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suppose it was established as an offering of part of the organ 
of generation to the deity? 31. What is the reason now 
assigned for it? 32. Is it supposed to prevent disease, or to 
preserve cleanliness ? 33. Is it effectual for this purpose? 
34. Is it considered to render marriage prolific? 35. Is any 
special seat set apart for the operator or the circumcised, or 
for an imaginary personage or deity ? 36. Is the operation 
ever dispensed with for fear of deterring proselytes ? 37. Is 
it performed by all classes alike ? 38. Is it in full force or 
dying out? 39. Is it in any way connected with Phallic 
worship ? 
A. L. F. 
No. XXXIX.—INITIATORY CEREMONIES. 
Among most uncivilized races, the period when lads 
cease to be children, and take their definite position in the 
community as responsible members of it, is marked by 
ceremonies in which the chief actor is usually the boy whose 
entry into the tribe has occasioned them. With girls analo¬ 
gous ceremonies are observed, usually on their attaining the 
marriageable age. As a rule, a part of these ceremonies is 
performed in great secrecy, and only those are permitted to 
be present who have already passed through the ordeal. A 
new name is generally given to the youth ; and, in addition 
to instruction from the elders in the moral code of the tribe, 
some form of mutilation is often practised, such as circum¬ 
cision, or, among the Australians, knocking out one of the 
teeth. Abstinence from food, or from particular kinds of 
food, is a frequent and essential part, or a result, of the 
initiation, and may be either a test of endurance, or may 
have some less obvious reason. 
These ceremonies are at times intimately connected with 
Totemism (No. XL.), and questions which could well be 
entered here will be found under that head, as well as under 
those of Customs (No. XXXV.), and Taboo (No. XXXVII). 
