_Disturbance of the Digestive Functions._--It is very seldom, indeed, that pregnancy does not produce more or less disturbance in these functions, though it must be remarked that _marriage_ also does the same sometimes, even without conception. These disturbances are generally manifested by loss of appetite; sickness, particularly in the morning; vomiting, and depraved taste; the individual frequently taking a fancy to the most extraordinary articles, and making herself extremely unhappy if she cannot obtain them. Thus some have eaten flies, spiders, mice, and other living things, and others again have regaled themselves upon charcoal, chalk, slate pencils, and even earth or ashes. Such freaks are called _longings_, and it is thought highly improper not to indulge them, which is certainly right when they are for articles not positively injurious; but I have known this notion carried to a very injurious and absurd extent. There is no doubt but these vagaries of the stomach arise, mainly, from its sympathy with the uterus, but it is highly probable that they are often exaggerated, and frequently even produced, by a morbid state of the sensibilities, and by vacuity of mind. The tendency to imitation also, so strong in most females, often leads to the same result. A young female who is declared to be, or who fancies herself, pregnant, listens eagerly to all that is said about that interesting state, by older acquaintances, and when told that _they_ always _longed_, immediately begins to long also. I have known young persons considerably advanced in gestation, who had never longed at all before, do so immediately after a conversation of this kind. It must be remembered however, that the sympathies of the digestive organs with the womb are very strong, and that the appetite and taste are frequently rendered very capricious at this time, so that the female really likes or dislikes many things that she did not before; but still I feel convinced that the absurd ways in which this caprice exhibits itself, are often owing to the causes I have stated. The wondering ignorance, in which most females are kept, makes them disposed to be led away by a morbid imagination, and constantly liable to be imposed upon by silly and erroneous statements, which they of course implicitly believe. These longings are always the strangest, and most frequently met with, among the most uninformed and unthinking, though they are occasionally met with under all circumstances. As a sign of pregnancy this longing is not much to be relied upon alone, because marriage alone often produces it, and so do many uterine derangements. Usually all these disturbances disappear by the third or fourth month, the appetite becomes regular, and sometimes even voracious, and the digestion improves, so that the individual may become quite fat, though previously she was very thin. Some suffer from constipation, and others from diarrhœa, but this is more rare.