Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-01-26
A CHATTER ON sNEEz1Ne.
Curious Customs Of Ancient and Moder

count Of the customs connected in an
client and modern times with sneezing:
"Sneezing may be properly defined as
q spasm dine to an irritation applied
either directly or indirectly to that por-
ton Of the Schneiderian membrane
which is the expanded distribution of
the olfactory nerve, the seat Of the spe-
cial sense of smell. The complex phe-
nomena of "reAex action" are also in
volved in the act. The irritation may
be caused directly, as by snuff, and so
forth; or indirectly, as by the sudden
impression of light upon the retina, or
by the we'll known effect Of q sudden
chill.
"a person will, generally speaking,
sneeze more in the Summer than in the
Winter; on account of the glare of the
sun, and q more pulverized condition Of
the road. Not a few suffer from the'
very unpleasant affection called the
ebay fever" which is characterized by
a troublesome itching of the eyes and
greatirritation ofthe membrane lining of
the nasal passages, producing constant
sneezing and a general constitutional
| disturbance. The numerous minute
particles of the pollen Of grasses and
other plants from the meadows are dis
tributed by the air and conveyed to the
peoples nostrils, which Immediately re-
ply to their presence by a fit Of sneezing.
The dust and smell arising from the hay
field are eminently productive of these
| disagreeable sensations, and hence the
name of the complaint. There are some
people, however-but not such as are
affected with shay fever'-who are
rather pleased than otherwise with the
preliminary Utilization Of the mucous
| membrane of the nose with its natural
result, at which the whole frame shakes
| convulsively. And then q person may
be taken with a fit of several consecu-
tive ebullitions at most importune mo-
ments. 1t must be rather awkward for
actors sometimes when, in the midst OF
some solemn defamation, the unwel-
come sneeze gives warning of its APP
proach. Imagine Hamlet, at the end Of
the well known words,
30 that this too, too solid fesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew"
to be seized with a %paroxyism of sneez-
ing. Would not the audience fear lest
those violent sternutatory agitations
should prove the prelude to that much
wished for contamination?
WHAT IS sNrEzING?
"But what is sneezing, and how shall
we define III Etymologically the word
has reference to the nose, the Anglo
Saxon noese, the German nas., the Latin
na,u,, etc., hence the word used to be
written without the initial s. as 'nees-
ing or 'neezing,' and Shakespeare
(And then the whole quire hold their hips
and loffe, .
And waxen in their mirth, and neese, and
swear
A merrier hour was never wasted there.D
Midsummer Nights Dream, oct H., geo. !.
Mr.. Hensleigh Wedgewood thinks that
the name of the nose is taken from an
imitation of noises made through that
organ. Similarly, Webster defines the
noun sneeze to be "a sudden and violent
election of air, chiefly through the
nose, with an audible sound But this
is manifestly incorrect, for the election
of air is always normally through the
mouth. Let any one, when threatened
with a sneezing fit, keep his mouth
closed, so as to compel the expulsion OF
air through the nostrils, he will find the
operation extremely unpleasant, and
will not care to repeat the experiment.
However this may be, it is certain that
the irritation in the nose is the primal
cause Of the sneeze, and therefore the
words nose and (s) neeze stand in close
relationship one to the other. Sneezing
may again be defined to be a s~pasmodic
effort to get rid Of any cause Of irrita-
tions which affect the lining membrane
of the nose, such effort being accompa-
MED by a violent election Of air chiefly
through the mouth. Sneezing may be
symptomatic of disease, as in the case
Of common catarrh, measles, but alone
it can never be depended upon as a
diagnosis of disease.
WHAT THE ANcIENTs SAID N THOUGHT.
"The ancients attributed various pro-
perties to the act of sneezing, amongst
which may be especially mentioned that
Of stopping hiccups. There is rather
an amusing passage in the Symposium
of Plato on this subject. 1t appears
that Pausanias, one Of the party, had
done speaking, and that 1t was Aristo-
planes turn next to address them; but
unfortunately this latter individual was
seized with a bad fit of the hiccups-
probably brought on from eating too
much dinner-and he was unable to
talk; whereupon he turns to EryIima-
chus, a physician, who sat just below
him, and addressed him: 'Eryximachus,
you ought either to stop my hiccups or
else to speak in my turn, until / can
cure them To which EryIimachus
replied, Il will do both; l will speak in
your turn, and when your hiccups have
ceased you shall speak in mine; but
while I am speaking if, by your holding
your breath for q long period, your hic-
cups cease, all right; if not, gargle your
throat with water; if they are very vio-
lent, take something of this kind with
which you can tickle your n~ostrils and
sneeze; If you repeat this once or twice
the hiccups will cease, be they ever so
violent Aristophanes applied the
remedy, which he says he found a per-
feet cure.
"Every one is acquainted with the
custom Of saluting q person who has
sneezed, with the expression: God bless
you'll! It is very interesting to trace, as
we often can do, existing customs up to
very remote periods; and it is certain
that the custom of blessing persons
when they sneeze is of great antiquity,
and that sneezing has been pretty gen.
orally considered ominous amongst ma
tions. As early as the time of Homer,
sneezing was regarded in this light.
"But though sneezing was at n
time considered q mortal distemper, 1t
was also regarded as a sign of recovery
from disease. Hence, in the account
which relates the rising to life again Of
the Shunammite's son, in Q Kings, w.,
the child, it is said, sneezed seven times
and then opened his eyes. In Howel's
Proverbs occurs the following sentence:
"He hath sneezed thrice, turn him out
of the hospital;' he is nearly well again.
LARGE CULTURE THIS YrAR.-Whoever
will take the opportunity to 60 into the
country will see how quickly the soil is
being put into working order, such of it
=, q, &c CO.. tha p1nw