Male infibulation / [Eric John Dingwall].

  • Eric Dingwall
Date:
1925
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Male infibulation / [Eric John Dingwall]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    15/164 page 1
    CHAPTER I. THE ROMAN FORM. Amongst the many strange customs connected with the sexual life of man the practice of infibulation is one of the most curious. It is the purpose of this volume to examine this phenomenon from varied points of view in order to discover if possible some of those factors which may contribute to an understanding of its origin and meaning. In the first section I shall summarize the evidence we possess on what I may term the Roman form of infibulation; in the second I shall examine the variation of the custom as seen with the Greeks and the Etruscans ; and in the third a further phenomenon will engage our attention which has up to now been ascribed by scholars to the practice as outlined in the second part. The actual word “ infibulation ” as given in the Oxford Dictionary is explained thus :— “ [n. of action f., infibulate v., perh. after F. infibula¬ tion (16th c. in Godef).] The action of infibulating; spec, the fastening up of the sexual organs with a fibula or clasp. The earliest reference in English is Bulwer’s Anthropometamorphosis} (1650), 202, which says, “ This art of infibulation or buttoning up the 1 In 1654 the title was changed to A View of the People of the World. This was a re-issue of the 1653 edition.
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