Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PDF Point of Care Ultrasound Made Easy John Mccafferty Ebook Full Chapter
PDF Point of Care Ultrasound Made Easy John Mccafferty Ebook Full Chapter
John Mccafferty
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/point-of-care-ultrasound-made-easy-john-mccafferty/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...
https://textbookfull.com/product/point-of-care-ultrasound-made-
easy-1st-edition-john-mccafferty-editor/
https://textbookfull.com/product/point-of-care-ultrasound-2nd-
edition-nilam-soni/
https://textbookfull.com/product/practical-point-of-care-medical-
ultrasound-1st-edition-james-m-daniels/
https://textbookfull.com/product/u-s-immigration-made-easy-19th-
edition-us-immigration-made-easy-ilona-bray/
Urodynamics Made Easy Christopher Chapple
https://textbookfull.com/product/urodynamics-made-easy-
christopher-chapple/
https://textbookfull.com/product/the-basics-of-cyber-safety-
computer-and-mobile-device-safety-made-easy-1st-edition-john-
sammons/
https://textbookfull.com/product/u-s-immigration-made-easy-bray/
https://textbookfull.com/product/radio-frequency-modulation-made-
easy-saleh-faruque/
https://textbookfull.com/product/dental-statistics-made-easy-
third-edition-smeeton/
https://t.me/MBS_MedicalBooksStore
Point of Care
Ultrasound Made Easy
Point of Care
Ultrasound Made Easy
Edited by
John McCafferty
James M Forsyth
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300
Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. while all reasonable
efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, neither the author[s] nor the publisher
can accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publish-
ers wish to make clear that any views or opinions expressed in this book by individual editors, authors or
contributors are personal to them and do not necessarily reflect the views/opinions of the publishers. The
information or guidance contained in this book is intended for use by medical, scientific or health-care
professionals and is provided strictly as a supplement to the medical or other professional’s own judgement,
their knowledge of the patient’s medical history, relevant manufacturer’s instructions and the appropriate
best practice guidelines. Because of the rapid advances in medical science, any information or advice on dos-
ages, procedures or diagnoses should be independently verified. The reader is strongly urged to consult the
relevant national drug formulary and the drug companies’ and device or material manufacturers’ printed
instructions, and their websites, before administering or utilizing any of the drugs, devices or materials
mentioned in this book. This book does not indicate whether a particular treatment is appropriate or suit-
able for a particular individual. Ultimately it is the sole responsibility of the medical professional to make his
or her own professional judgements, so as to advise and treat patients appropriately. The authors and pub-
lishers have also attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and
apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. if any copyright
material has not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint.
Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmit-
ted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without written permission from the publishers.
For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, please access www.copyright.com
(http://www.copyright.com/) or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive,
Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400. CCC is a not-for-profit organization that provides licenses and registra-
tion for a variety of users. For organizations that have been granted a photocopy license by the CCC, a separate
system of payment has been arranged.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used
only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
viii
The Ankle Joint 97
The Shoulder Joint 99
Pathologies 101
Index 151
ix
FOREWORD
This book is an easy-to-read introductory text describing the use of point-
of-care ultrasound for an increasingly wide range of ultrasound applications.
The book is aimed at clinicians and practitioners who are perhaps not as
familiar with the use of ultrasound for diagnosis as clinical ultrasonographers
and radiologists. Each chapter has concise learning objectives, and the text is
punctuated with many clear and easy-to-follow diagrams illustrating scanning
positions and the ultrasound images acquired at each of these positions.
This will enable even the relatively novice practitioner to develop the skills
necessary to obtain high-quality and focussed diagnostic information to
answer fundamental clinical questions.
The publication of this book is timely as we enter an era where the use
of hand-held and laptop-sized ultrasound scanners is becoming increasingly
commonplace within our hospitals. This book, edited by Dr John McCafferty,
a respiratory consultant at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Scotland, with a
wealth of clinical experience, and Mr James M Forsyth, senior vascular surgery
registrar and author of Venous Access Made Easy, provides clear guidance on
the use and diagnostic importance of point-of-care ultrasound.
