Na začátku příběhu knihy Dobrodružství Huckleberryho Finna hledají Huckovu mrtvolu v řece dvěma tehdy běžnými způsoby: pouští na hladinu chléb se rtutí a střílí naprázdno z kanónu.
A tohle jsem se o tom dočetla:
1. Rtuť. Pověra, že chléb díky rtuti bude přitahován lidským tělem a tudíž poplave směrem k místu, kde je tělo utonulého, je založená na domnělé spojitosti mezi "chlebem života" a rtutí neboli "živým stříbrem".
2. Kanón. Díky tlakové vlně měl v mrtvém těle prasknout žlučník a tělo díky tomu mělo vyplavat na hladinu.
Viz např.:
"Huck Finn's Drowning
Q.Was there a scientific basis for searching for drowning victims by floating loaves of bread containing quicksilver on the water, as the townspeople in Mark Twain's novel ''Huckleberry Finn'' did when they thought the hero had drowned? What about firing cannons over the water to make the body rise?
A.The belief that quicksilver, or mercury, would make bread float to a point over a submerged body was widely held in Britain, Twain scholars say. It was apparently based on hopeful etymology concerning the biblical ''bread of life'' and ''quick'' or ''living'' silver, so called because of the flowing form of mercury. There were anecdotal reports of the method in the 19th century, but no scientific observation, according to Thomas Tenney, editor of The Mark Twain Journal at the College of Charleston, S.C.
He said that scholars had found a pseudoscientific rationale for firing cannon or guns. It was a common and persistent superstition in both Britain and the United States that the concussion of gunfire would break the gall bladder and somehow cause the body to float. Scholars know of no modern report that this method works either.
The New York City Police Department searches for a submerged body by sending down divers approximately where witnesses see someone go under, after allowing for tides and currents.
''There is nothing scientific about it,'' said a department spokesman."
Zdroj:
https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/17/science/q-a-392990.html