All in a day’s sneeze

Mickey Starling ECB Publishing, Inc. Have you ever wondered why people are so quick to say “God bless you” after you sneeze? I felt sure that inquiring minds everywhere were probing this deep theological issue and they wanted some answers. As it turns out, back in the days of Pope Gregory I, there was this minor health crisis going around that we like to call the Bubonic plague. Sneezing was one of the early symptoms of the disease, followed by the swelling of lymph nodes up to the size of an otherwise tasty apple. Fever, chills, vomiting, bleeding and black skin caused by gangrene were also common. Most common to the disease was death. Two-thirds of the population in Europe was wip