Professor Carmel Moran
Chair of Translational Ultrasound
University of Edinburgh
xi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book would not have been possible without our excellent team of authors
(Nick, Shirjel, Anoop and Kirsten). You are all consummate professionals,
expert clinicians, reliable and trustworthy colleagues and tremendously
enthusiastic medical educators. You produced some excellent chapters in a
very timely manner, and it was a joy to work with you all. A book like this
cannot be authoritatively written by one clinician alone, and you should all
be applauded for your tremendous contributions. Additional thanks must
go to Professor John Murchison who contributed majorly in providing the
ultrasound images used throughout the book and for his expert oversight.
In particular, I am indebted to my fellow editor John McCafferty for his
expert input and tireless enthusiasm to help promote point-of-care ultrasound
education. This book was originally your idea and therefore you should take
full credit for its inception.
It is also great to be working with the fantastic Miranda Bromage and
Samantha Cook from CRC Press/Taylor & Francis. You are a great publishing
team, and it is an honour to be working with you again so soon after Venous
Access Made Easy.
James M Forsyth
xiii
CONTRIBUTORS
xv
PART I
BACKGROUND TO POINT-
OF-CARE ULTRASOUND
MADE EASY (POCUSME)
CHAPTER 1
Learning Objectives 3
What Is Ultrasound? 3
Properties of Ultrasound in Tissues 4
Ultrasound Imaging 5
Image Acquisition 6
Scanning Modes 7
Optimising Imaging 10
Other Functions 12
Ultrasound Devices Used in Point of Care 12
Ultrasound Safety 14
Learning Objectives
◾◾ Understand the basic physics behind medical ultrasound imaging.
◾◾ Understand the hardware components of a medical ultrasound scanner.
◾◾ Understand the different imaging modes: B-mode, M-mode and
Doppler.
◾◾ Know how to acquire an ultrasound image, appreciating the imaging
conventions.
◾◾ Know how to optimise your ultrasound image.
◾◾ Appreciate your choices of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) device.
◾◾ Have an awareness of safety factors in POCUS.
What Is Ultrasound?
Ultrasound waves are mechanical energy that are transmitted through a
medium from repetitive periodic oscillations of a transducer. The number
of such cycles per second is termed the frequency of the ultrasound signal.
Ultrasound refers to sound propagated at frequencies higher than the
audible spectrum for humans (>20 KHz) (see Figure 1.1). Typically, medical
ultrasound imaging operates in the range 3.5–20 MHz.
3
How Does Ultrasound Work?
Figure 1.1 The frequency spectrum of sound waves with reference to the medical
ultrasound range.
Figure 1.2 Impedance values of typical tissues seen in the body. Air has very low
impedance, meaning the ultrasound wave is strongly reflected at an air/tissue interface.
This is why ultrasound gel is used when scanning a patient to avoid air interfaces
between the transducer and the patient’s skin.
4
Ultrasound Imaging
and little transmitted. For example, the medium of fluid or water has low
impedance and will conduct the ultrasound wave, whereas bone is a poor
conductor and will reflect the ultrasound wave back towards its source (see
Figure 1.2).
Small inhomogeneities within tissues/organs result in scattering of the
ultrasound beam. This scattering is dependent on the size of the scatterer
relative to the frequency/wavelength of the ultrasound beam. However, the
scattering from these small structures (including red blood cells) is much
smaller than typical reflections from boundaries so that within a B-mode
image, boundaries are associated with brighter echoes compared to the less
bright echoes generated by scattering within soft tissue.
Ultrasound Imaging
Ultrasound imaging uses the differences in the acoustic properties of tissues
to build a picture of the structures within the body. The ultrasound signal is
generated by a transducer that contains an array of tiny piezoelectric crystals
which when excited by an electrical signal vibrate at a set frequency and
transmit an ultrasound signal. The transducer is also a receiver, detecting
the reflected signal via the piezoelectric crystals whilst ‘listening’ between
transmission phases. This is referred to as send-receive mode (see Figure 1.3).
