“‘Tis most excellent,’ said the monk. ‘Then do me the favour,’ I replied, ‘to accept of the box and all; and when you take a pinch out of it, sometimes recollect that it was the peace-offering of a man who once used you unkindly, but not from the heart.’”

Sterne’s Sentimental Journey.

Everybody, of course, knows all about the Franciscan and his snuff-box, with which this chapter begins. Sterne narrates it in his happiest vein, and all who read it are somehow sure to remember it. Boxes are exchanged; the traveller is left to himself. Now he moralises: “I guard this box as I would the instrumental parts of my religion, to help my mind on to something better. In truth, I seldom go abroad without it; and oft and many a time have I called up by it the courteous spirit of its owner to regulate my own in the justlings of the world. They had found full employment for his, as I learned from his story, till about the forty-fifth year of his age, when, upon some military services ill-requited, and meeting at the same time with a disappointment in the tenderest of passions, he abandoned the sword and the sex together, and took sanctuary, not so much in his convent as in himself.”

The word “snuff” is stated by competent authorities, to be an inflection of the old northern verb sniff, which latter word was in existence long before the invention or knowledge of the substance to which it now gives its name.12 In its earlier signification, it was expressive of strong inhalation through the nostrils, or descriptive of any impatience. Hence arose the expressions in use in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, to “snuff pepper” or “take in snuff.” Shakespeare makes a similar use of the phrase in Henry IV., in connection with a small box of perfume displayed by a courtier to the annoyance of Hotspur.

In this quotation we also meet with the “pouncet box,” which seems to have been a small box having a “pounced” or perforated cover, containing perfumes, the scent of which escaping from the open work at the top was regarded as a preservative against contagion. From the pouncet box the perfumes were inhaled. It was probably not till a century after the introduction of tobacco, that the triturated dust was commonly in use, and there became any occasion for the snuff-box.

Humboldt gives an account of a curious kind of snuff, as well as an extraordinary method of inhaling it, which came under his notice while travelling in South America. “The Ottomacs,” he says, “throw themselves into a peculiar state of intoxication, we might say of madness, by the use of the powder of niopo. They gather the long pods of an acacia (made known by him under the name of Acacia niopo), cut them into pieces, moisten them, and cause them to ferment. When the softened seeds begin to grow black, they are kneaded like paste, mixed with some flour of cassava and lime procured from the shell of a helix (snail), and the whole mass is exposed to a very brisk fire, on a gridiron made of hard wood. The hardened paste takes the form of small cakes. When it is to be used, it is reduced to a fine powder, and placed on a dish, five or six inches wide. The Ottomac holds this dish, which has a handle, in his right hand, while he inhales the niopo by the nose, through the forked bone of a bird, the two extremities of which are applied to the nostrils. This bone, without which the Ottomac believes that he could not take this kind of snuff, is seven inches long; it appears to be the leg bone of a large species of plover. The niopo is so stimulating, that the smallest portions of it produce violent sneezing in those who are not accustomed to its use.” Father Gumilla says, “this diabolical powder of the Ottomacs, furnished by an arborescent tobacco plant, intoxicates them through the nostrils, deprives them of reason for some hours, and renders them furious in battle.”

A custom analagous to this, La Condamine observed among the natives of the Upper Maranon. The Omaguas, a tribe whose name is intimately connected with the expeditions in search of El Dorado, have, like the Ottomacs, a dish, and the hollow bone of a bird, and a powder called curupa, which they convey to their nostrils by means of these, in a manner identical with that of the Ottomacs. This powder is also obtained from the seed of a kind of acacia, apparently closely allied to, if not the same as the niopo.

A similar instrument to the bone of the Ottomacs and Omaguas has already been referred to as in use in Hispaniola, for inhaling through the nostrils the smoke of burning tobacco leaves.

