Men have always been keen to detect adultery in their wives - or, by means of chastity belts, etc., to prevent them the opportunity. Some odd ways of discovering the unfaithful wife have been invented.

Some have relied on magic, e.g. the test which makes use of the supposed power of holy water. There is a nice description of such an "adultery test" in Numbers V. We will quote one bit- "And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people."

As one couple of writers remark - "God did not trouble to institute any similar test for unfaithful husbands."