The reflected signal is processed so that high intensity signals from reflected
ultrasound waves represent brighter areas on screen. Complex signal
processing therefore allows the display in real time of the ultrasound image
as a grey-scale image on screen (see Figure 1.4).
Reflected wave
Object
Transducer probe
sender/receiver
Original wave
5
How Does Ultrasound Work?
Grey liver
texture
(scattering)
Dark outline of
blood-filled vessel
Bright (echogenic)
fibrous capsule
of liver
Figure 1.4 Ultrasound image of liver illustrating the grey liver texture (scattering),
bright outline of the liver capsule (boundary reflection) and the dark (fluid-filled)
vessel.
Image Acquisition
The ultrasound probe houses the transducer which is constructed from an
array of elements and can be arranged in linear, curvilinear or phased array
formats (see Figure 1.5). There are new technologies where the piezoelectric
crystals are replaced with a 2D array of thousands of programmable micro-
machined sensors which essentially perform the same function as the
piezoelectric transducers and offer advantages over flexibility in frequency
range and ease of mass production.
The curvilinear array produces a convex beam offering a good field of vision
for in-depth examination of deeper organs and is most often used in obstetrics
and abdominal imaging. Typically, lower-frequency range transducers are
used (2–5 MHz), enabling better penetration of the ultrasound beam. The
linear array gives a rectangular beam which can offer better visualisation of
more superficial structures and often operates in a higher-frequency range
(7–12 MHz). The phased array uses precise control over the timing of element
‘firing’ which allows control of steering and focus of the ultrasound beam of
triangular shape. The beam point is narrow, and the transducer has a small
‘footprint’ which can be useful for small acoustic windows such as the rib
space when imaging the heart.
6
Scanning Modes
Piezoelectric element
Acoustic lens (transducer)
Linear array
Figure 1.5 Probe construction and the commonly used probe types.
Scanning Modes
B-Mode (or Bright Modulation)
B-mode is the most common mode used to start scanning and generating a 2D
grey-scale image from curvilinear, linear or phased array probes. The format
of the image will depend on the probe type (see Figure 1.6).
7
How Does Ultrasound Work?
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 1.6 Examples of B-mode ultrasound images: (a) liver (curvilinear), (b) carotid
artery (linear), (c) heart (phased array).
Figure 1.7 M-mode image through the heart with corresponding B-mode image
above (Figure 1.6). By measuring the change in left ventricular dimensions with time
throughout the cardiac cycle (this allows assessment of left ventricular function). LVEDD –
left ventricular end diastolic distance, LVESD – left ventricular end systolic distance.
8
Scanning Modes
Figure 1.8 Colour Doppler image displaying colour-coded mean velocity at each
point in the vessel, superimposed on B-mode image. Simultaneous display of spectral
Doppler velocities measured within the sample volume located in centre of the vessel.
9
How Does Ultrasound Work?
powerful physical principle can be used to quantify blood flow through heart
valves and vessels which can be useful in detecting valve blockage (stenosis)
or valve leakage (incompetence).
Optimising Imaging
When acquiring an ultrasound image, a number of factors must be considered
before attention is given to the scanner controls in order to optimise
visualisation of the relevant anatomy.
Probe Orientation
Every probe will have a notch or mark to signify the leading edge of the probe
which, by convention, will correspond to the left-hand side of the screen. The
convention when imaging in the longitudinal plane (see Figure 1.9) is that
Longitudinal Transverse
Coronal
10
Optimising Imaging
the probe should be orientated with the notch uppermost so that head to toe
(craniocaudal) should be left to right on the screen. In the transverse plane
the probe marker should be to the patient’s right as shown, and in the coronal
plane the probe marker should be uppermost as shown. In practice, an oblique
plane of scanning is often used, particularly in scanning the thorax when
following the rib spaces. Again, the probe marker should be kept uppermost
following the same convention.
Figure 1.10 Basic controls for laptop-type ultrasound device (this image shows
Sonobook range from Chison Medical Technologies). It is best to familiarise yourself with
whichever ultrasound machine you have and identify the buttons prior to patient use.
