Spit

“ The habit of spitting indiscriminately on the verandahs, court yards, and such like places is also very bad. The spittle, especially of consumptives, is very dangerous. The poisonous germs in it rise into the air, and, being inhaled by others, lead to a spread of the disease. We should keep a spittoon inside the house, and if we have to spit when out on the road we should spit where there is dry dust, so that the spittle may be absorbed into the dust and cause no harm. ”

“ At all events, no gentleman will ever insult a lady by smoking in the streets in her company; [76] and in meeting and saluting a lady he will always remove his cigar from his mouth.”
Spitting is one of those things that no man should do, if he can avoid it. If in the street, common decency, it would seem, should prompt a man to go to the gutter if he finds it necessary to spit; and if anywhere else, it should prompt him not to spit on the floor, be the floor carpeted or not. We often see men spit on a carpet, especially in our theatres, but we never see any man spit on a carpet of his own. ”

“ Ladles for basting and stirring were familiar. As to the spit itself, it became a showy article of plate, when the fashion arose of serving up the meat upon it in the hall; and the tenure by which Finchingfield in Essex was held in capite in the reign of Edward III.—that of turning the spit at the coronation—demonstrates that the instrument was of sufficient standing to be taken into service as a memorial formality.
The fifteenth century vocabulary notices the salt-cellar, the spoon, the trencher, and the table-cloth. ”

“ If spits are wiped clean as soon as the meat is drawn from them, and while they are hot, a very little cleaning will be required. The less the spit is passed through the meat the better;74-* and, before you spit it, joint it properly, especially necks and loins, that the carver may separate them easily and neatly, and take especial care it be evenly balanced on the spit, that its motion may be regular, and the fire operate equally on each part of it ”

“ The roasts appear to have been usually carried into the hall on the spits, which, among people of great rank, were sometimes made of silver; and the guests at table seem to have torn, or cut, from the spit what they wanted. Several early illuminations represent this practice of people helping themselves from the spits, and it is alluded to, not very unfrequently, in the mediæval writers. In the romance of “Parise la Duchesse,” when the servants enter the hall with the meats for the table, one is described as carrying a roasted peacock on a spit ”

“ A cradle spit, which is so constructed that it contains the meat in a sort of framework, instead of passing through it, may be often very advantageously used instead of an ordinary one, as the perforation of the meat by this last must always occasion some escape of the juices ”

“ In eastern Massachusetts and in central New York I find the notion that warts may be removed by rubbing them with spittle. A working-woman from Boston tells me that if one rubs a corn with spit upon retiring, four nights in succession, the center will come out of the painful callosity.
We have all seen how involuntarily people moisten a slight burn with saliva. ”

“ They appear gentle and docile, but when irritated they have a very savage look, and spit at the object of their anger with great venom. The spittle is said to be very acrid, and will raise blisters where it touches the skin. ”

“ Frequent spitting, too, and violent clearing of the throat, and wiping one's nose at an entertainment, are to be shunned. For respect is assuredly to be had to the guests, lest they turn in disgust from such filthiness, which argues want of restraint. For we are not to copy oxen and asses, whose manger and dunghill are together. For many wipe their noses and spit even whilst supping.
If any one is attacked with sneezing, just as in the case of hiccup, he must not startle those near him with the explosion, and so give proof of his bad breeding ”

“ Doctors hold that the consumptive should spit into a spittoon with some disinfectant in it: for, even if he spits on dry ground, the germs in his spittle manage to rise and spread into the air along with the dust. But, in any case, there can be no doubt that the habit of spitting wherever we please is dirty as well as dangerous.
Some people throw where they like cooked food and other articles, which decay and render the air impure. If all such rubbish be put underground, the air would not be made impure, and good manure, too could be obtained. ”

“ Spitting was among the Greeks and Romans a most common antidote to the poison of the evil eye. According to Theocritus it is necessary to spit three times into the breast of the person who fears fascination. ”

