Thanks to the latest research into violent expiratory events -
or, sneezes -
we can now observe in very close detail
the “turbulent multiphase cloud”
which distributes a payload
of droplets and mucosalivary ligaments,
or, well, stringy gobs of spit,
at high speeds and over great distances.
These gross but engrossing images
are made possible by highly sensitive, slow-motion cameras
which can track each single speck of snot.
This is high-tech stuff, but the fascination with sneezing
and the attempt to capture and examine the sneeze
is actually as old as the moving image itself.
This short film, known as Fred Ott’s Sneeze, was recorded in 1894
to test a new moving picture machine called the Kinetoscope.
This five-second long film,
showing Fred Ott taking a pinch of snuff and then sneezing,
captured the imagination of a public
who were wowed by the idea that something as fast as a sneeze
could now be captured, preserved and repeated.
Of course, sneezes were also an object of fascination
long before the cinema.
For the ancient Greeks, sneezes could be an omen from the gods.
According to one ancient Roman doctor,
sneezing during sex could be used as a contraceptive.
But the most common interpretation of a sneeze
is probably that you might be getting ill.
But it was not until the late 19th Century
that the idea that infectious diseases
can be caused by microscopic pathogens was introduced.
It was this new understanding of how disease is spread,
along with the global shock of the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918,
that spawned the public health messages that we know today,
like, “Coughs and sneezes spread diseases.”
It was the development of stroboscopic photography in the 1930s
which really brought this message home.
This work, led by the MIT researcher Harold Edgerton,
used short sharp flashes of light to seemingly freeze time
and analyse all sorts of high-speed phenomena,
including the humble sneeze.
Images like this one helped us to understand the raw power of sneezes,
and to think about how we might protect ourselves
and those around us.
An infectious sneeze can be dangerous at any time.
But the prospect of a wave of viral infections
was particularly worrying to public health officials in the UK
during the Second World War
who were keen to protect the health of those working in the war effort.
Wartime propaganda made good use of these stroboscopic sneezes
to persuade people to cover their mouths and wear masks.
The germ mask is a simple way of keeping the germs at bay.
Get one and wear it now.
In the age of SARS and COVID-19,
cutting-edge technology is still being used
to try to better capture and visualise
the mechanics of the sneeze.
Maybe an even fuller understanding of exactly how a sneeze works
will help us to use tools like masks and social distancing
more effectively in the fight against epidemics.
But it’s not only researchers who are continuing
the long tradition of filming sneezes.
A quick search on a video streaming site
will bring up homemade footage from vloggers and filmmakers,
all capturing these explosive moments for themselves.
The image of the sneeze is with us to stay.
Yes, it can provide us with useful information,
but it can also be a comic punchline, a tool for persuasion,
or just a source of fascination.
It’s something that is common to us all,
yet it is also so strange, spontaneous and fast
that we never really get to see it.
Maybe capturing it on film, repeating it, and slowing it down,
gives us a measure of control -
or at least the illusion of control - that we can’t have in real time.
And so in well over a century since Fred Ott’s Sneeze,
in some respects
our viewing habits haven’t really changed so much after all.