Dr. Lewis Sayre's wiki page says this—In 1870, he introduced circumcision in the United States as a purported cure for several cases of young boys presenting with paralysis and other significant gross motor problems. He thought the procedure ameliorated such problems based on the then prominent "reflex neurosis" theory of disease, with the understanding that a tight foreskin inflamed the nerves and caused systemic problems.

The source however says nothing about him "introducing" it in 1870 specifically. And he couldn't have "introduced cirumcision in the United States" as there had been Jewish communities in the US since colonial times.

Circumcision was "popularized" in the late 1800s with the support of the creator of JAMA. Based on extremely dubious reasoning and probably with a humoral understanding of medicine. Bloodletting was still popular into the 1830s, don't forget.

The Remondino source makes it clear that most Christian Americans were still not circumcising their children as the standard in the 1890s.

Here's the source wikipedia cites.

># 1101

>THE ORTHOPEDIC ORIGIN OF POPULAR MALE CIRCUMCISION IN AMERICA Barbara Chubak*, Bronx, NY

>INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Prophylactic male circumcision, in the absence of any existing urologic pathology, has been and continues to be controversial, as evidenced by the recently and frequently updated American Academy of Pediatrics’ policy statement on that surgery. This paper investigates the origins of popular circumcision in America, to determine the foundation of the current controversy.

>METHODS: Review of the relevant primary and secondary source literature, including the LA Sayre archival collection at the New York Academy of Medicine.

>RESULTS: Male circumcision was first popularized in late 19th century America by Lewis Sayre, a renowned orthopedic surgeon, public-health activist, and creator of the Journal of the American Medical Association. On the basis of a few orthopedic case reports, Sayre used his influence to promote male circumcision, by redefining it as a systemic therapy, rather than a local anatomic alteration. This redefinition was consonant with the contemporary reflex neurosis theory of disease, as well as the historic humoral-mechanical understanding of the human body.

>CONCLUSIONS: Sayre successfully redefined male circumcision as a systemic therapy, positioning it for continued popularity as a sanitary intervention into the 20th century. Since then, research into the benefits of this surgery has most productively focused on the ways in which it might prevent systemic diseases, such as HIV. However, the dubious evidentiary origins of Sayre’s influential work are a caution against too uncritically accepting as true even the most exciting and promising research.

>Source of Funding: None

The Remondino source says this.

> In the early part of this book, in speaking of female circumcision, it was mentioned that when the medical part of the volume should be reached some medical reasons for its necessity would be given. Dr. Price, in his paper, gives some information on this subject, which is of the greatest interest. In the course of the paper he says as follows: “Nor do I think these reflex neuroses from adherent prepuce wholly confined to the male sex. The preputium-clitoridis may be adherent and produce in the female similar reflexes. During the session of the American Medical Association, held in Chicago in 1874, I think, I attended one afternoon a clinical lecture by Dr. Sayre. A little girl, fourteen years of age, but about the size of a seven-year-old child, was brought in, who had never walked nor spoken, but with quite an intelligent countenance, who was in constant motion, and who presented very many nervous symptoms. Dr. Sayre examined her, and found the prepuce adherent the whole extent of the clitoris. He gave it as his opinion that here was the primary and sole cause of the symptoms, and that appropriate treatment shortly after birth would have prevented all the serious consequences so painfully apparent, and which was then too late to remedy.