n between decks, the Department of the
Navy being probably actuated by the same humane principle that used to
induce some of the West Indian cannibals to lend their wives to their
prisoners of war who were intended, in the shape of roast or
_fricandeau_, to grace the festive board, as it was deemed inhuman by
these philanthropists to deprive a man of his necessary sexual
intercourse, even if they were soon to roast him and pick his bones.
They may, however, have been selfish in the matter, as by some
authorities it is represented that this was done to improve the flavor
of the prisoner, who was said to offer a more savory dish through this
considerate treatment, the strong flavor that the semen gives to flesh
being well eradicated by free fornication. Whether it was through these
motives of humanitarianism, or the feeling that an American tar was the
equal of the British tar, whose praises and equality Sir Joseph Porter,
K.C.B., writes a song about in "Pinafore," who had as much right to
contract a left-handed marriage as any Prince of Wales or any other
prince or crowned head of Europe, the women were, nevertheless, allowed
to go down between decks in preference to giving the men indiscriminate
liberty on shore, the government further providing for their welfare by
causing the assistant surgeon to examine the women at the gangway or
hatchway, to see that they were not diseased. Horner relates the
ludicrous appearance presented by a near-sighted assistant at one of
the hatchways while making this professional examination, surrounded by
the sailors and marines, who were greatly-interested spectators. Had the
government provided a pot of castor-oil wherein the tar could dip his
penile organ, as bridge piles are dipped into a creasoting mixture,
these humiliations to our professional brother could have been avoided.

In the conclusion to be reached, circumcision is not put forward as the
only exempting element or preventive measure that deserves all the
credit for the immunity that the Jews enjoy from syphilis, or to the
absence of hereditary diseases that are secondary or due to the presence
of that disease in the parents, as considerable credit is to be given to
the well-known chastity of their females. This chastity is, in a great
measure, due to the inseparable conditions of their religion,--moral and
social fabrics which are welded into one. Their charity assumes the most
practical form, so that it is not possible for