VOMITING 



6116 



VOTING MACHINE 



children, thus brightening if not saving thou- 

 sands of lives. 



One of the newest features of the society is 

 its Volunteer Hospital in New York City, 

 where 31,910 cases, either medical or surgical, 

 were treated within the first year. Records 

 show an attendance in 1915 of almost 3,000,000 

 at its indoor and outdoor sen-ices, which are 

 conducted in the same manner as those of the 

 Salvation Army, in barracks and in the public 

 streets. The organization publishes The Volun- 

 teers' Gazette, and distributes large quantities 

 of other Christian literature. 



The headquarters of the Volunteers are in 

 New York City. General Ballington Booth 

 and his wife are joint presidents. See SALVA- 

 TION ARMY. A.MCC. 



VOM'ITING, the ejection of food and other 

 matter from the stomach through the mouth. 

 The act is brought about by spasmodic muscu- 

 lar contractions of the walls of the stomach. 

 Vomiting is generally preceded by a sensation 

 of nausea, and it is often the result of over- 

 loading the stomach or of eating indigestible 

 food. It is an almost never-failing symptom 

 of seasickness. Foods or drugs which poison 

 the system are often ejected through the auto- 

 matic reaction of the stomach to these harmful 

 substances. 



Persons of nervous temperament, who are 

 sensitive to disagreeable suggestions, sometimes 

 vomit merely on hearing the details of a re- 

 pulsive act, while the effect of seeing disgusting 

 sights and of smelling sickening odors is fa- 

 miliar to every one. In these cases the stomach 

 muscles contract through reflex action. In 

 retching, the great muscle lying between the 

 stomach and lungs the diaphragm spasmodi- 

 cally contracts, but the contractions bring only 

 discomfort to the patient and afford no relief. 

 In both vomiting and retching the lower end 

 of the stomach remains tightly closed. When 

 an attack of vomiting comes on as a result of 

 imprudence in eating, the sufferer generally re- 

 covers quickly after the stomach has been 

 emptied. If a person in normal health begins 

 suddenly to vomit, and the attack is violent 

 and prolonged, he should consult a physician. 

 Such attacks are usually symptoms of poison- 

 ing. C.B.B. 



VORTICELLA, vawrtisel'a, a genus of in- 

 fusoria, the highest division of . one-celled ani- 

 mals (see INFUSORIA). Members of the vorti- 

 cella genus are minute aquatic animals having 

 u bell-shaped body which is borne on a slender 

 stalk. This stem is attached to a rock, leaf or 



weed in the water; in some species it is stiff 

 and in others flexible and capable of being 

 contracted suddenly into a. spiral. At the free 

 end of the body there is a fringe of hairlike 

 processes called cilia; these are constantly in 

 rapid motion, drawing food into the body. 



VOSGES, vohzh, MOUNTAINS, a central 

 European mountain range which extends north- 

 northeast along the western side of the Rhine 

 Valley for about 100 miles. The southern 

 portion marks the frontier between France and 

 Germany, and in the north the mountains ex- 

 tend into Alsace. The Vosges are a continua- 

 tion of the Jura Mountains. They have round, 

 grassy summits, used for pasturage, and their 

 eastern and southern slopes are covered with 

 vineyards. They are composed chiefly of gran- 

 ite and red sandstone, and contain copper, lead. 

 silver, coal and rock salt. 



VOSS, johs, JOHANN HEINRICH (1751-1826), 

 a German poet and translator, born at Som- 

 mersdorf in Mecklenburg. Some of his youth- 

 ful poems in a Gottingen magazine led to an 

 invitation to that city by the owner of the 

 periodical, and there in the University of 

 Gottingen he obtained a thorough training in 

 Latin and Greek. In 1778 he was made rector, 

 or principal, of the high school at Otterndorf, 

 and during the next four years wrote several 

 scholarly books on language and literature. His 

 fame was assured in 1781, when he finished his 

 translation of the Odyssey of Homer, fre- 

 quently called "the most perfect rendering of 

 Homer into a modern tongue." This transla- 

 tion is so true, vivid and natural that it has 

 made Homer's poem much more a national 

 literary possession in Germany than in any 

 other country. In 1805 Voss went as a profes- 

 sor of literature to the University of Heidel- 

 berg, Germany, and he spent the remainder of 

 his life in that institution. 



VOTE AND VOTING. See AUSTRALIAN BAL- 

 LOT; BALLOT; ELECTION; WOMAN SUFFRAGE. 



VOTING MACHINE, vo' ting ma sheen' , a 

 mechanical device for recording and counting 

 votes cast in elections. There are several varie- 

 ties of these machines, but the fundamental 

 principle of all is the same. The names of the 

 candidates are arranged in party columns (or 

 in alphabetical order for elections at which 

 party columns are not used) and votes are cast 

 for them by pushing a button or counter, or by 

 turning a lever opposite the name. A "straight" 

 ticket may be voted by pushing a button or 

 lever at the head of the column. Connected 

 with these counters or levers is a complicated 



