Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1892-07-19
PHILOSOPHY OF sssszINc.


opon the Convuision ~
tire Nasal Organ.
a witty Frenchman If the last cen.
Jury based an attack upon the snuff
box on the ground that It was rpsinlv
responsible for the decay OF that an.
cient form Of politeness, the custom II
DRESSING Q person after zneezinr III
commended that it was sacriIegious n
bless q sneezer who had coerced ma
ture into the performance of one 81
her most invigorating functions ana
inat tne benson was no longer in any
oegree the same thing. We, how
ever, VINO know that the dethrone-
ment Of the snuff box led to 40 actual
revival Of the benedictory fashion.
may appeal to science to throw Ii0ht
upon one OF the most ancient forms ~
innocent superstition.
According to a rabbinical legend
sneezlng, as a habit, is only referabIe
70 the time OF Jacob. Before patri.
archal days no man sneezed more thar
once; for the sufficient reason thai
the shock was invariably fatal. AT Ja-
GODS intercession this law was abro-
gated, but only ON condition that ali
races Of men should henceforth en-
pioy ut words Of congratulation for
the sneezer's happy deliverance.
Whatever its origin-and it NAV he
doubted If it ever had particular or
local starting point--the practice has
without doubt, been derived by the
Christian world from the times II
heathenism Polydore Virgil AYERS
tnat It took its rise at the time of the
plague in 558, when the infected fell
down dead sneezing, though apparent
ly In good health. The Romans Ger
talniy made oblations to the genius Of
sneezing; but Catullus treats the in.
Fiction with gayety, as we find from
the lines in Cowley's translation:
Cupid. tickied at the sound
sneezed aloud. and all around
The Little lovers, that wsited By,
Bow'd and bless'd the augury
tits clear, however. that the Romans
simply followed an established Greek
custom. Centuries before, Aristotle
nad given his own account of the
omen, and was so far refined in his ex-
plantations as to tell his readers why
sneezlng from noon until midnight
was good, and from night to noon UNI
lucky. 1t would be fruitless to INQUIRE
through what channel the practice
came to the Greeks, for traces Of its
existence are to be 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 nation, the
sneezer was blessed alike in the Ozark
Continent" and beyond the Ganges,
The ineffable Buddha himself once
sneezed, whereupon all his priests ex-
claimed, May the welcome one live Y
Buddha, however, took them severely
to task, and the right to say, NAV
you live, sirr' to a Buddhist priest Is
still fruitful subject OF popular con
tention.
Although sneezing is purely in
voluntary act, it is possible in some
measure to guard against its attacks.
In the case of fully developed cold,
the sufferer must necessarily submit
10 the inhiction: but, as to the sneeze
casual, it would appear to have in
huence only in listless or weakened
condition of the bodily powers. Peo-
pie seldom sneeze when their faculties
are In full tension. Great nervous ex-
citement will hardly admit of the re-
taxation OF a sneeze Hence we often
lind church. a ball or a theatre filled
with an audience ready to indulge on
the smallest provocation. They are in
the passive and recipient mood. On
the other hand, 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 least temporarily defy the
draughts that make martyrs of some
OF his hearers. Graphic.