VOMITING, the ejection of the stomach's contents through the mouth, mainly by spas modic contraction of the abdominal muscles, as sisted by the active co-operation of the mus ciAar walls of the stomach ; the diaphragm re mains fixed, affording a firm surface against which the stomach is pressed by- the abdominal muscles. Relaxation of the sphincter at the cardiac orifice of the stomach is necessary, as its contraction will resist the power of all the expulsor muscles combined, explaining the vio lent and vain efforts to vomit, often seen and ex.perienced; the act is. preceded by a deep in spiration, the glottis being spasmodically closed during the paroxysm. It may be produced by irntating substances applied 'to the mucous membrane of the stomach, the.impression being conveyed by the pneumo-gastric nerves and the motor nerves of expiration, as after taking common emetics; by irritation in other parts of the body, transmitted by reflex nervous ac tion, as in strangulated hernia, the passage .of calculi and during gestation; and by impressions received through the sensorial centres, whether emotional or sensational, as from tickling the fauces, disgusting sights or odors and in sea sicicness; even the recollection of these sensa tions may cause.vomiting in very impression able persons. It is a common symptom of many diseases of the stomach and intestines, and arises from sympathy in affections of many other orEans; it is sometimes nervous or spas modic. Exclusive of the treatment proper for the special disease of which it may be the symp tom, effective remedies for vomiting are ice, ef fervesang potions, mercurials, prussic acid and various narcotics, creosote, chloroform and ether. In many birds and some rnammals, the contents of the. stomach are ejected as a means of offense, as in the petrels and vultures, and the llama. Vomiting is usually more easily in duced in children than in adults. It is a fre quent accompaniment of pregnancy (see ()a s-mines), and is often prominent in disease of the lcidneys (q.v.), tuberculosis (q.v.), etc. Vomiting is in many cases entirely salutary, and in such cases is to be encouraged and as sisted. By concentrating on the desired object many persons are able to vomit at will and thus rid themselves quickly of fermenting food that has failed to digest in the normal manner.
VON shot Annette Elisabeth, German poetess: b. Miinster, Westphalia, 10 Jan. 1797; d. Meers burg on Lake Constance, 24 May 1848. She en joyed the advantage of association and friend ship with many noted men of letters, exhibiting always a decided distaste for so-called feminine occupations and devoting herself altogether to intellectual pursuits, especially such as gave stimulus to her lively imagination. Thus while
still a young girl she contributed to the Kinder und Hatismarchen of the brothers Grimm. Her formal education, too, was carried further than was usual for a girl of her day.' A devout Catholic, her collection of religious lyrics 'Das geictliche Jahr,' of which the first half was written in 1820 and the second in 1839, malces a universal appeal and belongs to the finest re ligious poetry of the 19th century. In 1825 she made her first journey to Cologne and the Rhine country, where she made the acquaintance of A. W. Schlegel, Karl Simrocic, and later of Adele Schopenhauer, the sister of the philoso pher. In the following year her father died and in 1829 her brother Ferdinand. With the unimportant exception of two trips to the Rhine in 1828 and 1830 and a visit to her sister Jenny, who had married Baron Josef von Lass Lug in Switzerland, she lived in quiet seclusion, first in her birthplace, and from 1841 to her death with the Lassbergs in Meersburg on the shores of Lake Constance. Here an old ac guaintance with Levin Schucking, 17 years her Junior, whom the baron called to Meersburg in 1841 to catalogue his library, deepened into some thing like an unrequited passion, and in that year she produced an entire volume of lyrics. Since 1814 she had been in delicate health and now began visibly to decline. She died in the year of the revolution, 1848, and is buried in Meersburg. Levin Schficking became her most appreciative biographer. Her best non-religious lyrics are (Haidebilder,) in which with a deli cate appreciation of nature she pictures the lonely moors of her native Westphalia. For her ballads, in which she is even more success ful, the gloomy legends of this district are her favorite subjects. She also wrote a number of longer epic poems, among them 'Das Hospiz' and 'Die Schlacht im Loener Bruch.) One of the very best German novellen is (Die Juden buche.) The softcr notes of sentiment are lacking in almost all of Annette von Droste Hiilshoff's verse, which is pervaded through out. by an earnestness, a chastity and selflessness which frequently borders upon acerbity, even in form and diction. She is generally regarded as Germanfs greatest woman-poet. A few selected titles from a large bibliography are the fol lowing: 'Collected Works,' edited by Levin Schiicking (3 vols., Stuttgart 1879) ; id., by Elizabeth von Droste-Hiilshoff (Paderborn 1M-87), with a biography by W. Kreiten; (Letters of Annette von Droste-Hdlshoff and Levin Schficking,) edited by Theo Schficking (Leipzig 1893) ; Schficldng, Levin, 'Annette von Droste, ein Lebensbild) (Hanover 1862) ; Busse, Karl, (Annette von Droste) (1903).