The method of taking snuff in Iceland is described by Mad^e. Pfeiffer as differing from the methods above detailed, but equally singular. Most of the peasants, and many of the priests, have no proper snuff-box, but only a box made of bone, and shaped like a powder flask. When they take snuff, they throw back the head, insert the point of the flask in the nose, and shake a dose of snuff in it. They then offer it to their neighbour, who repeats the performance, passes it to his, and thus it goes the round, until it reaches its owner again. Had this been the custom in the days of the “Rape of the Lock,” Belinda had not so readily subdued the baron, as with one finger and a thumb—

The Zoolus of Southern Africa use a small gourd to carry their snuff, and a small ivory spoon with which to ladle out the dust. We remember many years ago an elderly gentleman who practised on the Zoolu plan, his snuff was carried loose in his waistcoat pocket, whence it was conveyed to his nose by means of a small silver spoon, which was always at hand for the purpose.

As early as the beginning of the reign of James I., a “taker of tobacco” was furnished with an apparatus resembling that of a modern Scotch mull, when supplied with all the necessary implements. In 1609, Dekker, in his “Gull’s Horn Book,” says—“Before the meat come smoking to the board, our gallant must draw out his tobacco-box, the ladle for the cold snuff into the nostril, the tongs and priming iron; all which artillery may be of gold or silver, if he can reach the price of it.” In 1646, Howell describes the apparatus and practice of snuff taking as quite common in other countries; since, he says—“The Spaniards and Irish take tobacco most in powder or smutchin, and it mightily refreshes the brain; and I believe there’s as much taken this way in Ireland, as there is in pipes in England. One shall commonly see the serving maid upon the washing block, and the swain upon the ploughshare, when they are tired of their labour, take out their boxes of smutchin, and draw it into their nostrils with a quill, and it will beget new spirits in them with a fresh vigour to fall to their work again.”

The word printed “smutchin” by Howell, is stated to be more accurately “sneeshin,” a vulgar name for snuff which causes sneezing; and hence “sneeshin mill” (sometimes corrupted into “mull”) is the Scottish name for snuff-box. Dr. Jameson’s Etymological Dictionary may be considered as an authority in these matters; and from it we learn that the word “mill” is the vulgar name for a snuff-box, especially one of a cylindrical form, or resembling an inverted cone. No other name was formerly in use in Scotland; and the reason assigned for it is, that when tobacco was first introduced into this country, those who wished to have snuff, were accustomed to toast the tobacco leaves before the fire, and then bruise them with a piece of wood in the box, which was thence called a “mill,” because the snuff was ground in it. From all this, it is easy to perceive how a ram’s horn, from its conical shape, became one of the primitive forms of the Scottish snuff-box, although latterly it is often one of the most costly and luxurious.

In confirmation of the latter remark, it is only necessary to refer to an example in the Exhibition of 1851. Mr. W. Baird of Glasgow, exhibited a ram’s head beautifully mounted, as a snuff-box and cigar case. When alive, he must have been a noble sheep, for the circular horns measured no less than 3 feet 4 inches from root to tip. The cigar case was beautifully mounted, having on the top a splendid Scotch amethyst, surmounted with thistle wreaths in gold and silver, and set out with many fine cairngorms and small amethysts. The snuff-box cavity, occupied the centre of the forehead, the lid surmounted by a splendid cairngorm, and clustered with gold and silver wreaths and small precious stones. In fact, the head presented a perfect flourish of the most beautiful and gracefully disposed ornaments, and altogether the article was most unique. Attached thereto was a fine ivory hammer and silver spoon, pricker and rake, with a silver mounted hare’s foot. It ran on ivory castors upon a rosewood platform, surmounted by a glass shade. There were not less than nine hundred separate pieces of precious stones and metals used in the construction of this ornate article.

Down to the middle of the eighteenth century, the “sneeshin horn,” with spoon and hare’s foot attached to it by chains, appears to have been regarded as so completely a national characteristic, that when Baddeley played Gibby in “The Wonder,” with Garrick, he came on the stage with such an apparatus.

The Mongrabins and other African races, according to Werne, are much addicted to snuff taking. The snuff they usually carry in small oval-shaped cases made out of the fruit of the Doum palm; these have a very small opening at one end, stopped up by a wooden peg; and the snuff is not taken in pinches, but shaken out on the back of the hand. Mr. Campbell, while travelling in South Africa, gave a Bushman a piece of tobacco. It was speedily converted into snuff. One of the daughters, after grinding it between two stones, mixed it with white ashes from the fire; the mother then took a large pinch of the composition, putting the remainder into a piece of goat’s skin, among the hair, and folding it up for future use.

