Daily Yellowstone journal., 1890-03-18

rhe Nasal Or"pn.
Ayst'r Ir'nc,Nmau of he L.. cna
fury ba>ci an attack upon tlr ,GnA
box OF the ground that /; WAS mainly
responsible for the decay of that an
Gent form of politeness, the custom oi
blessing a person after ~zneezing. lie
contended that IT was sacrilegious Ia
bless a sneezer who had coerced ma
ture into the performance of n of
her most invigorating functions, and
that the b'uison was no longer in any
degree the same thing. We, how
ever, who know that the dethrone-
ment of the snuif box led TO no actual
revival of the benedictory fashion.
may appeal TO science 10 throw light
upon n of the most ancient forms of
innocent superstition.
According b. a rabbinical legend,
sneezing. as a habit, is only referable
TO the time Of Jacob. Before patri-
archal DAYS no man sneezed more than
once; for the sufficient reason that
the shock WIS invariably fatal. At ia
cob's interc asslon tins law was abro-
gated, bat only on condition that all
races of men should henceforth EN-.
ploy fit words Of congratulation for
the sneeler's happy deliverance.
Whatever lis origin-and it may be
doubted 4 il ever had a particular or
local sta ing point-the practice has,
without doubt, been derived by the
Christian world from the times of
heatherism Polydore Virgil AYERS
that it took lis rise at the time of the
plague IN 5JS, wien the infected fell
down dead sneezing, though apparent.
ly in good health. The Romans GER
tainly made oblations TO the genius of
sneeZing; but Catullus treats the in.
Fiction with gayetv, as we find from
the lines Ill Conveys translation:
CUPID. ticklrl at the sound
sreczsl aloud, and all around
" The little lovers, that waited by,
Bow'd and bless'd the aueury
II is clear. however. that the Romans
simply followed an established Greek
custom. Centuries before. Aristotle
had given his own account of the
omen, and was SO far refined in his ex-
plantations as TO tell his readers why
sneezing from noon until midnight
was good, aud from night TO noon UNI
lucky. IL would be fruitless to inquire
through what channel the practice
came TO the Greeks, for traces Of its
existence are TO he found not only in
the wildly contrasted civilizations of
antiquity, but even among the barbar-
Gus tribes of every quarter of the
globe. Before Greece was a nation, the
sneczer was blessed alike in the Dark
Continent" and beyond the Gauges.
The inetfable Buddha himself once
sneezed, whereupon all his priests en-
claimed, May the welcome one livel"
Buddha. however, took them severely
TO task, and the right 10 say, May
you live, sir!' to Buddhist priest is
still a fruitful subject of popular con
tention.
Although sneezing is a purely in
voluntary act, it is possible in some
measure TO guard against its attacks.
In the case Of a fully developed cold,
the sufferer must necessarily submit
70 the infliction; but, as to the sneeze
casual, it would appear to have in
fiuence only in a ~listless or weakened
condition Of the bodily powers. Peo-
pie seldom sneeze when their faculties
are in full tension. Great nervous x
.citemeut will hardly admit Of the re
Taxation OF a sneeze. Hence we often
find a church, a ball or a theatre filled
with an audience ready TO indulge on
the smallest p~royocation. They are in
the passive and recipient mood. On
the other hand. a strong nervous con
centration possesses the preacher, lee
turer or actor. His faculties are grid
ed up for the feat before him, and he
can at east temporarily defy the
draughts that make martyrs Of some
of his hearers. London Graphic.