Epilepsy, Hysteria, and Neurasthenia: Their Causes, Symptoms, &Treatment

is a scientific publication written in the early 20th century. The book serves as a comprehensive overview of three preva lent neurological disorders, focusing on their causes, symptoms, and possi ble treatments, while presenting medical knowledge in an accessible man ner for both professionals and the general public. The opening of the book begins with a preface where Briggs expresses the need for a straightforward resource on these conditions, emphasizing the importance of personal dis cipline alongside medical expertise. He discusses how historical views have attributed epilepsy to supernatural causes, followed by a detailed descrip tion of major (grand mal) and minor (petit mal) epilepsy. The text outlines not only the physiological manifestations of these conditions but also the impact they have on the lives of sufferers, indicating a thorough exploration of their complexities and treatments throughout the chapters. "Mysonis sore vexed, for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and ofttimes into the water."-Matthew xvii, 15. "Oft, too, some wretch before our startled sight, Struck as with lightning with somekeendisease, Dropssudden: Bythedreadattacko'erpoweredHe foams, he groans, he trembles, and he faints; Now rigid, now convuls'd, his labouring lungs Heave quick, and quivers each exhausted limb. "He raves, since Soul and Spirit are alike Disturbed throughout, and sev ered each frheart Flow back-with staggering foot first treads Led gradual on to intellect and strength."-Lucretius.om each As urged above, distracted by the bane; But when at length the morbid cause declines, And the fermenting humours from the Epilepsy, or "Falling Sickness", is a chronic abnormality of the nervous sys tem, evinced by attacks of alteration of consciousness, usually accompanied by convulsions. It attacks men of every race, as well as domesticated animals, and has been knownsincethe earliesttimes,theancientsimputingittodemons,theanger of the gods, or a blow from a star. It often attacks men in crowds, when excited by oratory or sport, hence the Romanname: morbus comitialis(crowdsickness). In mediaeval times, sufferers were regarded with awe, as being possessed by a spirit. Witch doctors among savages, and founders and expounders of dif fering creeds among more civilized peoples, have taken advantage of this in firmity to claim divine inspiration, and the power of "seeing visions" and prophesying. Epilepsy has always interested medical men because of its frequency, the dif ficulty of tracing its cause, and its obstinacy to treatment, while it has ap pealed to popular imagination by the appalling picture of bodily overthrow it presents, so that many gross superstitions have grown up around it