The snuff in use in Africa is not always made from tobacco. Mr. Hutchinson states that he saw at Panda, on the western coast, snuff made of the powdered leaves of the monkey fruit tree (Adansonia digitata). That of the Zoolus is composed of the dried leaves of the dacca or narcotic hemp mixed with the powder of burnt aloes. Whether or not this was the kind of snuff which Mr. Richardson was knocked down with in his journey across the Great Desert, we are not in a position to determine; whatever it was, it appears to have been extremely powerful. “A merchant,” he says, “offered me a pinch of snuff, and to please him I took a large pinch, pushing a portion of it up my nostrils. Immediately I fell dizzy and sick, and in a short time vomited violently. The people stared at me with astonishment, and were terrified out of their wits, and thought I was about to give up the ghost. They never saw snuff before produce such terrible effects. After some time I got a little better and returned home. This snuff was from Souf, and is called wÂr (difficult). I had been warned of it, and therefore paid richly for my folly; indeed, the Souf snuff is extremely powerful.” Some of the strict Mahometans of Ghadames consider snuffing, as well as smoking, prohibited by their religion, and therefore do not indulge in it. The South American traveller which Mr. Lizars, the tobacco antagonist, once fell in with, was evidently not a strict Mahometan, for he first filled his nostrils with snuff, which he prevented falling out by stuffing shag tobacco after it, and this he termed “plugging;” then put in each cheek a coil of pig-tail tobacco, which he named “quidding;” lastly, he lit a Havannah cigar, which he put into his mouth, and thus smoked and chewed—puffing at one time the smoke of the cigar, and at another time squirting the juice from his mouth. What a phenomenon! That gentleman should have politely thanked the South American for permitting him to view an exhibition, such as he may never have the pleasure of seeing again. And what a capital illustration ready made to his hands. It is almost equal to those elaborate calculations which are based upon the amount of time consumed in taking so many pinches of snuff during the day, and so many repetitions of the operation of blowing the nose.13

A correspondent of the “Petersburg (Va) Express” says:——“There are, perhaps, in our state 125,000 women, leaving out of the account those who have not cut their teeth, and those who have lost them from age. Of this number, eighty per cent. may be safely set down as snuff-dippers. Every five of these will use a two-ounce paper of snuff per day—that is to the 100,000 dippers 2,500 lbs. a day, amounting to the enormous quantity of 912,000 lbs. In this number of snuff-dippers are included all ages, colours, and conditions. This practice is generally prevalent in the pine districts of North Carolina, and in many parts of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Eastern Tennessee. It may be thus described:—A female snuff-dipper takes a short stick, and, wetting it, dips it into her snuff-box, and then rubs the gathered dust all about her mouth, into the interstices of her teeth, &c., where she allows it to remain until its strength has been fully absorbed. Others hold the stick thus loaded with snuff in the cheek, À la quid of tobacco, and suck it with a decided relish, while engaged in their ordinary avocations; while others simply fill the mouth with the snuff, and thus imitate, to all intents and purposes, the chewing propensities of the men. In the absence of snuff, tobacco, in the plug or leaf, is invariably resorted to as a substitute. Oriental betel chewing is elegant, compared tosnuff-dipping.”

The most uncomfortable reflection to the snuffer is that which concerns the probability of his consuming himself by a condition of slow poisoning, not the result of the pure tobacco, but its impure associates in the box. In boxes lined with very thin lead, but especially in cases where the leaden lining is thicker, and which are much used by the Paris retailers, a chemical action takes place, the result of which is to charge the snuff with sub-acetate of lead. This result was suspected by Chevalier, and has been confirmed by Boudet of Paris, and Mayer of Berlin, by careful experiments. Mayer traces several deaths and cases of saturnine paralysis to the patient’s having taken snuff from packets, the inner envelope of which was thin sheet lead, in constant contact with the powdered weed. The cry once heard of “death in the pot,” requires now to be exchanged for “death in the box,” and Holbein to give us a new plate of the skeleton form emerging from a packet or snuff-box containing the scented rappee.

