SNIFFING AND SNEESHIN.
“‘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.
“He was perfumed like a milliner;
And, ’twixt his finger and his thumb, he held
A pouncet box, which ever and anon
He gave his nose, and took’t away again;
Who, therewith angry, when it next came there,
Took it in snuff.”
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—
“Just where the breath of life his nostrils drew,
A charge of snuff the wily virgin threw;
The gnomes direct, to every atom just,
The pungent grains of titillating dust.
Sudden, with starting tears each eye o’erflows,
And the high dome re-echoes to his nose.”
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.
[Illustration: ZOOLU SNUFF GOURD AND SPOON.]
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.”