In France the rules of etiquette formerly required that a gentleman who sneezed in the presence of another should take off his hat, and on the subsidence of the paroxysm he was expected formally to return the salutes of all present. The salutation of sneezers by removal of the hat was customary in England also. Joseph Hall, who was Bishop of Exeter in 1627, wrote that when a superstitious man sneezed he did not reckon among his friends those present who failed to uncover. The Italians are wont to salute the sneezer with the ejaculation _Viva_, or _Felicità_; and it has been reasoned that the latter expression may have been sometimes employed under like circumstances by the ancient Romans, because an advertisement on the walls of Pompeii concludes by wishing the people Godspeed with the single word _Felicitas_! So, too, in Ireland the sneezer is greeted with fervent benedictions, such as, “The blessing of God and the holy Mary be upon you!” for such invocations are thought to counteract the machinations of evil-disposed fairies.[399] The Siamese have a unique theory of their own on this subject. They believe that the Supreme Judge of the spiritual world is continually turning over the pages of a book containing an account of the life and doings of every human being; and when he comes to the page relating to any individual, the latter never fails to sneeze. In this way the Siamese endeavor to give a plausible reason for the prevalence of sneezing among men, and also for the accompanying salutation. In Siam and Laos the ordinary expression is, “May the judgment be favorable to you.”[400] In the Netherlands a person who sneezes is believed thereby to place himself in the power of a witch, unless some one invokes a divine blessing; and such notions afford a plausible explanation of one theory of the origin of this custom.[401] Grimm (vol. iv. p. 1637) refers to a passage in the “Avadanas,” or Buddhist parables, in which the rat is represented as wishing the cat joy when she sneezes. And in the department of Finistère in northwest France, when a horse sneezes or coughs the people say, “May St. Eloy assist you!” St. Eloy was the guardian of farriers and the tutelar god of horses.[402] The natives of the Fiji Islands exclaim after a sneeze, “_Mbula_,” that is, “May you live!” or “Health to you!” And the sneezer politely responds with “_Mole_,” “Thanks.” Formerly Fijian etiquette was yet more exacting and required the sneezer to add, “May you club some one!” or “May your wife have twins!”[403] A Spanish writer, Juan Cervera Bachiller, in his book “Creencias y superstitiones,” Madrid, 1883, says that this widely diffused practice appears to have originated partly from religious motives and partly from gallantry, and that it is as obviously a relic of pagan times as are the various omens which have ever been associated with sneezing.