“ When the joint is larger it would be advisable to use a cradle-spit, which, however like the other spit, has its inconveniences, one making a hole through the meat, and the other pressing upon the fat, making it heavy; but in any kind of joint, if not over-roasted, you will never perceive the mark of the spit, as the cavity closes immediately upon the spit leaving it; always choose a spit corresponding to the size of the joint. In a large kitchen, where you require many joints roasting at one time, a cradle-spit is a nuisance, and must be used only where it cannot be avoided. ”

“ The habit of spitting on a coin, for instance, is very common, just as the schoolboy spits on his agate when playing marbles or on his baseball, or the bowler upon his wooden ball before rolling it. In fact, this whole matter of spitting has been in all ages an expression of a deep-rooted popular belief. Among the ancient Greeks and Romans the most common remedy against an envious look was [Pg 30] spitting, hence it was called "despuere malum." Old women would avert the evil eye from their children by spitting three times (observe the odd number) into their bosoms. ”

“ These primitive arrangements eventually gave place to a combined spit and mechanical roasting-jack, which was fixed to a small crane projecting from the mantelpiece. The jack, which was largely of brass, rotated when wound up, and the meat was hung below it immediately in front of the fire, and the gravy and dripping were caught in a large shallow metal pan with a high screen to prevent the diffusion of heat. The almost universal employment in England of closed kitcheners has thrown all forms of spits and jacks into disuse, but in old-fashioned kitchens they are still sometimes seen. ”

“ Spitting is a disgusting habit. Avoid it whenever it is possible. Never give attention or refer to a sore on the face or hands when others are present. Yawning and stretching in company are considered rude. ”

“ In the ceremony of naming Roman children spittle had its part to play: it was customary for the nurse to touch the lips and forehead of the child with spittle. The Catholic priest’s ritual, which prescribes that the ears and nostrils of the infant or neophyte, as the case may be, shall be touched with spittle, comes, in all probability from Mark, vii, 33, 34, viii, 23, and John, ix, 6, which, in turn are probably derived from a classical original. It should be added that fishermen spit upon their bait before casting in their hooks. ”

“ Flour them well, lay them rather near to a very clear and brisk fire, that they may be quickly browned, and yet retain their juices. Baste them plentifully and constantly with butter, and, if it can be so regulated, let the spit turn with them rapidly. From fifteen to twenty minutes will roast them sufficiently for the generality of eaters; but for those who object to them much underdressed, a few additional minutes must be allowed. Something less of time will suffice when they are prepared for persons who like them scarcely more than heated through. ”

“ Divers experiments shew what power and quality there is in Man's fasting Spittle, when he hath neither eat nor drunk before the use of it: for it cures all tetters, itch, scabs, pushes, and creeping sores: and if venomous little beasts have fastened on any part of the body, as hornets, beetles, toads, spiders, and such like, that by their venome cause tumours and great pains and inflammations, do but rub the place with fasting Spittle, and all those effects will be gone and dispersed. ”

“ Fourthly, people spit to cure disease in themselves or others, or transfer infection. For example, when persons rub their warts with fasting-spittle, in the belief that it will take them away, or spit in the drug they mean to administer to an invalid, or anoint his diseased limb with their saliva, or when, as Mr. ”

“ This habit, as well as the evidences of throat troubles, is usually to be ascribed to inattention to the nose. When catarrhal conditions are avoided or properly treated the throat will not be so affected as to necessitate this reprehensible practice. Trouble is invited for the tonsils and soft palate by our constant hawking; certainly the tender sensibility of the throat is destroyed thereby. Inasmuch as the tobacco habit is so general, and spitting is a necessary accompaniment of that habit, stringent laws against hawking and spitting would be unpopular among the masculine half of the race. ”

