534 



SNEEZE- WOOD 



SNiri: 



iiliiyinT;i-\ , and occurs most frequently, if not 

 always, in persons of nervous habit. The attacks 

 are often periodic, recurring like 'morning-tneesing' 

 with yn-iit regularity at certain times or under 

 certain conditions. In others the attacks are 

 provoked liv the inhalation of dust or by particular 

 odours. All these forms of morbid sneezing are 

 due either to an increased irritability of the nerves 

 in, or to chronic congestion of, the nasal mucous 

 membrane, or to an increased excitability of the 

 central nervous system, or to both, and they are 

 largely maintained by habit. The disease is not 

 infrequent in persons of goutv or asthmatical tend- 

 encies. The treatment consists in the choice of a 

 climate most suitable to the individual, but no 

 rule can be laid down for any one case ; in some 

 cases change of air appears to exert little influence, 

 in others a change even to the opposite side of a 

 street will effect a cure. Diversion of the attention 

 will often prevent the appearance of n paroxysm 

 at its wonted time. The drugs employed most 

 successfully in combating the affection are opium, 

 morphine, " the combined bromides or iodides of 

 sodium, potassium, and ammonium, Lobelia inflata, 

 and nervine tonics. Locally, snuffs composed of iodol 

 and gum acacia, or containing morphine, cocaine, 

 or bismuth are useful. See also HAY-FEVER. The 

 custom of formally invoking a divine blessing 

 on one who has just sneezed is of venerable anti- 

 quity, and is very widely spread, but its real signi- 

 ficance is by no means so easy to determine. Rab- 

 binical legends connect it with Jacob, but it is not 

 possible to give any fuller answer to Pliny's ques- 

 tion, 'Cur steniumentis salutanius?' than to say 

 that it expresses respect to a divine intimation or 

 to a natural sign of mortality. The most famous 

 historical sneeze is that which was hailed as a good 

 omen by Xenophon's ten thousand at a moment of 

 despair. 



Sneeze-wood (Pteroxylon utile ; nat. order 

 Sapindacen* ), one of the largest and most valuable 

 trees in Cape Colony, sometimes Yielding logs 

 80 feet long by 4 feet in diameter. The wood is of 

 a yellowish colour, and has a handsome appearance 

 somewhat resembling satinwood in the grain. It 

 is difficult to work owing to its great hardness, but 

 u believed to be very durable. It is employed 

 for cabinet-making, for carpentry work, and for 

 engineering purposes. Neither the white ant nor 

 the teredo, it is said, will penetrate it. Its native 

 name is Utntati, and it derives ite English name (a 

 translation of the Dutch Nies-hout) from the irri- 

 tating nature of the dust which results from sawing 

 or otherwise working it, and which causes sneezing. 



SiH-hii'tlcii. a mountain of the Dovrefjeld 

 (q.v. ) in Norway, 7566 feet high. 



Snell Exhibitions. See GLASGOW (UNI- 

 VERSITY), Vol. V. p. 236. 



Sniatyn. a town of Austrian Galicia, on the 

 Pruth. 25 miles NW. of Carlowitz. Pop. 10,832. 



Snider, JACOB, the inventor, of a method for 

 ronvi-rting Kntield nm/.zlo-loading rifles into 

 breechloaders (see BREECH-LOADING, and RIFLES). 

 Originally a Philadelphia wine-merchant, he 

 busied himself hi inventions connected with dye- 

 ing, brewing, coach-wheels, the sheathing of ships, 

 &C., and crossed to England in 1859 to tin I HIT the 

 British government to adopt his system of breech- 

 loading or converting. In this he succeeded, but 

 for one reason or another found himself unable to 

 obtain the expected remuneration. He died 25th 

 October IK66, without having received the reward 

 of his labours, worn out by delays, lawsuits, 

 poverty, and debts. 



Snipe, the name of a genus (Gallinago) and 

 jof a family (Scolnpacidir) of birds, order Gralloe. 



The birds of tlii- ^cmi-. which bos l>een separated 

 from the genus Scolopax of Linmens, have a very 

 long, straight, flexible bill, slightly elcvalc.l towards 

 the ti|> of the upper mandible, which expands a 

 little, is decurved at the puint, and projects over 

 the lower. The whole bill is smooth, soft, and 

 extremely sensitive. The head is compici-,! : the 

 eyes are large and are placed far hack. The wind's 

 are moderate in size : the legs are rather long ; the 

 three toes in front :ire long, slender, and divided to 

 the base ; the hind-toe is slender. The Common 

 Snipe (G. calestis, media, or scolopacina ) is about 

 11 inches in entire length, the bill almost 3 inches. 



Common Snipe ( Oallinago calestis ). 



The sexes are alike in plumage, but the female Is 

 rather larger than the male. The general colour 

 of the upper parts is blackish brown, finely mixed 

 with pale brown and with a rich bull' colour ; three 

 pale brown streaks along the head: the neck and 

 breast pale rust colour mottled with black ; the 

 l>elly wliite. The tail consists of fourteen feathers. 

 The snipe when flushed changes its course several 

 times in a zigzag manner in the air, and then darts 

 off very swiftly, so that young sportsmen find it a 

 very difficult bird to shoot. The snipe makes a 

 very inartificial nest of a little dry herbage in a 

 depression of the ground, or sometimes in a tuft of 

 gross or rushes. The eggs are four in number, 

 large for the size of the bird, pale yellowish or 

 greenish wliite, the larger end spotted with brown. 

 This species of snipe is plentiful in all the moory 

 and marshy parts of Britain, and generally through- 

 out Europe and as far as Iceland, also oxii-nsh ch- 

 in Asia, and it is found in the north of Africa, ite 

 representative in South Africa l>eing a distinct 

 species ( '.'. aquatorialis). It breeds in Britain, 

 even in the south of England, and migrates in 

 autumn, to return in the following spring, while 

 the winter birds are migrants from Scandinavia, 

 arriving in the end of summer and departing in 

 spring. The note of the snipe is a scape, sen/"- : 

 but during the breeding season the bird emits a 

 peculiar drumming or bleating sound (hence the 

 name ' heather-bleater ' given to the snipe in 

 Scotland ) when executing its extraordinary aerial 

 evolutions. The origin of this sound has been 

 nnn-h disputed. The snipe is capable of being 

 tamed, and becomes very familiar, but is ditlicult 

 to keep, from the prodigious quantity of worms 

 and other such food which it requires. A tame 

 snipe has been known to eat nearly twice its own 

 weight of worms in twelve hours. The sni|>e is in 

 high esteem for the table, and is included amongst 

 name in Britain. The habits of all the other 

 species of snipe correspond very nearly with those 

 of the common snipe. The Great Snipe, or 

 Solitary Snipe (G. major), an annual visitor in 