Frequency
Higher frequencies mean shorter wavelengths and less tissue penetration
but better spatial resolution of images, therefore, typically 10–14 MHz is a
useful range for superficial vascular or musculoskeletal structures, whereas
3.5–5 MHz offers better tissue penetration for deeper structures and solid
organ visualisation.
11
How Does Ultrasound Work?
Gain
This function amplifies the ultrasound signals returning from the body. It can
be thought of as a microphone function. The compromise for an amplified
signal is increased noise. In obese patients, gain may need to be increased.
Time gain compensation (TGC) can also be useful in compensating for the
loss of intensity of signal with increasing depth. Adjustment of TGC can
produce a more even grey-scale image. If increasing the gain does not provide
sufficient information for diagnosis, the power of the transmitted ultrasound
beam may be increased (to a maximum level) using the ‘output power’ control.
Focus
This can be useful in improving lateral resolution, i.e., discriminating between
two structures at the same depth, and should be adjusted to the area of interest.
Depth
This function allows control over the field of vision depending on the area of
interest. Ideally the whole screen should be used to optimise the view of the
area of interest.
Other Functions
Even the smallest devices provide a wide range of functions, including storage
of patient details, images and cine recording and calliper measurement.
Laptop Devices
A wide range of laptop devices are now available, in many cases offering
increased specification over the hand-held devices. The device can be carried
by hand, although if a number of probes are being used this can become
unwieldy and a trolley mounted arrangement is usually preferred.
12
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
place them on a new theoretical basis. That basis, in accordance
with the general advance of thought, was supplied by religion.
Sexual relations which had once been condemned as wrong and
unnatural because they were supposed to thwart the natural
multiplication of animals and plants and thereby to diminish the food
supply, would now be condemned because it was imagined that they
were displeasing to gods or spirits, those stalking-horses which
savage man rigs out in the cast-off clothes of his still more savage
ancestors. The moral practice would therefore remain the same,
though its theoretical basis had been shifted from magic to religion.
In this or some such way as this we may conjecture that the Karens,
Dyaks, and other savages reached those curious conceptions of
sexual immorality and its consequences which we have been
considering. But from the nature of the case the development of
moral theory which I have sketched is purely hypothetical and hardly
admits of verification.
However, even if we assume for a moment that
But the reason why the savages in question reached their present
savages came to
regard certain view of sexual immorality in the way I have
sexual relations as surmised, there still remains the question, How did
irregular and they originally come to regard certain relations of
immoral remains
obscure. the sexes as immoral? For clearly the notion that
such immorality interferes with the course of
nature must have been secondary and derivative: people must on
independent grounds have concluded that certain relations between
men and women were wrong and injurious before they extended the
conclusion by false analogy to nature. The question brings us face to
face with the deepest and darkest problem in the history of society,
the problem of the origin of the laws which still regulate marriage and
the relations of the sexes among civilized nations; for broadly
speaking the fundamental laws which we recognize in these matters
are recognized also by savages, with this difference, that among
many savages the sexual prohibitions are far more numerous, the
horror excited by breaches of them far deeper, and the punishment
inflicted on the offenders far sterner than with us. The problem has
often been attacked, but never solved. Perhaps it is destined, like so
many riddles of that Sphinx which we call nature, to remain for ever
insoluble. At all events this is not the place to broach so intricate and
profound a discussion. I return to my immediate subject.
