High-res
Daily Capital Journal, Salem, Oregon, February 7, 1923
Has anyone heard of this before? Apparently it was a pretty common way for parents to test if their children had the mumps (or adults to test themselves). They’d give them a pickle to bite (or, I guess in this instance, smell) and it would affect the salivary glands. If you had a stronger than usual reaction - not just face contorting but almost yelling in pain - to the sour flavour, you probably had the mumps (or so the idea was).
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Missouri, April 14, 1898:
The Inter Ocean, Chicago, Illinois, December 30, 1900:
The Wichita Beacon, Kansas, March 9, 1901:
Corvallis Gazette-Times, Oregon, January 22, 1917:
The Post-Crescent, Appleton, Wisconsin, February 13, 1930:
