Professional Documents
Culture Documents
David R. Clemmons, MD
Kenan Professor of Medicine, University of North Carolina School of
Medicine; Attending Physician, Medicine, UNC Hospitals, Chapel Hill,
North Carolina
Approach to the Patient with Endocrine Disease
Contributors xi
†
Deceased.
Contributors xix
†
Deceased.
xxviii Contributors
Roland B. Walter, MD, PhD, MS Richard P. Wenzel, MD, MSc
Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Washington School of Professor and Former Chairman, Internal Medicine, Medical College of
Medicine and Associate Member, Clinical Research Division, Fred Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington Acute Bronchitis and Tracheitis
The Acute Leukemias
Victoria P. Werth, MD
Christina Wang, MD Professor of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of
Professor of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Medicine; Chief of Dermatology, Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VAMC,
Angeles, California; Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Los Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Angeles Biomedical Research Institute and Division of Endocrinology, Principles of Therapy of Skin Diseases
Department of Medicine, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance,
California Sterling G. West, MD
The Testis and Male Hypogonadism, Infertility, and Sexual Dysfunction Professor of Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora,
Colorado
Lorraine B. Ware, MD Systemic Diseases in Which Arthritis Is a Feature
Professor of Medicine, Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology,
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee A. Clinton White, Jr., MD
Acute Respiratory Failure Professor of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch,
Galveston, Texas
Cirle A. Warren, MD Cestodes
Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia School of Medicine,
Charlottesville, Virginia Christopher J. White, MD
Cryptosporidiosis Chairman and Professor of Medicine, Ochsner Clinical School of the
University of Queensland, Ochsner Medical Institutions, New Orleans,
John T. Watson, MD, MSc Louisiana
Respiratory Viruses Branch, Division of Viral Diseases, Centers for Disease Atherosclerotic Peripheral Arterial Disease
Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia
Coronaviruses Julian White, MBBS, MD
Professor and Head, Toxinology Department, Women’s & Children’s
Thomas J. Weber, MD Hospital, North Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Associate Professor of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Envenomation, Bites, and Stings
Durham, North Carolina
Approach to the Patient with Metabolic Bone Disease; Osteoporosis Perrin C. White, MD
Professor of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center;
Geoffrey A. Weinberg, MD Chief of Endocrinology, Children’s Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
Professor of Pediatrics, University of Rochester School of Medicine & Sexual Development and Identity
Dentistry; Director, Clinical Pediatric Infectious Diseases & Pediatric
HIV Program, Golisano Children’s Hospital, University of Rochester Richard J. Whitley, MD
Medical Center, Rochester, New York Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics, Loeb Eminent Scholar Chair in
Parainfluenza Viral Disease Pediatrics, Professor of Microbiology, Medicine, and Neurosurgery,
Pediatrics, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine,
David A. Weinstein, MD, MMSc Birmingham, Alabama
Professor of Pediatrics, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Herpes Simplex Virus Infections
Farmington, Connecticut; Director, Glycogen Storage Disease Program,
Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Hartford, Connecticut Michael P. Whyte, MD
Glycogen Storage Diseases Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Genetics, Washington University
School of Medicine in St. Louis; Medical-Scientific Director, Center for
Robert S. Weinstein, MD Metabolic Bone Disease and Molecular Research, Shriners Hospital for
Professor of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences; Staff Children, St. Louis, Missouri
Endocrinologist, Central Arkansas Veterans Health Care System, Little Osteonecrosis, Osteosclerosis/Hyperostosis, and Other Disorders of Bone
Rock, Arkansas
Osteomalacia and Rickets Samuel Wiebe, MD, MSc
Professor of Clinical Neurosciences, Community Health Sciences and
Roger D. Weiss, MD Pediatrics, University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary,
Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Alberta, Canada
Chief, Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, McLean Hospital, Belmont, The Epilepsies
Massachusetts
Drugs of Abuse Jeanine P. Wiener-Kronish, MD
Henry Isaiah Dorr Professor of Research and Teaching in Anaesthesia,
Roy E. Weiss, MD, PhD Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Harvard
Kathleen & Stanley Glaser Distinguished Chair and Chairman, Department Medical School; Anesthestist-in-Chief, Massachusetts General Hospital,
of Medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Boston, Massachusetts
