Note 173 — PHARMACOLOGIA. ON THE OPERATIONS OF MEDICINAL BODIES, AND ON THE CLASSIFICATIONS FOUNDED ON THEM. (continued 2)

This is one of the most ancient superstitions which have descended to us. It was customary in Greece, when any one sneezed, to exclaim Ζῆθὶ, ‘May you live;’ or Ζευ σῶσον, ‘God bless you.’ Aristotle, in his problems, has attempted to account for the origin of the custom, but unsatisfactorily; Pliny, (Nat. Hist. lib. 28. c. 2) asks—“Cur Sternutantes salutentur?”