In the opinion of many savages the effect of
Sexual immorality is sexual immorality is not merely to disturb, directly
thought by many
savages to injure or indirectly, the course of nature by blighting the
the delinquents crops, causing the earth to quake, volcanoes to
themselves, their vomit fire, and so forth: the delinquents
offspring, and their
innocent spouses. themselves, their offspring, or their innocent
spouses are supposed to suffer in their own
persons for the sin that has been committed. Thus among the
Baganda of Central Africa “adultery was also regarded as a danger
to children; it was thought that women who were guilty of it during
pregnancy caused the child to die, either prior to birth, or at the time
of birth. Sometimes the guilty woman would herself die in childbed;
or, if she was safely delivered, she would have a tendency to devour
her child, and would have to be guarded lest she should kill it.”103.1
“When there was a case of retarded delivery, the relatives attributed
it to adultery; they made the woman confess the name of the man
with whom she had had intercourse, and if she died, her husband
was fined by the members of her clan, for they said: ‘We did not give
our daughter to you for the purpose of adultery, and you should have
guarded her.’ In most cases, however, the medicine-men were able
to save the woman’s life, and upon recovery she was upbraided, and
the man whom she accused was heavily fined.”103.2 The Baganda
thought that the infidelity of the father as well as of the mother
endangered the life of the child. For “it was also supposed that a
man who had sexual intercourse with any woman not his wife, during
the time that any one of his wives was nursing a child, would cause
the child to fall ill, and that unless he confessed his guilt and
obtained from the medicine-man the necessary remedies to cancel
the evil results, the child would die.”103.3 The common childish
ailment which was thought to be caused by the adultery of the father
or mother was called amakiro, and its symptoms were well
recognized: they consisted of nausea and general debility, and the
only cure for them was a frank confession by the guilty parent and
the performance of a magical ceremony by the medicine-man.103.4
Similar views as to the disastrous effects of
Disastrous effects adultery on mother and child seem to be
of adultery on
adulteress and her widespread among Bantu tribes. Thus among the
child. Awemba of Northern Rhodesia, when both mother
and child die in childbirth, great horror is
expressed by all, who assert that the woman must assuredly have
committed adultery with many men to suffer such a fate. They exhort
her even with her last breath to name the adulterer; and whoever is
mentioned by her is called the “murderer” (musoka) and has
afterwards to pay a heavy fine to the injured husband. Similarly if the
child is born dead and the mother survives, the Awemba take it for
granted that the woman has been unfaithful to her husband, and
they ask her to name the murderer of her child, that is, the man
whose guilty love has been the death of the babe.104.1 In like manner
the Thonga, a Bantu tribe of South Africa, about Delagoa Bay, are of
opinion that if a woman’s travail pangs are unduly prolonged or she
fails to bring her offspring to the birth, she must certainly have
committed adultery, and they insist upon her making a clean breast
as the only means of ensuring her delivery; should she suppress the
name even of one of several lovers with whom she may have gone
astray, the child cannot be born. So convinced are the women of the
sufferings which adultery, if unacknowledged, entails on the guilty
mother in childbed, that a woman who knows her child to be
illegitimate will privately confess her sin to the midwife before she is
actually brought to bed, in the hope thereby of alleviating and
shortening her travail pangs.104.2 Further, the
Sympathetic
relation between an
Thonga believe that adultery establishes a
adulterer and the physical relationship of mutual sympathy between
injured husband. the adulterer and the injured husband such that
the life of the one is in a manner bound up with the
life of the other; indeed this relationship is thought to arise between
any two men who have had sexual connexion with the same woman.
As a native put it to a missionary, “They have met together in one life
through the blood of that woman; they have drunk from the same
pool.” To express it otherwise, they have formed a blood covenant
with each other through the woman as intermediary. “This
establishes between them a most curious mutual dependence:
should one of them be ill, the other must not visit him; the patient
might die. If he runs a thorn into his foot, the other must not help him
to extract it. It is taboo. The wound would not heal. If he dies, his
rival must not assist at his mourning or he would die himself.” Hence
if a man has committed adultery, as sometimes happens, with one of
his father’s younger wives, and the father dies, his undutiful son may
not take the part which would otherwise fall to him in the funeral
rites; indeed should he attempt to attend the burial, his relations
would drive him away in pity, lest by this mark of respect and
perhaps of remorse he should forfeit his life.105.1 In
Injurious effects of
adultery on the
like manner the Akikuyu of British East Africa
innocent husband, believe that if a son has adulterous intercourse
wife, or child. with one of his father’s wives, the innocent father,
not the guilty young scapegrace, contracts a
dangerous pollution (thahu), the effect of which is to make him ill and
emaciated or to break out into sores or boils, and even in all
