second intention” is given to the healing process.
Healing by first intention.
In amputating the foreskin a number of minute hair-like blood vessels which permeate the skin are [40] cut through. ”

“ Of course, there are many surgeons who will continue to hold, as they seem to now, that nature was quite at fault in the production of this organ and that it should be removed in nearly every human being. The majority of men, however, have lived their lives quite well and happily without such intervention and there are certain inconveniences attached to the condition which remains after operation that may in their way be quite as bothersome as the symptoms due to the long foreskin. ”

“ Shorn of its natural protective covering, the muco-cutaneous covering of the glans soon becomes true dermoid tissue. Mr. J. Hutchinson (loc. cit.) speaks of 'every one who is acquainted with the effects of circumcision in rendering the delicate [Pg 39] mucous membrane of the glans hard and skin-like.' Contact with the clothing, &c., necessarily induces a chronic inflammatory condition of the part, followed commonly by contraction and condensation. We cannot with impunity rashly interfere with any of Nature's dispositions, however seemingly insignificant. ”

“ The deeper structures of the penis, besides their own blood-supply, carry back into the deeper or systemic circulation a large supply from the integumentary tissues, when in the latter, owing to the greater supply due to any inflammatory action, the blood-current is delayed and impeded in its lax and easily-dilatable tissues, and blood-changes occur favoring the gangrene in the deeper tissues, so that, whether the gangrene first takes place in the body of the penis or in the scrotum, it will be in the prepuce or adjoining integument that its real originating causes will be found. ”