Is the Chinese Water Torture really Chinese? Cecil Adams explains:
"Probably not. 'Chinese' is one of those all-purpose English pejoratives in which foreign is equated with weird. Two variants may be noted. The first is Chinese in the sense of 'confused, disorganized, or inferior,' as in 'Chinese fire drill' (a chaotic scene, or more commonly these days, the collegiate prank in which everyone tumbles out of a car at a stoplight, runs around to the other side, and piles in again), 'Chinese ace' (a bumbling pilot), 'Chinese navy' (a disorganized group), and so on. The other sense is 'exotic, mysterious, or devious,' as in Chinese handcuffs (the finger restraints that bind more tightly the harder you try to pull your fingers out), Chinese checkers (the game is said to have been invented in the latter 19th century by an Englishman), and of course the Chinese water torture.
"Most people understand Chinese water torture to mean driving a prisoner mad by dripping water on his forehead . . . Chinese = confused is thought to have originated in Britain around World War I; Chinese = exotic/devious is perhaps a little older. Word sleuth Barry Popik tells me the first known use of the term was Harry Houdini's 'Chinese Water Torture Cell,' a stunt introduced circa 1903 in which Houdini was lowered into a tank of water upside down and had to come out alive."
Brian Innes's The History of Torture sets out the real history of what has become to be known as the Chinese Water Torture. First, Innes points out that "Water is generally so readily available, and so easily handled, that torturers have used it in a wide variety of ways for many centuries." Then,
"Hippolytus de Marsiliis, (a) sixteenth century lawyer, is credited with the invention of a particularly subtle form of water torture. Having observed how drops of water falling one by one on a stone gradually wore away a hollow, he applied the method to the human body.
"Victims were strapped down so that they could not move, and cold water was then dripped slowly on to a small area of the body. The forehead was found to be the most suitable point for this form of torture: prisoners could see each drop coming, and were gradually driven frantic."
(The inventive Hipplytus is also credited with coming up with sleep deprivation as a form of torture.)
Anyway, Adams concludes, "At some point subsequent to 1903, presumably, someone conflated Houdini's trick with de Marsiliis's torture, and the two have been linked ever since."
The Penguin wanted to apply "the water treatment" to Batman and Robin in the Knights of Knavery (Batman #25, 1944), the first Penguin/Joker team-up. After the Dynamic Duo had fallen into their clutches, Penguin suggested:
"Now that we've caught them, the thing to do is finish them off in a fitting manner. How about the water treatment -- a drop at a time on the forehead till they go mad?"
The Joker, though, wanted to use an overdose of laughing gas. Their dispute led to our heroes eventual escape . . . without being subjected to either.
Why is the water torture so popular on television? Probably for two reasons. First, it is relatively easy to depict. Second, the actress/actor can actually be "tortured"!
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