probability to die, if the danger is not averted by the timely
intervention of a medicine-man.105.2 The Anyanja of British Central
Africa believe that if a man commits adultery while his wife is with
child, she will die; hence on the death of his wife the widower is often
roundly accused of having killed her by his infidelity.105.3 Without
going so far as this, the Masai of German East Africa hold that if a
father were to touch his infant on the day after he had been guilty of
adultery, the child would fall sick.105.4 According to the Akamba of
British East Africa, if a woman after giving birth to a child is false to
her husband before her first menstruation, the child will surely
die.105.5 The Akamba are also of opinion that if a
Injurious effects of
incest on the
woman is guilty of incest with her brother she will
offspring. be unable to bring to the birth the seed which she
has conceived by him. In that case the man must
purge his sin by bringing a big goat to the elders, and the woman is
ceremonially smeared with the contents of the animal’s stomach.106.1
Among the Washamba of German East Africa it happened that a
married woman lost three children, one after the other, by death. A
diviner being called in to ascertain the cause of this calamity,
attributed it to incest of which she had been accidentally guilty with
her father.106.2
Again, it appears to be a common notion with
Wife’s infidelity at savages that the infidelity of a wife prevents her
home thought to
endanger the husband from killing game, and even exposes him
absent husband in to imminent risk of being himself killed or wounded
the chase or the by wild beasts. This belief is entertained by the
war.
Wagogo and other peoples of East Africa, by the
Moxos Indians of Bolivia, and by Aleutian hunters of sea-otters. In
such cases any mishap that befalls the husband during the chase is
set down by him to the score of his wife’s misconduct at home; he
returns in wrath and visits his ill-luck on the often innocent object of
his suspicions even, it may be, to the shedding of her blood.106.3
While the Huichol Indians of Mexico are away seeking for a species
of cactus which they regard as sacred, their women at home are
bound to be strictly chaste; otherwise they believe that they would be
visited with illness and would endanger the success of the men’s
expedition.106.4 An old writer on Madagascar tells us that though
Malagasy women are voluptuous they will not allow themselves to be
drawn into an intrigue while their husbands are absent at the wars,
for they believe that infidelity at such a time would cause the absent
spouse to be wounded or slain.106.5 The Baganda of Central Africa
held similar views as to the fatal effect which a wife’s adultery at
home might have on her absent husband at the wars; they thought
that the gods resented her misconduct and withdrew their favour and
protection from her warrior spouse, thus punishing the innocent
instead of the guilty. Indeed, it was believed that if a woman were
even to touch a man’s clothing while her husband was away with the
army, it would bring misfortune on her husband’s weapon, and might
even cost him his life. The gods of the Baganda were most particular
about women strictly observing the taboos during their husbands’
absence and having nothing to do with other men all that time. On
his return from the war a man tested his wife’s fidelity by drinking
water from a gourd which she handed to him before he entered his
house. If she had been unfaithful to him during his absence, the
water was supposed to make him ill; hence should it chance that he
fell sick after drinking the draught, his wife was at once clapped into
the stocks and tried for adultery; and if she confessed her guilt and
named her paramour, the offender was heavily fined or even put to
death.107.1 Similarly among the Bangala or the Boloki of the Upper
Congo, “when men went to fight distant towns their wives were
expected not to commit adultery with such men as were left in the
town, or their husbands would receive spear wounds from the
enemy. The sisters of the fighters would take every precaution to
guard against the adultery of their brothers’ wives while they were on
the expedition.”107.2 So among the Haida Indians of the Queen
Charlotte Islands, while the men were away at the wars, their wives
“all slept in one house to keep watch over each other; for, if a woman
were unfaithful to her husband while he was with a war-party, he
would probably be killed.”107.3 If only King David had held this belief
he might have contented himself with a single instead of a double
crime, and need not have sent his Machiavellian order to put the
injured husband in the forefront of the battle.107.4
The Zulus imagine that an unfaithful wife who
Injurious effect of touches her husband’s furniture without first eating
wife’s infidelity on
her husband. certain herbs causes him to be seized with a fit of
coughing of which he soon dies. Moreover, among
the Zulus “a man who has had criminal intercourse with a sick
person’s wife is prohibited from visiting the sick-chamber; and, if the
sick person is a woman, any female who has committed adultery
with her husband must not visit her. They say that, if these visits ever
take place, the patient is immediately oppressed with a cold
perspiration and dies. This prohibition was thought to find out the
infidelities of the women and to make them fear discovery.”108.1 For a
similar reason, apparently, during the sickness of a
African chiefs Caffre chief his tribe was bound to observe strict
thought to be
injuriously affected continence under pain of death.108.2 The notion
by the incontinence seems to have been that any act of incontinence
of their subjects.
