Dr. Dio Lewis says: “Biliousness is piggishness.” My habit has been to define it simply as _overfeeding_. At least, the elements of the bile are in the blood in excess of the power of the liver to eliminate them. This may be caused by either inaction of the organ itself, or superabundance of the materials from which the bile is made. Being thus retained the system is burdened, or to use a homely but expressive phrase, is _clogged_. To produce this, food may be too great in quantity, or too rich in quality. Especially is it caused by the excessive use of fats and sweets. How does this biliousness produce nausea in the pregnant woman, and why does it show itself in this way, when she was comparatively well previous to this condition? In the new process of gestation the whole system is roused to action, and nature makes an effort to relieve the organs of all foreign or _bilious_ matter. Her first means to produce this result is by nausea and vomiting. Many women have an attack of bilious fever, more or less severe, in the first months of pregnancy. Three causes may induce this state of the system: food which is too nutritive or too abundant; lack of exercise conducive to normal action in the assimilative organs; and clothing that in any way restricts this action. At any time, the bands and corsets so universally comprising a part of woman’s dress are injurious, because they restrict the action of the liver and other organs, but they are doubly deleterious when there is a natural increase in size. The direct pressure of the viscera upon the uterus will also produce irritation in that organ. I was spending a few days with an old friend who was four months advanced in pregnancy. She had had no unpleasant symptoms. One day as we were on the street walking, she was suddenly seized with vomiting. Trying to investigate the cause, I asked her if she wore the dress she was accustomed to. “No,” she said; “I have not had this on for months, and it is too tight.” She loosened it under her cloak, when the symptom disappeared. In the last months of pregnancy, vomiting is often caused by pressure of the enlarged uterus upon the stomach. This cannot occur where the natural figure has always been unquestionably preserved. One potent cause of morning sickness is the habit of entering upon the sexual relation frequently during gestation. By this means a hyperæmia in the reproductive organs as well as exhaustion of the nerve supply is produced. By reflex action nausea is the result. Incalculable benefits would be derived if married people imitated the lessons of lower animals in this matter--thereby conserving all forces for the benefit of offspring. TREATMENT FOR MORNING SICKNESS.--If inflammation or ulceration of the uterus is chronic, one can not expect to overcome the nausea entirely in a short time (Chap. XXI.)