Florida; Esformes Professor Emeritus, Department of Medicine, Overview of Anesthesia
University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois
Neuroendocrinology and the Neuroendocrine System; Anterior Pituitary David J. Wilber, MD
George M Eisenberg Professor of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago
Jeffrey I. Weitz, MD Stritch School of Medicine; Director, Division of Cardiology, Loyola
Professor of Medicine & Biochemistry, McMaster University Michael G. University Medical Center, Maywood, Illinois
DeGroote School of Medicine; Executive Director, Thrombosis & Electrophysiologic Interventional Procedures and Surgery
Atherosclerosis Research Institute, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Venous Thrombosis and Embolism
Contributors xxix
1
the complex interactions that underlie multigenic traits (Chapter 36). The
decoding of the human genome holds the promise that personalized health
care increasingly can be targeted according to an individual’s genetic profile,
APPROACH TO MEDICINE, THE PATIENT, in terms of screening and presymptomatic disease management, as well as in
terms of specific medications, their complex interactions, and their adjusted
AND THE MEDICAL PROFESSION: dosing schedules.2
Knowledge of the structure and physical forms of proteins helps explain
MEDICINE AS A LEARNED AND abnormalities as diverse as sickle cell anemia (Chapter 154) and prion-related
HUMANE PROFESSION diseases (Chapter 387). Proteomics, which is the study of normal and abnormal
protein expression of genes, also holds extraordinary promise for developing
LEE GOLDMAN AND ANDREW I. SCHAFER drug targets for more specific and effective therapies.
Gene therapy is currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administra-
tion (FDA) for only a few diseases—Leber congenital amaurosis (Chapter
395), retinal dystrophy, and hemophilia (Chapter 165)—but many more are
in development and clinical testing. Cell therapy is now beginning to provide
APPROACH TO MEDICINE vehicles for the delivery of cells engineered to address a patient’s particular
Medicine is a profession that incorporates science and the scientific method chimeric antigen receptor (CAR),3 and CAR-T cell therapy is now FDA-
with the art of being a physician. The art of tending to the sick is as old as approved for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (Chapter 176) and acute lymphoblastic
humanity itself. Even in modern times, the art of caring and comforting, guided leukemia (Chapter 173). Regenerative medicine to help heal injured or diseased
by millennia of common sense as well as a more recent, systematic approach organs and tissues is in its infancy, but cultured chondrocytes are now FDA-
to medical ethics (Chapter 2), remains the cornerstone of medicine. Without approved to repair cartilaginous defects of the femoral condyle and the knee.
these humanistic qualities, the application of the modern science of medicine Immune checkpoint inhibitors have revolutionized the approach to cancer,
is suboptimal, ineffective, or even detrimental. especially melanoma (Chapter 193).4 In the future, immunotherapy will likely
The caregivers of ancient times and premodern cultures tried a variety of find applications not only for malignancies but also for the treatment of refrac-
interventions to help the afflicted. Some of their potions contained what are tory infectious diseases, autoimmunity, and allergy.5
now known to be active ingredients that form the basis for proven medications Concurrent with these advances in fundamental human biology has been
(Chapter 26). Others (Chapter 34) have persisted into the present era despite a dramatic shift in methods for evaluating the application of scientific advances
a lack of convincing evidence. Modern medicine should not dismiss the pos- to the individual patient and to populations. The randomized controlled trial,
sibility that these unproven approaches may be helpful; instead, it should sometimes with thousands of patients at multiple institutions, has replaced
adopt a guiding principle that all interventions, whether traditional or newly anecdote as the preferred method for measuring the benefits and optimal uses
developed, can be tested vigorously, with the expectation that any beneficial of diagnostic and therapeutic interventions (Chapter 8).
effects can be explored further to determine their scientific basis. And now, even the well-established randomized controlled trial model is
When compared with its long and generally distinguished history of caring being challenged. To reduce costs as well as overcome inefficiencies, redun-
and comforting, the scientific basis of medicine is remarkably recent. Other dancies, and the late failure of many clinical trials (at the phase 3 stage) inherent
than an understanding of human anatomy and the later description, albeit in classical randomized controlled trials, technologic advances are enabling
widely contested at the time, of the normal physiology of the circulatory system, new methods, tools, and approaches to bring clinical trials into the 21st century.