would through some sort of magical sympathy
prove fatal to the sick chief. The Ovakumbi, a tribe in the south of
Angola, think that the carnal intercourse of young people under the
age of puberty would cause the king to die within the year, if it were
not severely punished. The punishment for such a treasonable
offence used to be death.108.3 Similarly, in the kingdom of Congo,
when the sacred pontiff, called the Chitomé, was going his rounds
throughout the country, all his subjects had to live strictly chaste, and
any person found guilty of incontinence at such times was put to
death without mercy. They thought that universal chastity was
essential to the preservation of the life of the pontiff, whom they
revered as the head of their religion and their common father.
Accordingly when he was abroad he took care to warn his faithful
subjects by a public crier, that no man might plead ignorance as an
excuse for a breach of the law.108.4
Speaking of the same region of West Africa, an
Injurious effects of old writer tells us that “conjugal chastity is
adultery on the
adulteress. singularly respected among these people; adultery
is placed in the list of the greatest crimes. By an
opinion generally received, the women are persuaded that if they
were to render themselves guilty of infidelity, the greatest
misfortunes would overwhelm them, unless they averted them by an
avowal made to their husbands, and in obtaining their pardon for the
injury they might have done.”109.1 The Looboos of
Dangerous pollution
supposed to be
Sumatra think that an unmarried young woman
incurred by who has been got with child falls thereby into a
unchastity. dangerous state called looï, which is such that she
spreads misfortune wherever she goes. Hence
when she enters a house, the people try to drive her out by
force.109.2 Amongst the Sulka of New Britain unmarried people who
have been guilty of unchastity are believed to contract thereby a fatal
pollution (sle) of which they will die, if they do not confess their fault
and undergo a public ceremony of purification. Such persons are
avoided: no one will take anything at their hands: parents point them
out to their children and warn them not to go near them. The
infection which they are supposed to spread is apparently physical
rather than moral in its nature; for special care is taken to keep the
paraphernalia of the dance out of their way, the mere presence of
persons so polluted being thought to tarnish the paint on the
instruments. Men who have contracted this dangerous taint rid
themselves of it by drinking sea-water mixed with shredded coco-nut
and ginger, after which they are thrown into the sea. Emerging from
the water they put off the dripping clothes which they wore during
their state of defilement and cast them away. This purification is
believed to save their lives, which otherwise must have been
destroyed by their unchastity.109.3 Among the Buduma of Lake Chad,
in Central Africa, at the present day “a child born out of wedlock is
looked on as a disgrace, and must be drowned. If this is not done,
great misfortunes will happen to the tribe. All the men will fall sick,
and the women, cows and goats will become barren.”110.1
These examples may suffice to shew that
Conclusion. among many races sexual immorality, whether in
the form of adultery, fornication, or incest, is
believed of itself to entail, naturally and inevitably, without the
intervention of society, most serious consequences not only on the
culprits themselves, but also on the community, often indeed to
menace the very existence of the whole people by destroying the
food supply. I need hardly remind you that all these beliefs are
entirely baseless; no such consequences flow from such acts; in
short, the beliefs in question are a pure superstition. Yet we cannot
doubt that wherever this superstition has existed it must have served
as a powerful motive to deter men from adultery, fornication, and
incest. If that is so, then I think I have proved my third proposition,
which is, that among certain races and at certain times superstition
has strengthened the respect for marriage, and has thereby
contributed to the stricter observance of the rules of sexual morality
both among the married and the unmarried.
V.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE