bian methods of performing the operation may be said in ordinary
cases--by the application of cord and the consequent constriction--to
limit the danger from subsequent haemorrhage, still, in the haemorrhagic
diathesis this would not be of any avail; so, as already observed, we
must not too rashly judge those old shepherds of the Armenian plains for
adopting a practice which to them was calculated to avert subsequent
dangers, or their descendants following in their footsteps, until having
learned better, even if that practice is to us disgusting, primitive,
and useless.

Cases occur,--happily not frequently,--of alarming and uncontrollable
haemorrhage. The following case is suggestive of the alarming extent and
persistence that may attend one of those haemorrhagic cases, even when
recovery eventually takes place. It is reported by Dr. Sannanel in the
_Gazetta Toscana delle science medicale e fisiche_ of 1844. The case was
that of a Jewish infant circumcised on the eighth day. Some hours after
the operation the child was observed to be bleeding; the haemmorrhage
would only cease for a few moments, and then come on with increased
force, and which proved rebellious to ordinary remedies. Dr. Sannanel
was called during the night of the third day after the operation. A
number of physicians had been in attendance, and neither ice,
astringents, pressure, nor any usual haemostatic means had had the least
effect; cautery with nitrate of silver, sulphuric acid, and the actual
cautery by means of heated iron were tried in succession, without any
good results. Ten days passed in this manner, the haemmorrhage only
ceasing for a few moments at a time, and the child was nearly
exsanguinated from the continued serous seepage and the paroxysmal
haemorrhages, when a lucky application of caustic potassa almost
immediately stopped the haemorrhage. This case was seen by nearly all the
leading medical men of Leghorn, who lent their aid and counsel to save
the little life. The case is interesting from the length of time it
persisted, and that even after all the loss of blood and suffering that
the little fellow endured he survived.[63]

Dr. Epstein, of Cincinnati, in a letter of March 29, 1872, to the
_Israelite_ of that city, mentions a nearly fatal case from haemorrage
after the rite of "_Milah_," and gives the result of his experience in
such cases. He argues that _Hitouch_ or _Hitooch_ alone, or the first
step or cutting off of the prepuce