almost all of modern medicine is based on discoveries made within the past These methods include: disease modeling and simulation; alternative trial
150 years, during which human life expectancy has more than doubled.1 Until methods such as response-adaptive randomized designs (Chapter 8); novel
the late 19th century, the paucity of medical knowledge was also exemplified objective outcome measures, and engagement of clinical trial “participants”
best by hospitals and hospital care. Although hospitals provided caring that (rather than “human subjects”) to expand the pool of patients willing to be
all but well-to-do people might not be able to obtain elsewhere, there is little involved in clinical research.
if any evidence that hospitals improved health outcomes. The term hospitalism As studies progress from those that show biologic effect, to those that elu-
referred not to expertise in hospital care but rather to the aggregate of iatro- cidate dosing schedules and toxicity, and finally to those that assess true clinical
genic and nosocomial afflictions that were induced by the hospital stay itself. benefit, the metrics of measuring outcome has also improved from subjective
The essential humanistic qualities of caring and comforting can achieve full impressions of physicians or patients to reliable and valid measures of morbid-
benefit only if they are coupled with an understanding of how medical science ity, quality of life, functional status, and other patient-oriented outcomes
can and should be applied to patients with known or suspected diseases. (Chapter 9). These marked improvements in the scientific methodology of
Without this knowledge, comforting may be inappropriate or misleading, and clinical investigation have expedited extraordinary changes in clinical practice,
caring may be ineffective or counterproductive if it inhibits a sick person from such as recanalization therapy for acute myocardial infarction (Chapter 64),
obtaining appropriate, scientific medical care. Goldman-Cecil Medicine focuses and have shown that reliance on intermediate outcomes, such as a reduction
on the discipline of internal medicine, from which neurology and dermatology, in asymptomatic ventricular arrhythmias with certain drugs, may unexpectedly
which are also covered in substantial detail in this text, are relatively recent increase rather than decrease mortality. Just as physicians in the 21st century
evolutionary branches. The term internal medicine, which is often misunder- must understand advances in fundamental biology, similar understanding of
stood by the lay public, was developed in 19th-century Germany. Inneren the fundamentals of clinical study design as it applies to diagnostic and thera-
medizin was to be distinguished from clinical medicine because it emphasized peutic interventions is important. Studies can be designed to show benefit or
the physiology and chemistry of disease, not just the patterns or progression to show noninferiority, and newer pragmatic designs (Chapter 8) help with
of clinical manifestations. Goldman-Cecil Medicine follows this tradition by the study of topics that would be challenging using traditional approaches.
showing how pathophysiologic abnormalities cause symptoms and signs and An understanding of human genetics can also help stratify and refine the
by emphasizing how therapies can modify the underlying pathophysiology approach to clinical trials by helping researchers select fewer patients with a
and improve the patient’s well-being. more homogeneous disease pattern to study the efficacy of an intervention.
Modern medicine has moved rapidly past organ physiology to an increas- Such an approach has been especially relevant in cancer, where tumors with
ingly detailed understanding of cellular, subcellular, and genetic mechanisms. certain genetic mutations can respond to a drug specifically designed for that
For example, the understanding of microbial pathogenesis and many inflam- target, whereas other tumors with similar microscopic but different genomic
matory diseases (Chapter 241) is now guided by a detailed understanding of characteristics will not.6 Genomic, transcriptomic, epigenomic, proteomic,
the human immune system and its response to foreign antigens (Chapters 39 metabolomic, and other “omic” technologies provide a more holistic view of
to 44). Advances in our understanding of the human microbiome raise the the molecular makeup of a normal or abnormal organism, tissue, or cell. Systems
possibility that our complex interactions with microbes, which outnumber biology, which is the integration of all these techniques, can enable the devel-
our cells by a factor of 10, will help explain conditions ranging from inflam- opment of new predictive, preventive, and personalized approaches to disease.