Late investigations have shown that no small amount of adulteration is practised with snuff, and this in some instances of a most dangerous kind. Out of forty-three samples of snuff examined by Dr. Hassell, the majority were adulterated considerably. Chromate of lead, oxide of lead, and bichromate of potash, all highly poisonous, were detected. Mr. Phillips also stated to the committee of adulteration, that he had found in different samples common peat, such as is obtained from the bogs of Ireland, starch, ground wood of various kinds, especially fustic, extract of logwood, chromate of lead, bichromate of potash, and various ochreous earths. Samples of spurious snuff, it is presumed for the purpose of mixing, were found to be composed of sumach, umber, Spanish brown, and salt; another kind was made up of ground peat, yellow ochre, lime, and sand, all of these being more or less scented.

The numerous varieties of snuff owe their character principally to the peculiarity of scent and the method of preparation. The perfumes used are either the essential oil of bergamot or otto of roses, and in some cases powdered orris root or Tonquin beans. The powdered leaves of the sweet-scented woodruff and the fragrant melilot have been alluded to as used for the same purpose, also the dried leaves of some species of orchis (Orchis fusca, &c.)

As a substitute for snuff, either in preference, or in cases where tobacco snuff could not be readily obtained, different vegetable productions have come into use. In India the powdered rusty leaves of a species of rhododendron (R. campanulatum), and in the United States the brown dust found adhering to the petioles of several species of kalmia and rhododendron, all of which possess narcotic properties, are used for this purpose. The powdered leaves of asarabacca have been named as the base of some kind of cephalic snuff. “Grimstone’s eye snuff” has long enjoyed a certain amount of popularity, although it does not contain a particle of tobacco, but is composed mainly of such harmless ingredients as powdered orris root, savory, rosemary, and lavender.

But to return to the subject of deleterious adulteration, we find in Dr. Hassell’s “Adulterations detected in Food and Medicine” several pages occupied with this really important subject. First comes the narration of a case of slow poisoning, on the authority of Professor Erichsen, by means of snuff containing as an adulteration 1·2 per cent. of oxide of lead. Then follows the case of Mr. Fosbroke, of injuries sustained from snuff containing lead. These are followed by other instances showing that all the combinations of lead tested, exhibited dangerous and disastrous symptoms, if indulged in, when mingled with snuff, as too often, unfortunately, is the case, as an adulteration, or, as before shown, liable as a result of packing the snuff in lead, or keeping in boxes lined with lead.

Advice Gratis.—Give up taking snuff; or, if you should propose slight objections to this course, then purchase leaf tobacco, and manufacture your own snuff, and having done so, keep it in a gold snuff-box, or if you have weighty reasons for preferring silver, there is no objection to that metal, or even the homely horn of the Franciscan of Calais.

Our forefathers thought of the box, as well as of the snuff, and sometimes paid for their thought. In the early part of the eighteenth century, fashionable snuff-boxes had reached the highest point of luxury and variety.The Tatler of March 7, 1710, notices several gold snuff-boxes which “came out last term,” but that “a new edition would be put out on Saturday next, which would be the only one in fashion until after Easter. The gentleman,” continues the notice, “that gave £50 for the box set with diamonds, may show it till Sunday, provided he goes to church, but not after that time, there being one to be published on Monday that will cost fourscore guineas.” These costly articles, so happily satirized by Steele, are represented as the productions of a fashionable toyman, named Charles Mather, popularly known under the name of “Bubble Boy.”

