e circumcised a certain number
do not suffer putrefaction in their mouth, nor does their mouth become
food for worms after death; so that it often happens that they make
presents of value to the child for the privilege of operating upon it.
On the same table on which the godfather is seated all the required
instruments and apparatus are placed, while an assistant stands by with
a flask of wine and a glass. A warming-pan full of coals is on the
floor, at which the operator warms his hands. The child being now ready,
with its head toward the godfather, the operator, seizing the member,
draws the foreskin toward him with one hand, while with the fingers of
the other he pushes back the glans; he then places a silver instrument,
which fixes the skin, and which at the same time holds back the glans so
that the knife may not cut it. The foreskin is then cut off and buried
in the little basin of soil that forms one of the appurtenances to the
operation. The operator then tears with his nails the skin which lies on
the glans, which he turns back over the body of the member. This seems
the hardest and most painful part of the operation, which, however, does
not seem dangerous, as in four or five days the wound has healed. The
crying of the child resembles that of an infant undergoing baptism. No
sooner is the glans uncovered than the operator takes a mouthful of
wine; he then places the glans in his mouth and sucks the blood out of
it; this he repeats three times. This done, he applies a powder of
dragons' blood, with which he covers up all the wound, the parts being
then done up in expressly-cut bandages. He is then given a glass of
wine, over which he says some prayers; of this he takes a mouthful, and,
after moistening his fingers in the same, he applies the wine three
times to the child's mouth. The wine is then sent to the mother and the
women, who are in some other apartment, who all take a sip. An assistant
then takes a silver instrument, pierced with little holes like a small
strainer, which he first applies to the nose of the officiating
minister, then to that of the child, and afterward to the nose of the
godfather."[58] The above description of the performance of the rite in
the sixteenth century answers to the method of its performance as was
witnessed some years ago in France.

In the "Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Cyclopaedia" of Drs.
McClintock and Strong the following description of the rite, as taking