matory bowel disease (Chapter 132) to obesity (Chapter 207). Sophisticated computerized analyses of radiographs and retinal images7 are
Health, disease, and an individual’s interaction with the environment are also poised to revolutionize the interpretation of these images much as com-
also substantially determined by genetics. In addition to many conditions that puterized electrocardiographic interpretation (Chapter 48) changed clinical
may be determined by a single gene, medical science increasingly understands cardiology. Electronic medical records also can detect patterns of drug side
CHAPTER 1 APPROACH TO MEDICINE, THE PATIENT, AND THE MEDICAL PROFESSION 2.e1
ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
The medical profession incorporates both the science of medicine as well as medical professionalism
the art of being a physician. Physicians cannot help patients unless they are scientific medicine
well-grounded in the latest information about medical diagnosis and therapy, evidence-based medicine
which increasingly is based on randomized clinical trials as well as specific approach to the patient
information about the genetics and genomics of individual patients. However, signs and symptoms
this scientific expertise must also be applied in the context of understanding
the patient as an individual person. In applying both scientific knowledge and
medical professionalism, the physician must also recognize the importance
of social justice as well as how to advocate for and help each individual patient
in the context of broader societal issues.
CHAPTER 1 APPROACH TO MEDICINE, THE PATIENT, AND THE MEDICAL PROFESSION 3
effects or interactions that can then guide molecular analyses that confirm Many patients, however, have undiagnosed symptoms, signs, or laboratory
new risks or even genetic diseases.8 Although it is too soon to know whether abnormalities that cannot be immediately ascribed to a particular disease or
patients would routinely benefit from sequencing and analysis of their exome cause. Whether the initial manifestation is chest pain (Chapter 45), diarrhea
or full genome, such information is increasingly becoming affordable and (Chapter 131), neck or back pain (Chapter 372), or a variety of more than
more accurate, with potential usefulness for identifying mendelian disease 100 common symptoms, signs, or laboratory abnormalities, Goldman-Cecil
patterns9 and informing reproductive planning to avoid autosomal recessive Medicine provides tables, figures, and entire chapters to guide the approach
diseases. Despite much hope, however, genetic profiling has had very limited to diagnosis and therapy (see E-Table 1-1 or table on inside back cover). By
positive impact on drug selection and dosing. virtue of this dual approach to known disease as well as to undiagnosed abnor-
This explosion in medical knowledge has led to increasing specialization malities, this textbook, similar to the modern practice of medicine, applies
and subspecialization, defined initially by organ system and more recently by directly to patients regardless of their mode of manifestation or degree of
locus of principal activity (inpatient vs. outpatient), reliance on manual skills previous evaluation.
(proceduralist vs. nonproceduralist), or participation in research. Nevertheless, The patient-physician interaction proceeds through many phases of clinical
it is becoming increasingly clear that the same fundamental molecular and reasoning and decision making. The interaction begins with an elucidation
genetic mechanisms are broadly applicable across all organ systems and that of complaints or concerns, followed by inquiries or evaluations to address
the scientific methodologies of randomized trials and careful clinical observa- these concerns in increasingly precise ways. The process commonly requires
tion span all aspects of medicine. a careful history or physical examination, ordering of diagnostic tests, inte-
The advent of modern approaches to managing data now provides the gration of clinical findings with test results, understanding of the risks and
rationale for the use of health information technology. Computerized health benefits of the possible courses of action, and careful consultation with the
records, oftentimes shared with patients in a portable format, can avoid dupli- patient and family to develop future plans. Physicians can increasingly call on
cation of tests, assure that care is coordinated among the patient’s various a growing literature of evidence-based medicine to guide the process so that
health care providers, and increase the value of health care.10 Real-time elec- benefit is maximized while respecting individual variations in different patients.
tronic records can also be used to alert physicians about patients whose vital Throughout Goldman-Cecil Medicine, the best current evidence is highlighted
signs (Chapter 7) might warrant urgent evaluation to avoid more serious with specific grade A references that can be accessed directly in the electronic
clinical decompensation. However, a current downside is that for every hour version.