Nor must we forget the amber snuff-box of which Sir Plume, in the “Rape of the Lock,” was so justly vain; in 1711 he “spoke, and rapped the box.” In 1733, Dodsley mentions boxes made of shell, mounted in gold and silver. Latterly we have made the acquaintance of several shell snuff-boxes; some of these were made of the tiger cowry, mounted in silver; of a small species of Turbo, cleaned and polished, and of harp shells, either mounted in silver or in baser metal. In different parts of the globe, tastes differ as to the materials of which snuff-boxes should be composed. A gentleman sent a piece of cannel coal from England to China, to be there carved by the ingenious Chinese into a snuff-box; this task was accomplished, and the box was shown in the Exhibition of 1851; also, in the Turkish department, a snuff-box of bituminous shale. Perhaps in the new Exhibition of 1862, there may be found a similar article, carved out of Gravesend flint, by natives of the Orange River Territory; or one of Suffolk coprolite, executed by rebellious sepoy women imprisoned in the hulks at Portsmouth.

In India, snuff-boxes are made of polished cocoa-nut shell, or of the seeds of Entada gigalobium, or pursÆtha; or in Nepal, of a small kind of calabash or gourd, apparently resembling those used for the same purpose, at the distance of 5,000 miles, in the South of Africa; excepting, that in some instances, the gourds of Nepal and of Scinde, are ornamented with mountings of gold or silver, a luxury in which the African does not indulge. In the same part of Africa, among the Zoolu Kaffirs, other kinds of snuff-boxes, of smaller size, are in common use. These are made of the seeds of a species of Zamia, ornamented with strings of small beads, and are worn suspended as earrings, from the ears of the natives.

In China, flasks are used, the form and size of a smelling bottle; these are of different kinds of material, some being cut out of rock crystal, and others made of porcelain and similar plastic substances. Snuff-takers are less numerous in China than smokers of tobacco; in powder, or as the Chinese say, “smoke for the nose,” is little used, except by the Mantchoo Tartars and Mongols, and among the Mandarins and lettered classes. The Tartars are real amateurs, and snuff is with them an object of the most important consideration. For the Chinese aristocracy, on the contrary, it is a mere luxury—a habit that they try to acquire—a whim. The custom of taking snuff was introduced into China by the old missionaries who resided at the Court. They used to get the snuff from Europe for themselves, and some of the Mandarins tried it, and found it good. By degrees the custom spread; people who wished to appear fashionable, liked to be taking this “smoke for the nose;” and Pekin is still par excellence, the locality of snuff-takers. The first dealers in it made immense fortunes. The French tobacco was the most esteemed; and as it happened at this time, that it had for a stamp the ancient emblem of the three fleur de lis, the mark has never been forgotten, and the three fleur de lis are still in Pekin, the only sign of a dealer in tobacco. The Chinese have now, for a long time, manufactured their own snuff, but they do not subject it to any fermentation, and it is not worth much. They merely pulverize the leaves, sift the powder till it is as fine as flour, and afterwards perfume it with flowers and essences. A curious method of snuffing, requiring neither box nor flask, is noticed in the “Voyages and Researches of the Adventure and Beagle.” At Otaheite, a substance, not unlike powdered rhubarb in appearance, but of a very pleasant fragrance, is rubbed on a piece of shark’s skin stretched on wood; and an old man, who had one of these snuff sticks in his possession, valued it so highly, that he could not be induced to part with it.

Boxes of very rude construction are made in France and Germany from birch bark, and sold in the streets of Paris and other continental cities, for about one halfpenny each. These have lately been seen in the shops of London tobacconists, under the name of “German boxes,” at about three times the above price. They are used abroad either for tobacco or snuff. Boxes are also made of horn, either black buffalo or transparent pressed horn—the latter at a much cheaper rate than the former. St. Helena contributed to the Great Exhibition snuff-boxes made from the willow under which the remains of Napoleon reposed, until their removal to France, and also from a willow planted by him at Longwood. Van Dieman’s Land contributed a box made from the tooth of the Sperm whale, as well as boxes from several native woods.

The Scotch snuff-boxes are justly celebrated for the perfection of their hinge, and close fitting cover. They were originally made at Lawrencekirk, but the manufacture has now spread to various parts of Scotland. The wood employed principally in the manufacture of these boxes is the sycamore (or plane of the Scotch). Mr. W. Chambers states, “that from a rough block of this wood, worth twenty-five shillings, snuff-boxes may be made to the value of three thousand pounds.”

