va in the year 1135 A.D., among his works on
medicine, has left directions in regard to circumcision which have been
the guides of the _mohels_. Among the Hebraic physicians it was
considered that the child partook of the constitutional strength or
feebleness of the mother; hence the rule above mentioned, in regard to
exemption to circumcision, only was in operation when the two who had
formerly died belonged to the same mother as the third one, who would
thereby be exempt; but if the two children had belonged to another
woman, and this third child of the father was not from the same mother,
the rule did not exempt. The third child of the mother who had
previously lost two infants at the rite was, however, to be circumcised
when arrived at adult age, provided no further counter-indication
occurred. The opinion that the mother gave the constitution to the child
was promulgated by Maimonides and became general.

The eighth day is believed to refer to the eighth day after full term;
thus, a child born prematurely is not supposed to be circumcised until
eight days after it would have reached its full term, and only then if
its general good condition is settled. Maimonides looked upon infantile
jaundice, general debility, and marasmus as contra-indications to the
performance of the rite; any erysipelatous inflammation, ophthalmia,
anaemia, eruption of any kind, fever, tendency to convulsive
movements--in fact, any observable departure from normal health should
be allowed to pass before performing the rite. Aside from these general
conditions that denoted that the operation was contra-indicated, the
local condition of the organ itself also was to be examined, and if
certain conditions existed the operation was to be put off. These
conditions consisted in any irritation or red appearance of the prepuce,
due to either inflammation or to the irritative action of the sebaceous
matter underneath the prepuce, the acrid nature of these secretions
being at times sufficiently virulent to produce an ulceration, even in
the newborn.[57]

Among the Hebrews themselves there are those who do not look upon
circumcision in a favorable light, but on something that has served its
time in its own day, and within the past year a proselyte has been
accepted into one of the New York synagogues without previous or
subsequent circumcision, these reformed Jews looking upon adult
circumcision as too painful an operation to be gone through, as they
c