264 



CIRCULATION OF SAP 



CIRCUMCISION 



pressure is due to the contraction of the heart ; and 

 (d) that the interrupted current, which would natur- 

 ally arise from the intermittent action of the heart, 

 becomes continuous because of the rapidity of the 

 beats, the resistance in the small arteries and capil- 

 laries, and the elasticity of the arterial walls. 



( 2 ) The Control of the Circulation. The pheno- 

 mena referred to above are mainly physical and 

 mechanical, and in their essential features can be 

 readily reproduced on a model. But in a complex 

 living organism there is a constant necessity for 

 modifiability. The organs vary in their require- 

 ments, and the external conditions are frequently 

 changing. Modifications in the circulation are 

 brought about by changes in the heart's beat, and 

 in the calibre and resistance of the small arteries. 

 Both these changes are under the direct control of 

 the Nervous System (q.v. ). Modifications of less 

 importance also occur in the capillary resistance 

 and in the total quantity of blood ; but the 

 important point is simply the general fact that the 

 requirements of the organism are met by the 

 dominion of the nervous system over the circu- 

 lation. 



IV. History. Aristotle and the ancients thought 

 of the heart as a blood-fountain, but had no con- 

 ception of circulation. Galen (131-201 ) disproved 

 the prevalent notion that the arteries contained 

 air, Calvin's contemporary Servetus demonstrated 

 the pulmonary circulation, and various physiolo- 



?ists had a distinct notion of the centrifugal flow, 

 n 1628 William Harvey published his Exercitatio 

 Anatomica de Motu Corais et Sanguinis in Ani- 

 malibus, in which his discovery of the real nature 

 of the circulation was expounded. Soon after, the 

 use of the microscope revealed to Malpighi ( 1661 ) 

 and Leeuwenhoek ( 1674 ) what Harvey had been 

 unable to trace the capillary connection between 

 arteries and veins. Since those days the detailed 

 problems of circulation, the hydraulic mechanism, 

 the action of the heart and its valves, and the 

 nervous control have been worked at by many of 

 the greatest physiologists. 



See AORTA, BLOOD, HEART, VEIN, &c. ; the physio- 

 logical text-books of Foster, Hermann, Huxley, Landois, 

 Stirling, &c., for human circulation; works on compara- 

 tive anatomy (Jeffrey Bell, Glaus, Gegenbaur, Huxley, 

 Wiedersheim, &c. ), for the gradual evolution of the 

 system ; Willis's William Harvey, for the earlier notions 

 on the subject. 



Circulation of Sap. See PLANTS, SAP, 

 VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 



Circumcision (Lat., 'a cutting round'), the 

 cutting off the foreskin, a rite widely diffused 

 among ancient and modern nations. Three thou- 

 sand years before Christ it was familiar to the 

 Egyptians, who circumcised boys between the 

 sixth and fourteenth year, though it is not certain 

 whether it was extended to all males, or confined 

 to the priestly caste and others who were connected 

 in some special way with the religious mysteries. 

 The ceremony is clearly portrayed on a temple at 

 Karnak, in a drawing copied by Ebers, who adds 

 that most of the male mummies which have been 

 examined are found to have been circumcised. 

 Sayce (Hibbert Lectures, p. 83) affirms on pre- 

 carious grounds that circumcision was known to 

 the Babylonians. In any case it was not generally 

 practised by them. It was known to the Colchians, 

 to some at least of the Phoenicians (compare Ezek. 

 xxviii. 10 with Herodot. ii. 104 ), and apparently also 

 to the Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites (see 

 Jerem. ix. 25, 26). Further, it appears among 

 Kaffirs, among many negro tribes, among Mexicans, 

 Indians of South America, and among the islanders 

 of the Pacific Ocean. Its original significance is 

 uncertain, and possibly it may have arisen from 

 different motives in different places. Sanitary 



reasons, considering the primitive nature of the 

 nations in which it is found, are out of the question, 

 and of other theories which have been advanced 

 two only are plausible. It may have served like 

 the tattoo to mark and stamp the circumcised 

 person as a member of the tribe, and qualified to 

 take part in its sacred rites, or, which is much more 

 likely, it may have had a sacrificial character, the 

 object being to propitiate the god or spirit by 

 blood, and induce him to spare the life. The 

 former theory is illustrated and defended by Stade 

 ( Gesch. des Volkes Israel, i. p. 423 ), the latter by 

 Reville (Relig. des Peuples non-civilises, ii. p. 253). 

 Stade's view finds some support in Ezek. xxviii. 

 10, xxxi. 18, when he who dies uncircumcised is 

 excluded from communion with the dead who have 

 received this token of initiation. But, in fact, as 

 Reville points out, primitive nations constantly 

 substitute some partial mutilation for the sacrifice 

 of the whole person. See the instructive story, 

 Exod. iv. 24-26. We may add that in some parts, 

 of Africa an analogous operation is inflicted upon, 

 young females. 



The Scripture account of the origin of circum- 

 cision amongst the Israelites is given in Gen. xvii. 

 7-14 ; but it is plain from what has just been said 

 that circumcision could not have been in itself a sign 

 of distinction between the Israelites and the neigh- 

 bouring nations ; and hence in the books of Judges 

 and Samuel it is the Philistines, and the Philistines 

 only, who are taunted with being uncircumcised - f 

 while in Joshua, v. 9, it is implied that the uncir- 

 cumcised state of the Israelites who had grown up 

 in the desert was ' a reproach ' to them in the eyes 

 of the Egyptians. But after the exile circumcision 

 assumed a new prominence, because the nations 

 under whose sway Israel then lived the Baby- 

 lonians and Persians practised no such rite. A 

 deep religious meaning was given to it. It became 

 the sign of the covenant between God and his 

 chosen people, and their devotion to it grew in 

 proportion to the contempt which it excited in 

 their Greek and Roman oppressors. 



According to the Levitical law every Jewish 

 male must be circumcised on the eighth day under 

 penalty of being cut off from the congregation of 

 Israel. The same law applied to foreign slaves 

 bought by a Jew or born in his house. Strangers 

 also must circumcise their males if they wished to- 

 partake of the Passover ( Exod. xii. 48 ). The rite 

 was performed by the father of the house or by 

 some other Israelite, in case of necessity even by 

 women ( 1 Mace. i. 60 ). Modern Jews employ a. 

 mohel or official who has the requisite surgical 

 skill. The child is brought to the door of the 

 room and handed to the mohel, who after prayer 

 circumcises the child, and having drunk a glass of 

 wine, gives it its name ( Gen. xxi. 3, 4 ; Luke, i. 59, 

 ii. 21 ), and placing his hand on its head blesses it. 

 The Jewish ritual contains special prayers for the 

 feast which follows. Circumcision was excluded 

 from the Christian community after a memorable 

 struggle, in which St Paul was the great champion 

 of spiritual religion. Many of the Jewish converts 

 wished to impose circumcision on the Gentile Chris- 

 tians, not only as a condition of equality, but as an 

 essential to salvation. The result of the first 

 struggle after a conference at Jerusalem was a 

 mutual compromise : circumcision was not to be 

 imposed on the Gentiles, who in return were asked ta 

 abstain from meats offered to idols, from blood, from 

 things strangled, and from fornication. Much later, 

 however, circumcision was urged on converts as a 

 title of preference, and it was long before Jewish 

 Christians could be brought to recognise the real 

 supremacy of the gospel, itself a New Covenant in 

 the place of the Old. St Paul speaks of his party 

 (Phil. iii. 3) as the 'true circumcision,' and by a. 



