Shocking the Body with Pain
Although 18th and 19th century medical knowledge lacked much of the common information our medical professionals have in the 21st century, the physicians of the Georgian and Victorian Era did have a basic understanding of the circulatory system and nerve endings. Death tests involving fingers and toes became popularized, as both were understood to be body parts that provided clear indications of cardiac functioning.
If one were a living subject put to such tests, they would have ranged from fairly uncomfortable to downright excruciating. It is truly terrifying to imagine the horrors enacted on both the unconscious and the dead. It was not uncommon for severe pain to be inflicted upon those who had merely fainted, but to family and medical professionals appeared to be dead.
One test involved holding the supposedly deceased’s finger over the flame of a candle to check for circulating blood. The warmth from the candle would have produced a pulsation indicating the heart was still beating. Another far more painful test, if one were still alive, involved chopping off a finger or toe. It was said the shock from removing such sensitive body parts would instantly awaken anyone who was apparently, but not genuinely, dead.
Slicing off fingers was not the only hypothesized method of shocking one back to life. Scalding water poured over an unconscious body was commonly practiced. If the person were still alive, the scalding hot water would have created significant burns. However, an Englishman named Barnett conceived a far more thorough method. Barnett advocated burning a patch of skin on the corpse’s arm; if it blistered, the person was still alive and therefore not fit to be buried. Similarly, doctors would even recommend burning the corpse’s nose to shock the body back to consciousness.