The modus operandi in making these boxes is described as follows:—The box is made from a solid block of wood; the first operation consists in making a number of circular excavations in close contiguity to each other, by means of a centre-bit, or a drill running in a lathe; the interior is then squared out by means of gouges and chisels, and is afterwards smoothed with files and glass-paper. The celebrated hinge is formed partly out of the substance of the box, and partly out of that of the lid, the greatest attention being paid in its construction to the accurate fitting of the various parts one into the other. The box is lined in the inside with stout tin-foil, and is painted on the outside with several coats of colour, each of which is rubbed down smooth with glass-paper before the succeeding coat is applied. It is then ready to receive the various styles of ornament, which, in some cases, are produced by the hand of the artist, and in others by mechanical means. The most usual decoration consists of the tartan patterns, the component lines of which are drawn separately, by pens fixed in a ruling machine, on to the box itself, if bounded by planes or slightly curved surfaces; although such lines were also formerly drawn by means of a rose engine on circular boxes, it is now found a more convenient practice to rule the lines on paper, and then to attach the paper to the boxes. Another style of ornamentation, known as the Scoto-Russian, is of more recent introduction, and imitates, in a remote degree, the beautiful enamelled silver snuff-boxes for which Russia has long been famous. In these, the outside of the box is first covered with stout tin-foil, then completely painted all over the surface, and afterwards placed in the ruling machine, which traces upon it an intricate pattern of curved and straight lines, by means of a sharp flat tool. This instrument penetrates completely through the paint, but only scrapes the tin-foil, which is left very bright, and resembles inlaid silver. Several coats of copal varnish, each of which is successively polished down, are then applied to complete the snuff-box.

Box-wood, box-root, king-wood, ebony, and all kinds of hard wood; tin, brass, pewter, lead, silver, and all sorts of metals, are used for snuff-boxes, some of these cheap and rudely fashioned, others elaborate and expensive; some lined with tortoise-shell or horn, others with tin or lead-foil; and invention has been taxed to produce all kinds of ornamentation.

The practice of using snuff is said to have come into England after the Restoration, and to have been brought from France; but it is well known that the habit of mere snuff-taking did not originate with the introduction of tobacco, since there are recipes for making snuff from herbs in the oldest medicinal works extant. The use of tobacco snuff has been referred to the age of Catherine de Medicis, and it was recommended to her son, Charles IX., for his chronic headaches. Snuff-taking was formerly characteristic of the medical profession; and the gold-headed cane and gold snuff-box came to be the peculiar emblems of those who were learned in the healing art.

There are almost an endless variety of snuffs, as of noses, the purest kind being the “Scotch,” made either entirely from the stalks removed from the leaf in the course of its preparation for the cigar, or of the stalks with a small quantity of leaf. The “Welsh” and “Lundyfoot” are affirmed to owe their qualities chiefly, if not altogether, to the circumstance of their being dried almost to scorching; hence they have received the appellation of “high-dried” snuffs. The “Rappees” and other dark snuffs are manufactured from the darker and ranker leaves. Scenting, which the dark snuffs undergo, also furnish names and procure customers for numerous varieties. There is a story current, that the celebrated “Lundyfoot” had its origin in an accident, one version affirming that the man who was attending to the batches got drunk, neglected his duty, and made his master’s fortune; another, that an accidental fire did that for the firm which in the other case it is affirmed that an extra glass of grog accomplished. There is nothing surprising in this, and either narrative may be true; most inventions of this kind, like the claying of sugar, had their origin in accidents. A certain quantity of snuff, in the preparation, gets overdone in some of the steps of the process, at some time or other, and the firm resolves, perhaps, as it is not altogether useless, to try and realize something for it. The peculiarity just tickles certain noses, and for the future they wish for none but spoilt snuff; that which was at first spoilt accidentally, is now spoilt for the purpose, to supply the demands of the market at even a higher rate than ordinary, and the name of Lundyfoot becomes immortalized amongst old ladies through all succeeding generations. What other experiments and other accidents of over-salting or over-liming may have done, has not transpired; and who may be the next so to turn circumstances to account, that what would ordinarily be considered a misfortune, shall be turned to good fortune, time alone will reveal.

