Note 15 — IV CUTTING OPERATIONS FOR THE RELIEF OF CONGENITAL PHIMOSIS; THEIR SUPPOSED ADVANTAGES.
Reading edition
The following is Mr. Hutchinson's statistical table derived from his practice at the Out-patient department of the Metropolitan Hospital:
Cases Gonorrœa Syphilis Proportion of gonorrhœa to syphilis
Not Jews 272 Jews 58 107 47 165 11 0·6 to 1 4·3 " 1
On these figures a plausible inference might perhaps be founded, that what the Jew saves in immunity from syphilis he, to a certain extent, loses in increased proclivity to gonorrhœa; certainly the least of the two evils.
Mr. Hutchinson goes on to state that of 252 children under the age of five years, 27 out of 179 Christians exhibited symptoms of congenital syphilis in a well-marked form; while only 3 out of 73 Jews were thus affected, the proportion thus being 1 in 6 among the Christians, while only 1 in 24 among the Jews. Again, of 97 women (two-thirds being married), of whom 92 were Christians and 5 Jews, 61 of the former were syphilised; against a blank return among the latter. Upon the evidence of these statistics, Mr. Hutchinson advocates a general adoption of the rite of circumcision by Western nations!
Upon his own showing, however, the benefit to be derived from such a sweeping innovation, supposing that this were practicable, is not so very large; for 11 syphilised Jews out of a total of 58 with venereal disease, is a tolerably respectable proportion. The inferences here drawn, moreover, do not appear to have been confirmed by careful statistical observation carried out by other medical practitioners; among whom those of Jewish birth should be able to give specially valuable testimony. The field of inquiry was comparatively small; statistics drawn from the out-patient department of a general hospital are, for obvious reasons, not always of the most reliable character; and the conclusions may be vitiated by the facts suggested in the text. Hence, although they refer to but one venereal malady, it is hardly possible to acquiesce in them implicitly, even in this limited respect; without some confirmation drawn from a much more extended field of research.