WHY DO WE COUGH IN CHURCH ?

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 14 June 1907, Page 1

WHY DO WE COUGH IN CHURCH ?

| The epidemic of oonghing that attacks a congregation at times is re- | garded as of sufficient importance by a i Avriter in the "British Medical Journal" to merit discussion in a column article. : He is of opinion that the cause is nerv ous iiitabuity,- but will not accept *the theory of an American' Physician that it' is due to prolonged attention, holding that lack of attentivenesg must rather 'bo held responsible. He goes on with •his investigation thus: — ,'; - "Persons who will cit out a play or listen to an interesting "conversation without' coughing, seem to, be seized, as soon as they compose themselves to hear a sermon, with distressing irritation of the windpipe that can be relieved only by violent and continued coughing. The effection is "contagious, spreading from seat to Beat, cough answering unto cough, until the church is as full "of noise as Prospero's island. As far as we know, the- etiology of this strange disease has not received attention from the scientific investigator. Is it due to sudden changes of temperature in the sacred edifice, or to the sudden inroads of malign draughts . It" may be granted that the eloquence of some preachers has a chilling' effect, while that of others is of a windy character; neither of these things, however, can be accepted as a vcra causa. We note with interest that the problem has been .attacked from another side by an Auckland scientist who has studied tb'e epidemic aa it occurs in theatres. He has satisfied himself that there, at least, the coughing which sometimes goes far to spoil the performance is due to reflex irritation propagated from- the ear to the larynx. The source of the irnta- ■ iion, according to him, is to be found in the strain on the auditory apparatus induced by the effort to he"ar 'what l's said on the stage. This suggests . that actors of the present day do not know how to use their voices. Jt would "be a comfort to preachers if the church cough could als-> be explained by overctrenuous listening. We fear, however, that a solution of the riddle is to be found in what Falslaff calls 'the disease , of not listening, the malady of not marking.' It is related that .once upon a time when an author 'was . reading a new play before the members of the Comedie FraHcaiw, nn actress fell | asleep. When the' company were expressing their various opinions, . the • author maliciously insisted on having that of the ' sleeping , beanty, on the , ground that the attention she had giver r to it would make her opinion especiallj , valuable. The' reply was disconcerting i ly to the point: 'Monsieur, le sommei [ c* une opinion' ("Sir, sleep is ai r opinion'). In like manner it may bi ' said that coughing is an opinion. At i ; full dress rehearsal of a new play bj I Sardou, the audience, which had 'ap . tlauded the fint act, began to cougl . in the middle of the second. The autho B at once exchimeil : 'They cough ; I al B ways thought that scene was too long. . Preachers might sometimes at leas draw tiha same moral from the coughin; ot a congregation."