Donna Sue Clark, age 7, of Charleston, W.Va., for her question:

WHY DO I SNEEZE?

"Bless you,'' people sometimes say when you sneeze. The reason for this blessing goes back to ancient times when it was believed that the soul left a person's body when he sneezed. By giving a blessing immediately, the soul was brought back and all was well. There is no truth to this ancient superstition, of course.

To understand the sneezes you must first know some basic details about our breathing passages and the nose. The passages through which air enters are lined with very delicate mucous membranes. When this sensitive skin becomes irritated, we sneeze in order to get rid of the irritation.

You might sneeze because there could be dust in your nasal passage. Or you might sneeze if you look directly at

 the sun or into any other bright light. If you have the flu, a cold or hay fever, the mucous membrane of your nose becomes swollen and this can also result in an irritation that may force you to sneeze.

Sneezing is strictly a reflex action, which means that you do not have any control over the act because it comes on in an involuntary way  like the blink of your eyes. Quite often you close your eyes when you sneeze. This action, also, is part of the automatic mechanism that controls your sneezing.

We know that nasal passage irritation can set off the sneeze reflex. When the action starts, air is held back in the lungs until pressure is built up. The blocking of air is primarily caused by the uvula, that red, fleshy finger like mass that you can see hanging from the soft palate in the back of your mouth. The uvula is suddenly depressed, permitting the air to rush out of the nose. And you have a sneeze.

While the main purpose of a sneeze seems to be to blow any foreign matter out of the nasal passages, it can also happen as a result of respiratory and allergic problems.

Coughing has a function that is similar to sneezing, inthat it also is an action used to clear out breathing passages. Coughing, however, clears the lower air channels and the lungs.

Andy is reminded of a cute verse about the sneeze: I sneezed a sneeze into the air I came to earth, I know not where But cold and stern were the looks of those In the vicinity of which I snoze.  To which Andy adds the suggestion that you cover your nose with a tissue or a handkerchief when you feel a sneeze coming on.