The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1889-02-15
LUXURY OF SNEEZING.
Ancient Superstitions About the
Act OF Sternutation-
To Sn ere Once Means wish Twice -
Kiss; Thrice a Curse-If You Sneezc
while Putting Your shoes,
Go Back to Bed.

he had stolen from heaven. proceeded
10 yiv.fy his clay man. the first sign OF
animation manifested by the latter was
iit Of sueezing. Possibly the newly
made man was much impressed, and
in consequence thereof q strong hered-
itary regard for sneeziug may have
been transmitted 20 his descendants
Be that a. il may. however, the an
clients. prone as they were 10 find myS-
teries and Umens in all quarters. failed
not 10 regard sternutatiOn as a very
serious matter for consideration, and
one that was fraught with many
portonts fo- both good and evil, al
though. from a physiological point OF
view, their ideas were no doubt some
what crude and unscientifc, for a
knUwlcdgr OF this phenomena Of reflex
action, and an intimate acquaintance
with the pneumoEastric nerve and its
functions, did not fetter the imagina-
tions Of early observers Thus, from
the earliest times and among all races
of men, we find that the apparently
simple act of sneezing has given rise
20 many curious beliefs, and in nearly
every ave and country has had more or
less superstitious importance attached
20 II
An EIizabethau authority, quoted
by cor e~ponLeut OF Notes and
QUcri.S, describes stcrnuta'iou as ..va-
pour ascending into the head. and So
10 the bravnc, and when there j. more
aud owe moChc uboundancc. asrcnded
20 that place more -hau nature can I'll
zest. then il j cNpul led by the spiritc'-
vital, and 20 fallcth down through the
nose and mouth" lie adds, moreover:
When you feel it will come. "ubb
vour uye- and it heipeth." No doub,
his advice would have been equally
welcome had he informed us how We
might effcctually stop the snceze IN
stead Of helping il, for he goes on 10
say that: ''Yf q man lie awake in hi-
bedde and sneze one TYNE it Is u syne
Of some greater sickness or hyn
drnuBce. VI q man slcape in his
beCde and sneze one TYNE it bet0llcn-
yth greet trouble, the deathc of some
persone, or extreme hyndrauncc in the
lOsse OF Substance. " man lye in
his bcdde nd make a sneze one tvmc
1t l. "a good syne both of health and
luCre, Lut ii he .leape Il Is moche bet
tcl' In the latter remark We think
our readers Will quite agree with him:
IL certainly j. very much better To
sleep when in bed than to lie awake
SueeZing. Those who are in the habit
Of frequcntiug public houses would do
well 10 bear in mind that: ..Yf = mnH
travel by the wave and come into AZ
inne and sncze twy-e, let hyIn dcparte
out Of the house and go TO another or
"'-c he shall not prosper" P-n-un-
ably We may eurmise that in this case
the ''snezcs' point TO the existence O!
draughts in the inn, and tho risk OF
the Traveller catching cold in conse-
quvncC should he stay there.
81. Austin tells u that IL the ancients
-ncezcd when they We're putting o.
their shoes they went 70 b.d again.
Moreover. that IL j. lucky 10 sueezs ~,
The morning but uulUcl<y 10 DO 50 in
the afternoon or On q Friday. or fo~ i
bride 10 hear "a cat sneeze shortly be-
lore her wedding. are well known
pieces Of folk lore prevalent IN manv
pa"t= OF this couEtry IT the present
day IL Is also a popular belief that
TO sD.uZe once signifies a wish, ty-ice =
kiss. and three times a curse. Sneez-
ipg .st table as the yiauds ars Being re
fnovst was AZ one tims looked upon a.
an ill omen, and IN undertaking ary
business one or three srerzes we're con-
~idsred Uuluc5<y. although t,vo or fuul.
we're favorable, a. was also the case
Wheu tvn men chanccd 70 sueeze sim
Uitaleously while engaged in some
business transaction. Wkjlo Themis-
tO-lcz was -eaaking sa=~1ice before
tb- battle win the Persians one OF his
attendants chanced 10 sal,.ze, and this
was regarded by EuphrantideJ rs a
favorable omcs- which pr-~agrd tho
victory of the Creeks. Pliuy held that
10 il lucky 20 snseze TO the right but
unlucky 10 the left aud from another
writer We learn that two or three
Sucezes u,s. ho.som, Ard one Is 4 shrewd
token w hatever that may InegA. Ac-
cording 20 4 suffolk rhyme:
s-rrrzr on Monday. snesse for danger:
SEryye o Tuesday, kiss stranger.
-cs- cu NJ tCrsdas, s1ecyc fo- letter;
Sl"czC on Tau sIay, something better;
5re-Z.. on + day, SnceZe Tor sorrUw:
Succze On Saturday. see sweetheart tO-1nor-
row
On several cc.-usions srsD.llrg has
heon looked upon u being more or less
ultimately connected with fatal sRd
d:ngr.. -.
20 Thucydides, it WAS n sympt m OF
the crisis in the great Atheniar plague
With a climate like that OF England
catarrh and influenza are in season NIL
the year round. and sternutation &C.
ours 80 frequently that IL receives per
haps less attention than might other
wise be devoted 10 IL Nevertheless,
even IN the present age of education,
and tr .-p Ts,ll e5--iffzrel -sN-rf!f -