Voltaire stated that the Hebrews borrowed circumcision from the Egyptians; but the Jews claimed that the Phoenicians borrowed this rite from the Israelites.
Spencer and others say that in the early history of the Christian religion, St.Paul and his Disciples did not believe in circumcision, while St.Peter and his followers practiced it.

Spencer mentions that the Abyssinians take a phallic trophy by circumcision from the enemy's dead body.

In his "History of Circumcision," Remondino says that among the modern Berbers it is not unusual for a warrior to exhibit virile members of persons he has slain; he also says that, according to Bergman, the Israelites practiced preputial mutilations; David brought 200 prepuces of the Philistines to Saul.

Circumcision is practiced in nearly every portion of the world, and by various races, sometimes being a civil as well as a religious custom.

Its use in surgery is too well known to be discussed here.