The golden age of sneeze fetishism?

[Stimuli]

(Okay, disclaimer, I'm mostly joking. Mostly.)

Y'all thought we live in the golden age of sneeze fetishism? Think again! 

Them 16'th century authors were feather-dipping up a storm writing fics it would seem 😏

[TheCakeIsAlive]

It would be interesting to see the context in which the word was used. If it's in a medical context that content has been split out from books into predominantly medical journals over time so that would skew the curve. 

It would be intriguing to look at a subset of those hits and see whether the context has shifted massively.  If anyone has time on their hands...

[Stimuli]

54 minutes ago, TheCakeIsAlive said:

It would be interesting to see the context in which the word was used. If it's in a medical context that content has been split out from books into predominantly medical journals over time so that would skew the curve. 

It would be intriguing to look at a subset of those hits and see whether the context has shifted massively.  If anyone has time on their hands...

I'm actually quite intrigued by it now that you mention it! Might do some research once time allows for it 😄

[Wig_Powder]

Cake may be right that it has to do with medicine, but given the years in question, part of me wonders if it might not be because snuff was prevalent during that time. Since snuff can make you sneeze if not inhaled properly, that may have been something occasionally mentioned or warned about in certain documents.

Definitely intriguing, though! And it makes my period-piece loving heart very happy to see.

[TheCakeIsAlive]

I was thinking that the peak also does seem to coincide somewhat with the snuff craze.
Then of course there is the much wider availability and decreasing cost of paper in more recent times as well which broadens what is being written significantly etc etc.  

[Engmanny]

Being back the snuff craze I say!