Epilepsie und verwandte Krankheiten

Abstract

The common nervous affection known everywhere as “epilepsy”, still described with equal frequency and inaccuracy as a “disease” whose cardinal symptom is the recurrent fit, is familiar to laity and medical profession alike. An ancient malady, theories propounded at different epochs to explain its phenomena have till recent times only mirrored the prejudices of the minds devising them; and it has been claimed as a therapeutic reserve by each successive brand of healer, from the priest to the psychoanalyst. That knowledge of its intimate nature is at length being gained, however, can scarcely be doubted; but the complexity of its problems, banal though the condition is, still hinders full insight into its mystery. Despite the glaring prominence of its major clinical features they shed at best but a feeble light on epileptic genesis, while by reason of their brevity the chance for objective investigation is often rendered unavailing. Modern research, in consequence, is concerning itself with the induction of fits experimentally, with discovery of the physicochemical changes accompanying them, and with their control by other methods than the purely medicinal. The result is that time-worn theories are undergoing revision and the way is being cleared to a better understanding of epileptic manifestations.