John Hardham was Garrick’s under-treasurer, and kept a snuff-shop in Fleet Street, at the sign of the Red Lion, where he contrived to get into high vogue, a particular poudre de tabac, still known as Hardham’s 37. Stevens, while daily visiting Johnson in Bolt Court, on the subject of their joint editorship of Shakespeare, never failed to replenish his box at the shop of a man who was for years the butt of his witticisms. Hardham died a bachelor, September 20, 1772, and bequeathed £6000—the savings of a busy life—for the benefit of the poor of his native city, Chester.

As a pinch of snuff ends in a sneeze, so sniffing ends in sneezing, and with a hearty sneeze we bring our pinch of snuff to a sudden ending. What comfort and consolation there is sometimes in a hearty sneeze, no one knows better than him who has just made two or three attempts, and ingloriously failed. With half closed eyes, and open mouth, and bated breath—once—twice—thrice—no! it will not be beguiled—psh-h-h-h-haw! “God bless you!”

“The year 750,” says a writer in the Gentleman’s Magazine, “is commonly reckoned the era of the custom of saying God bless you to one who happens to sneeze.” It is said that, in the time of the pontificate of St. Gregory the Great, the air was filled with such a deleterious influence, that they who sneezed immediately expired. On this the devout pontiff appointed a form of prayer, and a wish to be said to persons sneezing for averting them from the fatal effects of this malignancy. A fable contrived against all the rules of probability, it being certain that this custom has from time immemorial, subsisted in all parts of the known world. According to mythology, the first sign of life Prometheus’s artificial man gave, was by sternutation. This supposed creator is said to have stolen a portion of the solar rays, and filling a phial with them, sealed it up hermetically. He instantly flew back to his favourite automaton, and opening the phial, held it close to the statue, the rays still retaining all their activity, insinuated themselves through the pores, and set the factitious man a sneezing. Prometheus transported with success, offered up a prayer with wishes for the preservation of so singular a being. The automaton observed him, remembering his ejaculations, was careful, on like occasions to offer these wishes in behalf of his descendants, who perpetuated it from father to son in all their colonies. The Rabbis, also, fix a very ancient date to the custom. Pliny says, that to sneeze to the right was deemed fortunate; to the left, and near a place of burial, the reverse. Tiberius, otherwise a sour man, would perform this right of blessing most punctually to others, and expect the same from others to himself. Aristotle has a problem, “Why sneezing from noon to midnight was good, but from night to noon unlucky.” St. Austin tells us that the ancients were accustomed to go to bed again, if they sneezed while they put on their shoe.

When Themistocles sacrificed in his galley before the battle of Xeres, one of the assistants upon the right hand sneezed, Euphrantides the soothsayer, presaged the victory of the Greeks, and the overthrow of the Persians.

When the Greeks were consulting concerning their retreat in the time of Cyrus the Younger, it chanced that one of them sneezed, at the noise whereof, the rest of the soldiers called upon Jupiter Soter.

Brand tells us, that when the king of Mesopotamia sneezes, acclamations are made in all parts of his dominions. The Siamese wish long life to persons sneezing. And the Persians look upon sneezing as a happy omen, especially when repeated often.

A writer lately gives us the following “Philosophy of a sneeze” for which he alone is responsible. “The nose receives three sets of nerves—the nerves of smell, those of feeling, and those of motion. The former communicate to the brain, the odorous properties of substances with which they may come in contact, in a diffused or concentrated state; the second, communicate the impressions of touch; the third, move the muscles of the nose; but the power of these muscles is very limited. When a sneeze occurs, all these faculties are excited to a high degree. A grain of snuff excites the olfactory nerves, which despatch to the brain the intelligence that ‘snuff has attacked the nostril.’ The brain instantly sends a mandate through the motor nerves to the muscles, saying ‘cast it out!’ and the result is unmistakable. So offensive is the enemy besieging the nostril held to be, that the nose is not left to its own defence. It were too feeble to accomplish this. An allied army of muscles join in the rescue—nearly one-half the body arouses against the intruder—from the muscles of the lips to those of the abdomen, all unite in the effort for the expulsion of the grain of snuff.”