The national leader., 1889-02-02
The origin of the sneezlng Formula.
The custom OF saying "God bless

The custom or saying "God bless
you," or some equivalent expression.
when person sneeZes, is ancient and
very widely extended. In fact, 1t is
doubtful il there Is country in the
world where traces of 1t cannot be
found. Consequently the very general
belief that the custom took It's rise In
one of the symptoms of the plague In
Italy in the days Of Gregory the
Great cannot be credited. Its origin
dates much farther back; even, it may
be said, beyond the limits of history.
For In the religious ideas and social
customs of primitive men is found the
clew to this strangely universal super
stition. Among these primitive peo-
pie the sneeze was sometimes considered
as an auspicious sign, sometimes as
most unlucky omen; but that it was
due to the presence of spirits, either
good or evil, was the belief of all. For
early men supposed the soul to 90 in
and out of the body, and so with other
spirits, especially such as are thought
to enter into the patient, and affect
him with disease. Therefore, in case
of illness, person by the act OF sneez
ing is believed to cast out the evil
spirit that has been the unfortunate
cause of his suffering.
For instance, the North American
Indians, as we'll as the natives of the
Indian Archipelago and also the Poly-
nesians, believe not only in the exist
ence of a Supreme Power, but also in
the existence OF inferior spiritual
beings, resembling the fairies of
Northern Europe. And these people
believe the sick to be affected by these
spirits rather than by any natural
cause; consequently the medicine-man
proceeds to expel the evil spirit instead
of otherwise attempting TO cure the
diseased body. Thus, we see, arose
the superstition that sneezs is a sign
that a sick person will be restored to
health, and so all who go to see him
ask if he has sneeZ9d. and if he has
not, they can say, THE disease Is
great" The Norwegian peasants Still
believe that if sick person sneeZes lie
will not die; and their custom when a
child sneezes is to say, Grow; it is a
sign of health" They also believe
that anything that person is thinking
of when he sneezes will be sure to
come true. Then among the savages
of Borneo and Central Africa there is
the belief that man has double form,
the one corporal and the other spiritual;
and that even in life the soul or spirit
may leave the body, and that sickness
or evil spirits deprive the body of its
spiritual companion. The natives of
Nicaragua, California, Java, and West
Australia describe the soul as the air
or breeze which passes In and out
through the mou b and nostr1ls: the
dreenlanders are said to reckon two
separate sOuls-the breath and the
shadow; while the Tyrolese peasants
still fancy that a good mans soul
issues from his mouth at death in the
form of little white cloud-all going
to show how universal has been the be-
lief in the existence of spirits that had
the power to 60 in and out of the body,
and were naturally believed to I've most
liable to enter or be expelled at such
times as one sneeZed or yawned.
Among the Algonquin Indians sick
person is supposed to have his shadow,
or other self, temporarily detached
from his body. and the cOnvalescent is
at times reproached for exposing him
self before its shadOw.wa safely set
tied down on him." Then, in the Arctic
regions and in Australia sickness and
death are supposed to be caused by the
influence of spirits who have been
employed by enemies to injure them;
and the same idea Is seen in Scotland
and Northern Africa, where they be-
leve that there are ghosts of the living
who are exceedingly troublesome and
vindictive; while in Polynesia not only
animate, but lnanimate, things are sup
posed to lose their spirits-the little
gods stealing the shadows of those
things to which they take a fancy.
Then, too. 1t seems that to primitive
man the mortality of the body was an
incredible fact: and it was therefore
believed that a person who died was
simply carried away by the ''good
people,' meaning the fairies. The
dead man accordingly was not dead,
and often visited his friends, especially
at nightfall; and they thought that
since his departure from this life, his
powers and privileges Were mysteri-
ously enlarged and extended. Because
of this belief the Hindu, for example,
slays himself before his enemy's door,
In order to acquire greater power of
injuring him. Tylor. in his Primitive
Culture. says that ''there were toward
the close of the last century two Brah.
minis out of whose house a man had
wrongfully, as they thought, taken
forty thousand rupees, whereupon one
of I'll e BrahmIns proceeded to cut off
his mothers head, with the professed
view, entertained by both mother and
son, that her spirit, excited by the beat
ing of large drum for forty days,
might haunt, torment and pursue to
death the taker of their money and
those concerned with him." In fact,
so widespread is found to be this
superstitiOus belief regarding the intiu-
ence of sp rits. ghosts and fairies, that
we here get clue to the practice OF
invoking the name OF the Deity as pro-
lection against their agency; for in the
name of the Deity is thought to rest
the mysterious power Of driving away
all evil spirits, as well as rendering
them powerless to do harm. So the
Hi0hlandara haliava that when a nor