“ Among the counter-charms, too, are reckoned the practice of spitting into the urine the moment it is voided, of spitting into the shoe of the right foot before putting it on, and of spitting while a [127] person is passing a place in which he has incurred any kind of peril. ”

“ Of all fluids and excretions of the human body the saliva is perhaps used most often in ancient and medieval medicine, as the custom of spitting once or thrice in administering other remedies or performing ceremonies goes to prove. The spittle of a fasting person is the more efficacious. In a chapter devoted particularly to the properties of human [Pg 83] saliva Pliny lists many diseases and woes which it alleviates. [352] In this connection he makes the following absurd assertion which he nevertheless declares is easily tested by experiment. ”

“ Spittle tabooed.—The same fear of witchcraft which has led so many people to hide or destroy their loose hair and nails has induced other or the same people to treat their spittle in a like fashion. For on the principles of sympathetic magic the spittle is part of the man, and whatever is done to it will have a corresponding effect on him. A Chilote Indian, who has gathered up the spittle of an enemy, will put it in a potato, and hang the potato in the smoke, uttering certain spells as he does so in the belief that his foe will waste away as the potato dries in the smoke. ”

“ It so evidently appears that in those countries spitting has ever been an expression of the utmost detestation, that the learned doubt whether in the passages of Scripture above quoted any thing more is meant than spitting, - not in the face, which perhaps the words do not necessarily imply, - but only in the presence of the person affronted. ”

“ Habitual spitting incites the salivary glands to excessive secretion, thereby weakening the system to a surprising extent, and probably lowering nutrition. Many temperate smokers, who think themselves hurt by tobacco, are probably hurt only because, though in all other respects gentlemen, they will persist in the filthy habit of spitting. There is no excuse for the habit, for with very little practice the desire to get rid of the saliva entirely ceases, and is never again felt. ”

“ Spitting.—Colds and consumption and other forms of sickness are often spread by sick persons spitting on the floor or pavement. The germs become dried and are blown away as dust. For this reason dust from the streets of cities and in crowded halls is often the cause of sickness. ”

“ Of all things the most pernicious to people predisposed to a spitting of blood, is, playing upon wind-instruments. Previous to the spitting of blood, some perceive an uneasiness in the chest, an oppression on the breath, and a saltish taste in the spittle; but these symptoms are not constant.
[229]
Nothing can be more insidious than the approaches of this disease sometimes are. The substance of the lungs, which is so full of blood-vessels, is not supplied so liberally with nerves; the lungs, therefore, may be materially affected, before danger is indicated by acute pain. ”

“ Chewing these ingredients makes the spittle very red, causes a great, flow of saliva, and occasions a great appetite; it also makes the teeth very black, and the blacker they are is considered as so much the more fashionable. ”

“ When the pain however is very great, a liniment made of two ounces of emollient ointment, and half an ounce of liquid laudanum, beat up with the yolk of an egg, may be applied.
SPITTING OF BLOOD. We mean here to treat of that discharge of blood from the lungs only which is called an hæmoptoe, or spitting of blood. Persons of a slender make, and a lax fibre, who have long necks and strait breasts, are most liable to this disease. It is most common in the spring, and generally attacks people before they arrive at the prime or middle period of life. ”

“ To both Greeks and Romans the fasting spittle was a charm against fascination. Persius Flaccus says:—"A grandmother or a superstitious aunt has taken baby from his cradle, and is charming his forehead and his slavering lips against mischief by the joint action of her middle finger and her purifying spittle." Here we find that it is not the spittle alone, but the joint action of the spittle and the middle finger which works the influence. The middle finger was commonly, in the early years of this century, believed to possess a favourable influence on sores ”

“ Those who have a predisposition to this complaint, by their form, are most apt to be attacked after their full growth: women from fifteen to three-and-thirty; men two or three years later. In Great Britain, a spitting of blood generally occurs to those predisposed to it, in the spring, or beginning of summer, when the weather suddenly changes from cold to excessive hot ”