physicians provide direct clinical face time to patients in the office, nearly two The increasing availability of evidence from randomized trials to guide the
additional hours may be spent on electronic health records and desk work approach to diagnosis and therapy should not be equated with “cookbook”
within the work day.11 medicine.14 Evidence and the guidelines that are derived from it emphasize
Extraordinary advances in the science and practice of medicine, which have proven approaches for patients with specific characteristics. Substantial clinical
continued to accelerate with each recent edition of this textbook, have trans- judgment is required to determine whether the evidence and guidelines apply
formed the global burden of disease. Life expectancies for men and women to individual patients and to recognize the occasional exceptions. Even more
have been increasing, a greater proportion of deaths are occurring among judgment is required in the many situations in which evidence is absent or
people older than age 70 years, and far fewer children are dying before the inconclusive. Evidence must also be tempered by patients’ preferences, although
age of 5 years. In the United States, however, overall life expectancy has sur- it is a physician’s responsibility to emphasize evidence when presenting alter-
prisingly declined in the last several years. Explanations include obesity-related native options to the patient. The adherence of a patient to a specific regimen
diseases12 as well as so-called deaths of despair owing to alcohol, drugs, and is likely to be enhanced if the patient also understands the rationale and evi-
suicide.13 Nevertheless, huge regional disparities remain, and disability from dence behind the recommended option.
conditions such as substance abuse, mental health disorders, injuries, diabetes, To care for a patient as an individual, the physician must understand the
musculoskeletal disease, and chronic respiratory disease have become increas- patient as a person. This fundamental precept of doctoring includes an under-
ingly important issues for all health systems. standing of the patient’s social situation, family issues, financial concerns, and
preferences for different types of care and outcomes, ranging from maximum
APPROACH TO THE PATIENT prolongation of life to the relief of pain and suffering (Chapters 2 and 3). If
Patients commonly have complaints (symptoms), but at least one third of the physician does not appreciate and address these issues, the science of
these symptoms will not be readily explainable by any detectable abnormali- medicine cannot be applied appropriately, and even the most knowledgeable
ties on examination (signs) or on laboratory testing. Even in our modern physician will fail to achieve the desired outcomes.
era of advanced diagnostic testing, the history and physical examination are Even as physicians become increasingly aware of new discoveries, patients
estimated to contribute at least 75% of the information that informs the evalu- can obtain their own information from a variety of sources, some of which
ation of symptoms, and symptoms that are not explained on initial compre- are of questionable reliability. The increasing use of alternative and comple-
hensive evaluation rarely are manifestations of a serious underlying disease. mentary therapies (Chapter 34) is an example of patients’ frequent dissatisfac-
Conversely, asymptomatic patients may have signs or laboratory abnormali- tion with prescribed medical therapy. Physicians should keep an open mind
ties, and laboratory abnormalities can occur in the absence of symptoms or regarding unproven options but must advise their patients carefully if such
signs. options may carry any degree of potential risk, including the risk that they
Symptoms and signs commonly define syndromes, which may be the common may be relied on to substitute for proven approaches. It is crucial for the
final pathway of a wide range of pathophysiologic alterations. The fundamental physician to have an open dialogue with the patient and family regarding the
basis of internal medicine is that diagnosis should elucidate the pathophysi- full range of options that either may consider.
ologic explanation for symptoms and signs so that therapy may improve the Another manifestation of problematic interactions and care is medical mal-
underlying abnormality, not just attempt to suppress the abnormal symptoms practice litigation, which commonly is a result of both suboptimal medical
or signs. care and suboptimal communication (Chapter 10). Of note is that about 1%
When patients seek care from physicians, they may have manifestations or of all physicians account for 32% of paid malpractice claims nationally,15 thereby
exacerbations of known conditions, or they may have symptoms and signs suggesting that individual physician characteristics are important and address-
that suggest malfunction of a particular organ system. Sometimes the pattern able contributors.
