22. Yf a man lye sicke in bed and mystrusts himselfe, and snese one tyme, yt is a tokyn of deathe, but if he snese twyse he shall escape. 23. A woman being very sicke, yf she snese one tyme, yt is a syne of health, but if she snese twyse, she shall dye. III. MODERN SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT SNEEZING Sneezing at the commencement of an undertaking, whether it be an important enterprise or the most commonplace act, has usually been accounted unlucky. Thus, according to a modern Teutonic belief, if a man sneeze on getting up in the morning, he should lie down again for another three hours, else his wife will be his master for a week.[359] So likewise the pious Hindu, who may perchance sneeze while beginning his morning ablutions in the river Ganges, immediately recommences his prayers and toilet; and among the Alfoorans or aborigines of the island of Celebes in the Indian archipelago, if one happens to sneeze when about leaving a gathering of friends, he at once resumes his seat for a while before making another start.[360] When a native of the Banks Islands, in Polynesia, sneezes, he imagines that some one is calling his name, either with good or evil intent, the motive being shown by the character of the sneeze. Thus a gentle sneeze implies kindly feeling on the part of the person speaking of him, while a violent paroxysm indicates a malediction. In the latter case he resorts to a peculiar form of divination in order to ascertain who it is that curses him. This consists in raising the arms above the head and revolving the closed fists one around the other. The revolution of the fists is the question, “Is it such an one?” Then the arms are thrown out, and the answer, presumably affirmative, is given by the cracking of the elbow-joints.[361] In Scotland even educated people have been known to maintain that idiots are incapable of sneezing,[362] and hence, if this be true, the inference is clear that the act of sternutation is _prima facie_ evidence of the possession of a certain degree of intelligence. British nurses used to think that infants were under a fairy spell until they sneezed. “God sain the bairn,” exclaimed an old Scotch nurse when her little charge sneezed at length, “it’s no a warlock.”