76 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



is even doubtful whether the original form of Genesis distributed 

 creation over six days. 



Subsequent history of the Sabbath shows a reflex action be- 

 tween religion and sociology. Religion prevailed against better 

 arrangements for periods of rest. Sociology used religion to get 

 what it could. 



The Indians reached only the first part of the inception of the 

 Sabbath in the ceremonies of the new and full moon, which were 

 to them of great importance, those of the new moon being most 

 noted. 



Circumcision. This, generally regarded as a distinctive mark 

 of the Israelites, is by no means peculiar to them, and is found in 

 so many parts of the world, with such evidences of great antiquity, 

 as to contravene its attribution to them. Its origin is a subject 

 of much dispute. As practiced indiscriminately in infancy, it 

 is perhaps a surgical blunder. It is certain that among the Is- 

 raelites it was not at first a religious rite. The operation was not 

 then performed by the priesthood, but by a secular person of skill, 

 without ceremonials. Afterward it was regarded as an initiatory 

 ceremony, and as such its parallels connected with the sexual 

 organization may be found all over the world, but as a special 

 national distinction the declared object was not attained. Besides 

 the Egyptians, Arabs and Persians, with whom the coincidence 

 might be expected, many tribes of Africa, Central and South 

 America, Madagascar, and scores of islands of the sea, show the 

 same mark, and it has even been found in several of the North 

 American tribes. The sole motive for alluding to this very com- 

 prehensive subject is to correct the popular belief that the custom 

 is peculiar to the Israelites. In this as in many other alleged re- 

 spects they were not " peculiar." 



^*-&- 



IS THE HUMAN BODY A STORAGE-BATTERY? 



Br HTLAND C. KIEK. 



HON. J. W. DOUGLASS, a lawyer of "Washington, D. C, 

 formerly Commissioner of Internal Revenue, after reaching 

 his office one morning, to relieve the pressure on his foot, took off 

 one of his new boots and sat at his work, his legs crossed in the 

 customary legal form, his stockinged foot swinging freely. It 

 happened to swing over the waste-basket, when, to his exceeding 

 surprise, every piece of paper, string, and scrap in that receptacle, 

 as if impelled by a writ of habeas corpus, rose up and clung to his 

 foot. He brushed off the scraps and tried it again, and again 

 that peremptory mandamus or process of attachment seemed to 