of symptoms and signs is highly suggestive or even pathognomonic for a par- The physician does not exist in a vacuum, but rather as part of a complicated
ticular disease process. In these situations, in which the physician is focusing and extensive system of medical care and public health. In premodern times
on a particular disease, Goldman-Cecil Medicine provides scholarly yet practical and even today in some developing countries, basic hygiene, clean water, and
approaches to the epidemiology, pathobiology, clinical manifestations, diagno- adequate nutrition have been the most important ways to promote health and
sis, treatment, prevention, and prognosis of entities such as acute myocardial reduce disease. In developed countries, adoption of healthy lifestyles, including
infarction (Chapter 64), chronic obstructive lung disease (Chapter 82), inflam- better diet (Chapter 202) and appropriate exercise (Chapter 13), is the cor-
matory bowel disease (Chapter 132), gallstones (Chapter 146), rheumatoid nerstone to reducing the epidemics of obesity (Chapter 207), coronary disease
arthritis (Chapter 248), hypothyroidism (Chapter 213), and tuberculosis (Chapter 46), and diabetes (Chapter 216). Public health interventions to
(Chapter 308), as well as newly described disorders such as emerging zoo- provide immunizations (Chapter 15) and to reduce injuries and the use of
noses, small fiber neuropathies, nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, mitochondrial tobacco (Chapter 29), illicit drugs (Chapter 31), and excess alcohol (Chapter
diseases, autoinflammatory diseases, and clonal disorders of indeterminate 30) can collectively produce more health benefits than nearly any other imag-
potential. inable health intervention.
CHAPTER 1 APPROACH TO MEDICINE, THE PATIENT, AND THE MEDICAL PROFESSION 3.e1
E-TABLE 1-1 GUIDE TO THE APPROACH TO COMMON SYMPTOMS, SIGNS, AND LABORATORY ABNORMALITIES
CHAPTER SPECIFIC TABLES OR FIGURES
SYMPTOMS
Constitutional
Fever 264, 265 Figures 265-1, 265-2; Tables 264-1 to 264-8
Fatigue 258 E-Table 258-1
Poor appetite 123 Table 123-1
Weight loss 123, 206 Figure 123-4; Tables 123-4, 206-1, 206-2
Obesity 207 Figure 207-1
Snoring, sleep disturbances 377 Table 377-6
Head, Eyes, Ears, Nose, Throat
Headache 370 Tables 370-1, 370-2
Visual loss, transient 395, 396 Tables 395-2, 396-1
Ear pain 398 Table 398-3
Hearing loss 400 Figure 400-1
Ringing in ears (tinnitus) 400 Figure 400-2
Vertigo 400 Figure 400-3
Nasal congestion, rhinitis, or sneezing 398
Loss of smell or taste 399 Table 399-1
Dry mouth 397 Table 397-7
Sore throat 401 Figure 401-2; Table 401-1
Hoarseness 401
Cardiopulmonary
Chest pain 45, 128 Tables 45-2, 128-5, 128-6
Bronchitis 90
Shortness of breath 45, 77 Figure 77-3
Palpitations 45, 56 Figure 56-1; Tables 45-4, 56-5
Dizziness 45, 56, 400 Figure 56-1; Table 400-1
Syncope 56 Figure 56-1; Tables 56-1, 56-2, 56-4
Cardiac arrest 57 Figures 57-2, 57-3
Cough 77 Figure 77-1; Tables 77-2, 77-3
Hemoptysis 77 Tables 77-6, 77-7
Gastrointestinal
Nausea and vomiting 123 Figure 123-5; Table 123-5
Dysphagia, odynophagia 123, 129 Table 123-1
Hematemesis 126, 144 Figure 126-3; Table 126-1
Heartburn/dyspepsia 123, 128 to 130 Figures 123-6, 129-2; Tables 128-3, 128-4, 130-1
Abdominal pain
Acute 123, 133 Figures 123-1, 123-2; Tables 123-2, 123-3, 133-1
Chronic 123, 128 Figure 123-3; Tables 123-2, 129-1
Diarrhea 128, 131 Figures 128-1, 131-1 to 131-4
Melena, blood in stool 126 Figures 126-3, 126-4, 126-6; Table 126-4
Constipation 127, 128 Figures 127-3, 128-1; Table 127-2
Fecal incontinence 136 Figure 136-5
Anal pain 136
Genitourinary
Dysuria 268, 269 Tables 268-3, 268-5, 269-2
Frequency 268 Table 268-3
Incontinence 23 Tables 23-1 to 23-3
Renal colic 117 Figure 117-1
Vaginal discharge 269
Menstrual irregularities 223 Figure 223-3; Tables 223-3, 223-4
Female infertility 223, 227 Table 223-5
Hot flushes 227 Table 227-1
Erectile dysfunction 221 Figure 221-10
Male infertility 221 Figures 221-8, 221-9; Table 221-7
Scrotal mass 190 Figure 190-1
Genital ulcers or warts 269 Table 269-1
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DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI
I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.