In the preceding chapter we have enumerated those changes and phenomena which are observed to take place in the system during pregnancy: many of these amount to actual derangements of function, and will, therefore, as such, demand our attention in a practical point of view, for the purpose of alleviating or removing them. Many of these changes are produced by the altered distribution of blood, as well as by the actual increase of quantity which now exists in the circulation; the nervous and also the vascular system of the uterus are now in a state of high excitement and activity--a condition which must necessarily communicate itself to those organs which are supplied by the same nerves; viz. the sympathetic, and by the same portion of the circulation, viz. the branches of the abdominal aorta. No organ, except the stomach, possesses sympathetic connexions so widely extended over the rest of the system as the uterus; and, we may add, that no two organs are so intimately and reciprocally united as the uterus and the stomach. In the unimpregnated state, we see this manifested in a remarkable degree; if the stomach becomes deranged the uterus sympathizes; thus the states of gastric disturbance, known under the general term of dyspepsia, are frequently followed by leucorrhoea, or some derangement of the menstrual function: on the other hand, uterine disease is invariably accompanied by symptoms of gastric disturbance, and, in many cases, to such an extent as to conceal the real seat of the evil, and mislead the attention of the patient and her medical attendant. In like manner we find that during pregnancy, especially in the early stages of it, the patient is annoyed with a great variety of symptoms more or less indicative of derangement in the functions of the primæ viæ. _Morning sickness._ One of the most troublesome, and by no means the least frequent, is vomiting, which, from coming on usually in the morning, is commonly called morning sickness; in some cases the female merely rejects what food or mucus may be present in the stomach, after which she feels relieved; in others she continues to strain violently and ineffectually for some time. In the former case it resembles the common vomiting from a deranged stomach, and cannot be considered as the direct result of sympathy with the uterus: the tone of the stomach has become impaired, and vomiting has followed as a consequence of its being loaded with undigested food and depraved secretions. Hence, in these cases, it is generally preceded by nausea and the other common precursory symptoms of this act: in the latter, however, it appears to be the immediate result of irritation transmitted from the uterus, and assumes rather a spasmodic character; the patient is suddenly seized with involuntary efforts to vomit, which are not preceded by nausea or oppression, and come on independently of the stomach being full or empty.