Further fate of the foreskin. Incidence of preputial adhesions, phimosis, and smegma among Danish schoolboys.

There are three decisive dates in the history of the prepuce: the year 1713 BC, in which Abraham is said to have been circumcised as a sign of the pact with Jehovah (Speert, 1953), the year 48 AD when Paul, at a religious meeting in Jerusalem, resolved that it was the circumcision of the heart and not ofthe flesh that was the true way to salvation (Hand, 1950), and the year 1949 AD when Gairdner published work which, for the first time, presented facts illustrating the normal development of the prepuce. The two first events are of world-wide historical significance and have influenced the circumstances of millions of individuals, while the third event seems to have made no such impression as yet. Many facts have still to be elucidated. What is smegma? Do sebaceous glands exist ?-on the glans or the prepuce (Krompecher, 1932) ? Is smegma carcinogenic and, if so, due to which components? What part does hygiene of the preputial space play in various diseases (Saitmacher, 1960; Kalcev, 1964)? What is the incidence of circumcision in the various groups of the population (Carne, 1956; MacCarthy, Douglas, and Mogford, 1952; Osmond, 1953) ? Why is cancer of the penis practically never observed in circumcised men (Bleich, 1950; Clemmesen, 1965) ? Is there a connexion between cancer of the uterine cervix and circumcision in the sexual partners of these women ? Is the low incidence of cervical cancer of the uterus in Jewish women due to racial differences, circumcision in the males, or general hygienic procedures (Bleich, 1950; Boldt, 1959) ? May circumcision lead to ulcerative meatitis and secondary narrowing of the external urethral meatus (Berry and Cross, 1956; Morton, 1963) ? Has the mortality in connexion with circumcision, approximately 16 male infants annually in England and Wales in the