Manipulating the Tongue
We know the tongue is both a powerful and sensitive muscular organ. Not only is it strong, but it also provides us with a sense of taste. Manipulating the tongue either by force or by taste became an interesting method of reviving the unconscious. Forcibly pulling or pinching a tongue occurred. Another popular choice was to drop various sour, bitter or alcoholic liquids onto the tongue, such as vinegar, lemon, or brandy.
One such account by J.W. Green, a doctor, appeared in a New York newspaper, Sunnyside:
“Noticing a crowd that was acting in an unusual manner by the side of the lake, I approached and inquired of one of the bystanders what was the cause of the excitement. He replied, ‘A boy is drowned’…I then pointed out to the searchers where to look, and immediately the body was recovered. I took it at once…held it reversed, in order to disembarrass it from all the water possible, then stripped it of its clothing, sent for a blanket and brandy…The skin was cold, the lips were blue. Every artery was still. With all these signs of death present, it was still obligatory upon me to persevere…A small quantity of brandy was placed upon the tongue. A little of this ran into the larynx, and the stimulation was sufficient to produce a long inspiration and then cough.”
Perhaps one of the more tedious methods of insuring the dead were dead was tongue cranking. Dr. J.V. Laborde hypothesized manipulating sensitive body parts could lead to the revival of those thought dead. His hypothesis stemmed from his personal success of reviving a woman thought dead by rhythmically yanking her tongue for three hours with forceps. She later complained of the agonizing pain the tongue yanking induced. Laborde eventually engineered a tongue-pulling machine specifically for mortuaries. It was said even untrained mortuary assistants were capable of determining if the person were truly dead and ready for burial.