When we eat anything, it passes into the throat after we have chewed it, and instead of just dropping down into our stomachs, there is a nine or ten inch series of rings in our throats, that takes the food, passing or squeezing it from one set of muscle rings to the other. These muscle rings are capable of working both up and down. If something is eaten which causes vomiting, the muscles work the other way and force the matter from the stomach.

When one is frightened a sort of a hollow feeling comes into the stomach and the muscles of the throat work upward, pressing against the windpipe and causing one to feel as if there was a lump there.