COMETARY INFLUENCES. 



comet, nor the victorious arms of the Mohammedans, were, 

 however, arrested. The comet tranquilly proceeded in its orbit, 

 passing through its appointed changes, regardless of the thunders 

 of the Vatican, and the Turks established their principal mosque 

 in the Church of St. Sophia. 



A comet appeared in the year 590, to the presence and influence 

 of which was ascribed a fearful epidemic, which prevailed in that 

 year, in the crisis of which the patients were seized with violent 

 paroxysms of sneezing, often followed by death. It became the 

 custom, therefore, when these paroxysms manifested themselves, 

 for the bystanders to address their benediction to the sufferer, 

 exclaiming, "God bless you." This custom became permanent 

 and universal, and to this day the sneezer is addressed in the 

 same words 



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